Addressing State and Local Needs

Abstract

Personnel preparation in early childhood special education encompasses a wide range of competencies including typical and atypical child development, family services, program planning, assessment and program evaluation, and interagency coordination. This paper describes a graduate training program at San Francisco State University that prepares early childhood special education professionals to work with children with special needs from birth to 5 years and their families in a variety of settings. This interdisciplinary preservice training program was developed in response to identified state and local personnel preparation needs and is implemented through a combination of academic coursework and field-based experiences. The evaluation plan for this training program is outlined, and data on program outcomes are presented. These data reflect student satisfaction with the program, the utility of the program to graduates' subsequent job needs, and positive employer feedback on the skills of program graduates.