Education Commons^™

Clinical Opportunities For Special Education Teacher Candidates: Developing Professional Identities That Endure Beyond Candidacy, Christine M. Davila

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

There is an ongoing shortage of special education teachers, particularly due to early burnout. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were utilized to explore field experience needs for special education teacher candidates that positively affected their ability to maintain self-efficacy toward classroom and behavior management in self-contained settings into their early years of teaching. Findings indicated that special education teacher candidates need opportunities for experiences that allow them to imagine themselves in the role and foster professional identity development that endures beyond candidacy. Embedding opportunities for preservice special education teachers to develop their professional identities within their formal preservice training programs …

Developmental Achievement Versus Standardized Growth: Common Curricula & The Not So Common Student, Robert J. Howman, Corey Livieri

Essays in Education

Challenged is the presumed value of standardization in public education, especially the notion that student achievement is synonymous with performance on summative criteria insensitive to the unique characteristics of every child. This research was initially conducted during the 2010-11 regular academic year. It has since been replicated with similar results.

The overarching question driving the study: “How do educators effectively meet the individual needs of highly diverse students in this era of standardization?” In other words, how do we maintain the human element of teaching, which is so critical for positive child and adolescent development?

Examined are two team-taught 10 …

Cultivating And Keeping Committed Special Educators: What Principals And District Leaders Can Do, Whitney Moores-Abdool, Jorine Voigt, Lydia Vidal

Essays in Education

For decades, school districts all over the country have struggled with a shortage of special education teachers. Many reasons have been suggested for the problem, but few solutions have been offered. The unique challenges special education teachers confront are frequently minimized by administrators and those in general education. It is thought that because special education teachers have smaller caseloads their work is easier. Contrary to this belief, special education teachers face intense pressure from a variety of sources; which if not adequately addressed leads to burnout. Ultimately, burnout results in special education teacher attrition which is not good for schools …

The Best Of Both Worlds – The Hybrid Program, Hope Jordan, Marcia G. Derrick, Jill Crandell, Rhiannon Schuster

Essays in Education

The special education teacher shortage in the United States is a critical issue and becoming a national crisis. Universities struggle to provide sufficient numbers of trained and licensed teachers to fill this need. These shortages are intensifying as modern universities also struggle with concepts of on-line learning and adult learning styles. The Hybrid Model developed at Regent University, incorporates the best components of the traditional classroom with those of the on-line learning environment, and provides a program resulting in the best of both worlds. This article describes one such model, its successes, and suggestions for on-going improvement.