Profile of Personnel Preparation Programs in Visual Impairment and Their Faculty

Abstract

This survey of university personnel preparation programs in visual impairment in the United States and Canada investigated the demographic characteristics of faculty members and programs, instructional models, and funding formulas in 2007–08. It found that many programs used some form of distance education and that there was a correlation between tenure status and the age of the program. Trends for this and the previous four surveys are examined.

Perceptions of a Statewide Mentor Program for New Itinerant Vision Professionals

“…With the shortage of special education teachers, understanding how a successful mentoring program works will assist in the recruitment and retention of new teachers (Billingsley, Carlson, & Klein, 2004). The current and anticipated future shortages of new professionals in the field of visual impairment with the increase in retirements by baby boomers supports the need for an effective mentoring program as new educators enter the profession (Ambrose-Zaken & Bozeman, 2010;McLeskey, Tyler, & Flippin, 2004). "Providing mentors to teachers of students with low-incidence disabilities (e.g., visual impairments) is particularly challenging given that one teacher may serve an entire region or state" (Billingsley et al, 2009, p. 5).…”

Personnel Preparation in Visual Impairment: A Responsive, Individualized Model

“…Although vision impairment is a lowincidence disability, the number of children with vision loss has increased in recent years (Rahi, Cumberland, & Peckham, 2010). Concurrently, the number of individual states supporting low-incidence preservice teacher training programs in vision impairment has decreased, expanding the need for qualified professionals in visual impairment (Ambrose-Zaken & Bozeman, 2010;Bozeman & Zebehazy, 2014;Ferrell, 2007;Walker & Bozeman, 2002).…”

Enriching Doctoral-Level Preparation Programs through a Nationwide Consortium Model: The National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities

“…There are complexities of engaging in research with low-incidence populations-small sample sizes, geographic distance between participants, lack of sufficient comparison groups, and heterogeneous characteristics of the participant pools. These barriers to conducting research are complicated by the fact that special education faculty often face multiple responsibilities that leave little time to engage in research (Ambrose-Zaken & Bozeman, 2010;Ferrell, 2007;Schirmer, 2008).…”

“…Moreover, the high cost of lowincidence undergraduate and graduate programs has significant implications for their resource allocation; many lowincidence programs are staffed by only one or a small number of faculty members, and many faculty have insufficient formalized time dedicated to research (Ambrose-Zaken & Bozeman, 2010;Benedict, Johnson, & Antia, 2011). Oneperson programs may affect program vitality and innovation (Sindelar & Rosenberg, 2003).…”

“…Research may suffer without vigorous debate and immersion in theory and practice. An additional challenge is that upwards of half of the faculty in sensory disabilities reported their intention to retire from their positions, leaving gaps in programs that must be filled by university-trained educators (Ambrose- Zaken & Bozeman, 2010;Benedict et al, 2011;Smith et al, 2011).…”