Models for Preparing Culturally Responsive Special Education Personnel

In this section we provide descriptions of personnel preparation programs that are culturally and linguistically responsive.

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An Alternative Model for Preparing Special Education Teacher Educators (2003)
Noting a shortage of doctoral special educators, this article focuses on the need for training of special education faculty in California. It describes a new program at the University of San Francisco program that emphasizes coordinated professional development, flexible class schedule, student diversity, and minority group research. Outcomes for the first six graduates are noted
--Evans, Susan. Andrews, Lanna. Miller, Nikki. Smith, Sherrye.(2003). An Alternative Model for Preparing Special Education Teacher Educators. Teacher Education and Special Education, 26(2).

An Internship Model To Recruit, Train, and Retain Special Educators for Culturally Diverse Urban Classrooms: A Program Description (2003)
Andrews, Lanna. Miller, Nikki. Evans, Susan. Smith, Sherrye D. (2003). An Internship Model To Recruit, Train, and Retain Special Educators for Culturally Diverse Urban Classrooms: A Program Description. Teacher Education and Special Education, 26(1).
This article describes the University of San Francisco's Mild/Moderate Education Specialist Credential Internship Program, a program designed to meet the need for more fully credentialed teachers trained specifically to work in diverse urban classrooms. Program outcomes indicate it has been enormously successful in recruiting, supporting, and training urban special educators.

Becoming Culturally Responsive Teachers Through Service-Learning (2005)
Elinor Brown and Bobby Howard, III. Multicultural Education, 12(4), 2-8
This case study examines the influence of a service-learning model on the teaching philosophies of five novice secondary teachers who matriculated through a one-year, alternative program for secondary certification. The results demonstrate that using this format can expand pedagogy acquired in the classroom into applicable experiences that connect theory and practice to increase cross-cultural cognizance, instill the commitment to create equitable and inclusive classroom environments, and promote social justice and life long learning in a student-centered culturally relevant and supportive environment.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Brown_05.pdf

Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education (COPSSE)
COPSSE is conducting research on a set of guiding questions: (a) What characterizes efficient and effective practice in initial preparation as measured by beginning teacher quality and retention? (b) How do school and district contexts influence beginning teacher quality and retention? (c) How does State policy context affect the shortage of qualified special education teachers? (d) How does State policy context affect the content and process of teacher education? Research syntheses and issue briefs may be downloaded.
http://www.coe.ufl.edu/copsse/

Community College Role in Teacher Education: A Case for Collaboration (2002)
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Schuhmann, Ana Maria.
Overviews the importance of seamless articulation between two-your and four-year institutions for recruiting, preparing, and retaining high quality teachers; reviews issues and barriers; and concludes with a series of recommendations on collaboration.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/communitycolleges.pdf

Critical Features of Special Education Teacher Preparation: A Comparison With General Teacher Education
Policy and program decisions involve choices among different ways of preparing teachers. These choices are shrouded in increasingly contentious debates as teacher shortages reach crisis proportions. Yet, research on special education teacher education is almost nonexistent. Findings from comparative research documenting the characteristics of effective teacher education programs can inform these choices, but these findings should be grounded in what we know from previous research in general teacher education. To assist educators, we have analyzed literature in general and special teacher education toward two ends. First, we present a framework, derived from work in general education, for analyzing teacher education programs. Second, we use this framework to analyze practice in teacher education in special education. Specifically, we conducted an exhaustive review of special education program descriptions and evaluations. We conclude by describing steps necessary to improve the special education teacher education research base.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Brownell_2005.pdf

Cross-Cultural Partnerships: Acknowledging the "Equal Other" in the Rural/ Urban American Indian Teacher Education Program (1999)
Describes the Rural/Urban American Indian Teacher Education Program, based on Baber's (1970) notion of the equal other. It featured cross-cultural partnerships at every possible level. Its goals were to prepare more American-Indian teachers and culturally enhance the preparation of white, female, monolingual candidates. The paper examines some of the program's successes, failures, and distinctive features.
--Smolkin, L. & Suina, J. (1999). Cross-Cultural Partnerships: Acknowledging the "Equal Other" in the Rural/Urban American Indian Teacher Education Program. Teaching and Teacher Education, 15(5).

Distance Learning Program (2000)
Federal Resource Center, Academy for Educational Development, Hess, Jacqueline.
A useful primer that outlines the nuts and bolts of distance education/distributed learning for higher education and public schools.
http://www.federalresourcecenter.org/frc/pubs/Hess.pdf

Eight Questions on Teacher Preparation: What does the Research Say? (2003)
Education Commission of the States. Michael Allen.
Based on a review of 92 studies with rigorous criteria, the report addresses eight aspects of teacher preparation, including coursework, field experiences, and alternative route programs. Summary and full text. http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/educationIssues/teachingquality/tpreport/index.asp

Flexible Learning in Teacher Education: Myths, Muddles, and Models (2004)
Chris Bigum and Leonie Rowan
The authors of this paper highlight some of the more persistent myths about technologies that are intertwined with discourses of flexibility. Drawing on a recent study of online teaching and learning in higher education, the paper outlines a new framework for examining these and related issues as they apply to teacher education.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Bigum_04.pdf

Holmes Partnership Website
The Holmes Partnership® was formed in the early 1980’s as a consortium of universities with professional development programs. In the first decade, this consortium established goals for partnership work, implemented or refined programs at their institutions, published three groundbreaking books, later incorporated into The Holmes Partnership Trilogy: Tomorrow’s Teachers, Tomorrow’s Schools, Tomorrow’s Schools of Education, and evolved into The Holmes Partnership®. The Holmes Scholars® Program, a signature piece to the organization, encourages membership institutions to recruit, mentor, and ultimately support people who are underrepresented in leadership positions in professional development schools and institutions of higher education. Holmes Scholars alumni go on to be K-12 administrators, faculty, or work with education policy organizations. More information about the organization can be found at: http://www.holmespartnership.org/

Making Alternative Certification Work: Essentials of Successful Military Career Transition Programs (2001)
National Association for Alternative Certification. Manning, M. Lee & MacDonald, Robert H.
Describes the Military Career Transition Program at Old Dominion University, which certifies persons retiring or separating from the military, the Department of Defense, and NASA. Through this program, approximately 1,000 people had been prepared to begin teaching as a second career as of 2001. Full text.
http://www.alt-teachercert.org/military.htm#Abstract

Multicultural Teacher Education: Toward a Culturally Responsible Pedagogy (2007)
Hui-Min Chou. Essays in Education, 21, 139-162
This paper proposes that unless we endeavor to change the structure and ideology of mainstream, to the benefit of some and to the detriment of others, internal contradiction will persist. The first section deals with issues of institutional and programmatic reform. Second, why and how to create a teaching force responsive to the increasing culturally diverse population is discussed. Finally, curriculum and instruction of teacher education are examined to uncover the prevailing trend. In conclusion, some of the issues are revisited to highlight the critical components of an effective teacher education for diversity.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Chou_07.pdf

National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs
According to the NACCTEP, “Studies have shown more than 50% of teachers attended a community college for at least part of their education. Community colleges are responding by developing creative and innovative state of the art transfer programs in teacher education.” This website provides comprehensive information on NACCTEP members, as well as a number of policy briefs, legislative updates, and other related publications.
http://www.nacctep.org/

National Center for Education Information Website
A private research organization with a major interest in alternative preparation and certification of teachers and administrators. In October 2003, the U.S. Department of Education awarded this Center $2.25 million over three years to create a comprehensive national clearinghouse on alternative routes to teacher certification and provide assistance to alternative certification programs currently operating in 46 States and the District of Columbia. Overviews of documents for sale are available at the web site, along with the full texts some papers. More information will become available through the new project.
http://www.ncei.com

National Database of Programs that Offer Alternative Routes to Special Education Licensure/Certification Website
National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University and the Center for Personnel Studies in Special Education
This work in progress offers a searchable database of program descriptions by State, by institution, by school district.
http://www.special-ed-careers.org/career_choices/altcert.html

Prepared to Make a Difference: Report of the National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction (2003)
International Reading Association. Hoffman, J.V.
Reports the results and recommendations stemming from a major research study of the preparation of classroom teachers in reading. The executive summary, details on critical features of effective programs, and a guide for strategic planning may be downloaded.
http://www.reading.org/downloads/resources/1061teacher_ed_com_summary.pdf
 

Preparing Teachers Around the World (2003)
Educational Testing Service. Wang, Aubrey H., Coleman, Ashaki, B., Coley, Richard J., & Phelps, Richard P.
Examines policies and control mechanisms that high-performing countries use to shape the quality of the teaching force. Covers (a) control and governance, (b) entry and exit standards, (c) certification practices, (d) alternative routes, (d)compensation, (e) tenure, and other factors. Seven high-performing countries are examined and compared with the United States (Australia, England, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, and Singapore).
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/prepteach.pdf

Proliferation of Alternative Routes to Certification in Special Education: A Critical Review of the Literature (2001)
National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education, The Council for Exceptional Children. Rosenberg, Michale & Sindelar, Paul T.
Reviews what is known about alternative routes, summarizes research on alternative routes in special education, and discusses features associated with successful programs and what remains unknown about them.
http://www.special-ed-careers.org/pdf/altcert.pdf

Reform and Restructuring in Special Education Teacher Preparation: Multicultural Considerations and Pedagogical Strategies (2000)
Alliance Project, Vanderbilt University. Sileo, Thomas.
This paper describes pedagogical considerations for (a) curricular materials; (b) field-centered teacher preparation; (c) instructional strategies; (d) learning journals; (e) videotapes with peer-assisted reflection; (f) service learning activities; (g) role play; (h) action methods; and (i) assessment strategies.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/reform.pdf

Renaissance Group Website
A national consortium of colleges and universities that prepare educational professionals, and that have adopted a set of operating principles of quality and best practices in teacher education: (a) education of teachers as an all-campus responsibility; (b) a campus culture that values and models quality teaching; (c) creation of partnerships with practicing professionals; (d) extensive use of field experiences in diverse settings; (e) adherence to high standards and accountability; (f) a focus on student learning; (g) effective use of technology; (h) development of teachers as innovative leaders.
http://education.csufresno.edu/rengroup/

Research-based Online Course Development for Special Education Teacher Preparation (2004)
Lewis R. Johnson. Teacher Education and Special Education, 27(3), 207-223
The author here distinguishes between an online course that serves as little more than a correspondence course with a discussion forum and web resource links and developing an online course using an analysis of input factors such as learner characteristics, instructional intent, and nature of the content so informed instructional design decisions can be made that result in quality courses.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/johnson_04.pdf

Research on Preparing Teachers for Diverse Populations (2005)
Etta Hollins and Maria Torres Guzman. In M. Cochran-Smith and K.M. Zeichner (eds.) Studying Teacher Education. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association
This chapter analyzes the empirical research on four aspects of the preparation of preservice teachers: candidates’ predispositions, preservice preparation of prospective teachers, the experiences of teacher candidates of color, and program evaluations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for further research.

Role of Self-Regulated Learning in Contextual Teaching: Principles and Practices for Teacher Preparation (2001)
Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement. Paris, Scott G. & Winograd, Peter.
Self-regulated learning is characterized by: (a) awareness of thinking; (b) use of strategies; and (c) situated motivation. The authors suggest that these features of independent learning should be experienced, constructed, and discussed among teaching candidates and teachers, so that they understand how to nurture the same development among students. The authors review twelve principles of self-regulated learning that can be used in teacher preparation and in the classroom. http://www.ciera.org/library/archive/2001-04/0104parwin.htm

Service-Learning in a One-Year Alternative Route to Teacher Certification: A Powerful Multicultural Teaching Tool (2005)
Elinor Brown. Equity and Excellence in Education, 38, 61-74
This five-year study examined the effectiveness of an innovative approach to service-learning embedded in a one year site-based alternative route to teacher certification. Using multiple qualitative data sources surrounding 73 secondary pre-service teacher candidates, results indicate that service-learning can provide future teachers with insight into the politics of education, increase their interactive proficiency with culturally diverse students, teachers and administrators, raise their level of multicultural consciousness, and augment their knowledge while connecting theory to classroom practice.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Brown2_05.pdf

 Standards-Based Teacher Education Project Website
A university-level collaborative sponsored by the Council for Basic Education and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Offers guidance and support to faculty in Education and in Arts and Sciences in redesigning teacher preparation by using K-12 academic standards and new licensure standards to strengthen program requirements, courses, and assessments.
http://www.aacte.org/Programs/Standards_Practice/step.aspx

Student cohorts in teacher education: Support groups or intellectual communities? (2006)
Reflecting a belief in collaboration, the authors studied one particular teacher education program organized around cohorts. Sixteen students in a preservice bachelor of education program were interviewed at length about their experiences with cohort peers. Their comments were analyzed for recurring themes. Overall, they expressed a liking for cohort organization, but to varying degrees. Appreciation of the cohorts was focused almost entirely on the immediate social support provided by the cohort as a whole. It had little to do with its potential for academic stimulation, long-term professional ties, or individual personal friendships. Students reported a number of factors that affected their liking for cohorts, such as their age, prior family or job responsibilities, religion, and geographic distance of their home from the university.
--Seifert, K., Mandzuk, D. (2006). Student cohorts in teacher education: Support groups or intellectual communities? Teachers College Record, 108 (7), 1296-1320.

Teacher Education Network Website
A nonprofit organization whose education reform mission emphasizes improved teacher preparation through Professional Development School partnerships. Plans include collaboration to provide online professional development, and the creation of an entire online master's program in urban teacher preparation. Works in collaboration with UNITE and the Holmes Partnership.
http://www.teacherednet.org/

Teachers for a New Era
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Will provide up to $1 million per year for up to five years to several institutions for the redesign of teacher education. Design principles require that: (a) the program will be guided by evidence, including pupil learning gains accomplished under the tutelage of graduates; (b) Arts and Sciences faculty will be fully engaged in teacher education; (c) education is understood as an academically taught clinical practice profession that requires close cooperation between colleges and actual practicing schools, master teachers as clinical faculty, and residencies for beginning teachers during a two-year induction period. An executive summary and prospectus may be downloaded.
http://carnegie.org/sub/program/teachers.html

Teacher Preparation Research: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Recommendations (2001)
Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington. Wilson, Susan, Flooden, Robert E., Ferini, Joan.
An examination of studies about teacher preparation to address five research questions on (a) subject matter preparation, (b) pedagogical preparation, (c) clinical training, (d) policies and practices to improve and sustain the quality of preservice teacher education, and (e) components and characteristics of high-quality alternative certification programs. Full text.
http://depts.washington.edu/ctpmail/PDFs/TeacherPrep-WFFM-02-2001.pdf

Teacher Preparation Without Boundaries: A Two-Year Study of an Online Teacher Certification Program (2006)
Pamela Esprivalo Harrell and Mary Harris. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 14(4), 755-774.
Faculty at the University of North Texas describe their online Post-Baccalaureate Program. The study indicates that the program is successful in increasing the number of diverse candidates entering teaching, including career changer and minority candidates, among other positive results.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/harrellharris_06.pdf

Teacher Quality: Understanding the Effectiveness of Teacher Attributes Economic Policy Institute.
Reviews research to draw conclusions on the characteristics that appear to be linked with teacher effectiveness. The author uses five categories of measurable indicators to organize the characteristics assumed to reflect teacher quality: (a) experience; (b) preparation programs and degrees; (c) certification; (d) coursework; and (c) test scores. The executive summary and Chapter 1-Introduction may be downloaded.
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/books_teacher_quality_execsum_intro

Troops to Teachers Program Description
Department of Defense.
This is a longstanding program of the U.S. Department of Defense. The Department of Education transfers funds to Defense to provide assistance, including stipends, to eligible armed forces members so that they can obtain certification or licensure as teachers. The program also helps these individuals find employment in high-need districts (poverty rate of at least 20 percent or at least 10,000 poor children, and a high rate of personnel teaching out of field or on emergency credentials). Overview:
http://www.ed.gov/programs/troops/index.html?exp=0

Urban Network to Improve Teacher Education (UNITE)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
A national network of teaching professionals who provide research and resources to support practitioners in the urban environment. In collaboration with the Holmes Partnership, UNITE is participating in the redesign of teacher preparation and induction in terms of practices and conditions that are common to the urban context.
http://www.urbannetworks.net/

Using Community as a Resource for Teacher Education: A Case Study (2006)
This is an account of a teacher education program’s attempt to connect with a neighboring community in order to better prepare faculty to teach about the urban context in which their preservice teacher education students practice. Taking a feminist perspective, the two authors discuss their goals—the processes of using a community organization to lead the discussion and obstacles inherent to university settings. Knowledge about urban communities is an area that is often neglected in teacher preparation and one that needs to be more fully considered.
--Koerner, M.E., & Abdul-Tawwab, N.A. (2006). Using community as a resource for teacher education: A case study. Equity & Excellence in Education, 39, 37–46.

Who Prepares Your Teachers? The Debate Over Alternative Certification (2002)
American Association of School Administrators, Lockwood, Anne Turnbaugh.
This paper (a) reviews recent developments in, and responses to, the emphasis on alternative routes to certification; (b) summarizes views of traditionalists and non-traditionalists; (c) overviews a history of concerns about teacher preparation and the mixed research evidence; (d) looks at results of alternative certification in several States; and (e) concludes with questions that district superintendents should ask.
http://www.aasa.org/issues_and_insights/issues_dept/alternative_certification.pdf