The role of teacher consultant has become a topic of increasing concern. This article looks at consultation genencclly and as it pertains to special education. A review of the professional literature investigated the topics of teacher consultant roles. cross-categorical services, approval criteria, and caseloads. The position of teacher consultant as it is being implemented may be untenable. The need exists for consultation services, but there is a critical lack of role definition at both state and local levels and a dearth of professional preparation in consultation skills.

Standardized portfolios are being used by teachers and teacher candidates to demonstrate subject matter knowledge for certification or to be considered highly qualified; however, the psychometric adequacy of data used for this purpose has not been evaluated. In the current study, we examined the interscorer reliability, concurrent, predictive, and discriminate validity, and instructional utility of an assessment portfolio used in a special education teacher education program. The estimate of interscorer reliability was .91, validity coefficients ranged from .53 to .60, and the discriminate validity coefficient was -.01. A comparison of scores for instructional objectives suggested relative difficulties writing adequate short-term objectives, which was then further emphasized in subsequent instruction and resulted in increased scores. Suggestions for practice and future research are included.

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A review of available curricula and materials on human sexuality led to the conclusion that an appropriate instructional program in love, sexuality and maturity is not available for high school students with learning disabilities. A unit was developed to meet this need. Unit preparation included an investigation of philosophy, content, need and materials design. The unit was taught to a group of 6 high school students with learning disabilities. They improved their scores from a range of 58%-84% to a range of 90%-100% on the criterion referenced pre-post-test, meeting the criteria the authors established for success.

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