There is a critical need to mentor novice special education teachers to meet the current and projected teacher shortages. However, due to the various skill-levels of beginning special education teachers in schools and the small number of current special educators in each school who could serve as mentors, there is difficulty finding induction-level mentors that possess similar or the same teaching credentials or teaching assignments as mentees in the same schools or geographical regions. Electronic mentoring (e-mentoring) using technology initiates solutions as e-mentoring can provide synchronous and asynchronous mentoring opportunities which increase collaboration time and reduce feelings of isolation and increases efficacy among new teachers. The article presents the findings from research using a mixed methods design investigating novice special education teacher knowledge of professional competencies and the participant's perceptions of effectiveness of induction-level mentoring through the pilot use of an electronic mentoring program.

Ethnic minority disproportionality has been a topic of extensive discussion and research for many years. In 1997, Artiles, Trent, and Kuan conducted a seminal review of the special education research literature to identify how often researchers report and disaggregate data in ways that would support conclusions about specific ethnic minority groups. These authors found alarmingly low rates of publication on identifiable minority groups. The purpose of this review is to replicate the work of Artiles et al. and extend this literature analysis to the subsequent 15-year period (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009). We found increases in the proportion of articles reporting ethnic minority information 15 years following the Artiles et al. publication. Discussion focuses on the gap in our knowledge of evidence-based practices for ethnic minority students in special education. About the AuthorsEleazar Vasquez III is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida where he teaches and conducts research for the Department of Child Family and Community Sciences. His research focuses on the evaluation of academic and behavioral outcomes from instructional innovations, measurement validity, technology implementation to increase efficiency in teaching, behavior analysis, and culturally and linguistically diverse students. Timothy A. Slocum is an associate professor at Utah State University. His research focus is on evaluation of academic outcomes from instructional innovations, measurement validity, direct instruction, reading disabilities, reading instruction, and alternate assessment.Lee Mason is a doctoral student at Utah State University. Breda V Okeeffe is a postdoctoral fellow at

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It is critically important for leadership personnel in special education to develop knowledge and skills in policy and advocacy. The Pew Charitable Trust initiated a survey to uncover resources and experiences impacting doctoral-level preparation at institutes of higher education. Results indicated that fewer than 30 percent of doctoral students were provided the opportunity for an internship experience. Thus, a large university located in the southeast United States created an internshipexperience reflective of current policies and trends within the field of special education. This article discusses interns’ responsibilities with reference to policy and politics, opportunities for mentorship, the development of personal contacts and networking, and the impact of each experience on the intern’s future role in special education teacher education and advocacy.

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