The degree to which special educators serve in a meaningful collaborative capacity in inclusive classrooms has come under scrutiny, and hence, the quality of collaboration training afforded requires examination. This article describes the results of a survey conducted with 53 undergraduate pre-service special education training programs representing 25 states. The survey examined (a) the manner in which collaboration training for special education majors is structured according to content and field experience requirements, (b) the degree to which general education students at each institution are incorporated, (c) faculty perceptions related to the quality of collaboration in public schools, and (d) perceived differences between special and general education faculty in terms of the importance of collaboration training. Results suggest that many of the concerns related to collaboration in public schools are paralleled by, and perhaps attributable to, those between special and general education in college and university training programs.

Although numerous studies have examined the phenomenon of burnout among special educators, the manner in which stress develops over time has not been addressed. Tlais article describes a study in which special educators were followed over the 5-year period following the receipt of their undergraduate degrees in special education. Participants responded to a questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which was administered 3 times in Years 1-2 and 3 times in Years 4-5. Results indicated that teachers (n = 41) who remained in special education experienced slow but steady increases in emotional exhaustion over the course of the 5 years. Some differences concerning trends in emotional exhaustion were observed among subgroups of teachers.

The highly qualified mandate of the No Child Left Behind Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has created unnecessary confusion, particularly among secondary‐school special educators and administrators with respect to instruction in core academic subjects. The pursuit of compliance solutions to meet this requirement has generally distracted stakeholders from re‐examining the mission of secondary‐school special education for students with learning disabilities (LD). Because effective subject matter instruction within inclusive classrooms is dependent upon general and special educators capitalizing on each other's areas of expertise, the necessity of requiring special educators to possess a comparable level of subject matter knowledge as the general educator is not only of questionable merit, but often counterproductive. This article poses and examines several fundamental philosophical questions related to the delivery of core academic subject matter to students with LD.

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The decline in the written communications skills of students has been addressed both in the professional literature and in public forums. A particular concern is the lack of attention that deficits in the area of written expression have received in special education. The remedial frame-work and applied interventions of many LD teachers reflect a mechanistic conceptualization of the process of written expression. This article examines how current instructional practices prelude the development of meaningful written expression in LD children.