This district-university partnership program is meeting the personnel needs of a 17-district region in the California desert where over 40% of their special education teachers had been employed without appropriate credentials. The program was designed to respond to the geographic and population (68% Hispanic) demographics of the region. Utilizing an alternative credential option (the Internship Credential), courses, extensive practica support, assistance and supervision, and continuing professional development opportunities were provided for teachers in this rural desert region. Preliminary results indicate that 70 teachers completed their Specialist Credential, and the retention rate of these professionals has been approximately 85%. It has been indicated, too, that coaches who provide extensive mentoring of Intern teachers during their two years of working toward full certification have favorable views of the program.

This paper reviews the literature dealing with the importance of reading to educable mentally handicapped (EMH) children, the characteristics of EMH children which influence the acquisition of reading skills, and current approaches to teaching reading to the mentally handicapped. The implications of this research to the teaching of reading are summarized.

This collection of papers includes presentations by accomplished researchers who have different theoretical orientations toward how learning and thinking develop. The presenters (Patricia Cegelka and Rena Lewis, San Diego University-Behaviorism; Suzanne Henry, International Business Machines -Piagetian; and Jill Larkin, Carnegie-Mellon University -Information Processing) each describe how someone with their perspective might go about teaching tenth grade students about the slope of a line in a geometry class. The discussant (Fred Danner, University of Kentucky) analyzes the three approaches with the intention of focusing on similarities and differences. Dr. Danner focuses on two major topics, the manner of conception of the learner, and the differing role of the teacher. The discussion is descriptive in tone and does not advocate one approach over another. It was concluded that each approach can provide useful guidelines for the teacher, instructional designer, and curriculum developer depending on desired outcomes.