A partnership to promote teacher preparation for inclusive, urban schools

Critical Features of Special Education Teacher Preparation

“…Other programs attended to integration across courses by teaching courses in integrated blocks, weekly seminars, or both. Many programs used case-based approaches, portfolios, and weekly seminars to help students to reflect on what they were learning across courses and to discuss how they were applying knowledge and strategies in schools (Affleck & Lowenbraum, 1995;Bay & Lopez-Reyna, 1997;Burstein & Sears, 1998;Emond, 1995;Epanchin & Wooley-Brown, 1993;Lovingfoss, et al, 2001;May, et al, 1989;Otis-Wilburn & Winn, 2000;Sobel, French, & Filbin, 1998). Interestingly, this integrative approach to fieldwork and course work often characterized programs focusing on cultural diversity or unification with general education.…”

“…As in the University of New Mexico model, faculty collaboration was a featured component of many teacher education program descriptions (Keefe, et al, 2000;Kemple, et al, 1994;May, et al, 1989;Sobel, et al, 1998). Faculty worked collaboratively with other faculty in 39 of the programs, and it appeared from many of the descriptions that collaboration was employed to create a coherent program.…”

“…Surveys like those at the University of Kentucky (Grisham-Brown, et al, 2000) and the University of West Virginia (Miller, et al, 1999) were used to determine if graduates used practices learned in their program and their perceptions of the program. Other programs created a more robust assessment by combining several indirect assessment methods (Keefe, et al, 2000;Sobel, et al, 1998;Panyan, Hillman, & Ligget, 1997). For instance, Burstein, Cabello, & Hamann (1993) used The Teacher Inventory on the Education of Diverse Students to assess students' pre-and post-training beliefs about teaching diverse children.…”

“…In special education, some program descriptions articulated a clear vision, and others did not. Programs combining general and special education or those focusing on cultural diversity were more likely to articulate themes or goals that faculty used as the basis for making decisions about program experiences (e.g., see Affleck & Lowenbraum, 1995;Aksamit, et al, 1990;Bay & Lopez-Reyna, 1997;Benner & Judge, 2000;Kemple, et al, 1994;Sobel, et al, 1998). Special education programs maintaining a separate identity were less likely to describe goals that could be used to drive the program, with few exceptions (Kenney & LaMontagne, 1999;Lovingfoss, et al, 2001;Rosenberg & Rock, 1994).…”

Bridging Pedagogy and Practice: From Coursework to Field Experiences in a Teacher Preparation Program

“…With the increase of diverse learners in urban classrooms, there is a demand to prepare teachers to work in diverse urban settings (Enright & McCloskey, 1992;Loewenberg Ball & Forzani, 2009;Sobel & French, 1998). More so, there is a call for reforming preservice teacher education, which includes the need to improve the quality of field experiences (Sobel & French, 1998;Taylor & Sobel, 2001). By offering structured supports to help preservice teachers address the needs of diverse learners, the preservice teachers indicated increased ability and confidence in being able to incorporate differentiated strategies in their lesson plans.…”