The Scholars Project: Maine’s Distance Education Model for Preparing Early Childhood Special Educators to Work With Young Children With Disabilities

Abstract

The Early Childhood Opportunity (EChO) Scholars project was designed to address the following significant needs in Maine: (a) prepare highly qualified early interventionists and early childhood special educators through distance education, (b) develop a system of support through a mentor network, (c) provide a graduate-level early childhood special education (ECSE) curriculum emphasizing current evidence-based practices (EBPs), and (d) develop a feedback loop designed to assess candidate knowledge, skills, and implementation of EBPs. This article describes the results of a 4-year Office of Special Education Programs project designed to support early childhood special educators across rural Maine. Key program components, successes, and future directions for continuous improvement are highlighted.

Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs: Examination Through a Marketing Lens

“…Only two programs had been designed to be completed in less than 2 years (Esposito & Lal, 2005; Snell, Martin, & Orelove, 1997) and neither targeted rural areas. Five programs had been designed to take 2 years to complete (Bargerhuff et al, 2007; Cegelka & Alvarado, 2000; Jameson & Mcdonnell, 2007; Larwood, 2005; McLaren & Rutland, 2013), whereas six programs were to be completed in more than 2 years (Andrews, Miller, Evans, & Smith, 2003; Childre, 2014; Jordan et al, 1999; Knapczyk, Chapman, Rodes, & Chung, 2001; Lemke & Harrison, 2000; Rooks-Ellis, 2017). Most programs used a cohort model ( n = 12, 71%) and held courses outside of the typical school day.…”

“…Nine programs targeted disability category(s) with five targeting high-incidence disabilities (Andrews et al, 2003; Bargerhuff et al, 2007; Jensen, Churchill, & Davis, 2001; Jordan et al, 1999; Kurtts, Cooper, & Boyles, 2007), three targeting low-incidence disabilities (Jameson & Mcdonnell, 2007; Larwood, 2005; Snell et al, 1997), and one targeting both high- and low-incidence disabilities (Knapczyk et al, 2001). Two programs specifically targeted the early childhood level (McLaren & Rutland, 2013; Rooks-Ellis, 2017), and one targeted dual licensure with special education and general education content areas (Childre, 2014), all being from programs targeting rural areas.…”

The Founding, Evolution, and Impact of the American Council on Rural Special Education

“…Additional use of the Internet was mentioned for advocacy purposes by issuing Call to Action alerts for issues that arise during the year, advocating for technological advances that would be advantageous for rural special education, and advocating for getting that technology in place for those practitioners and students who need it. Researchers have described the use of technology as a way to deliver professional development and prepare special education teachers in rural regions (Dieker, Hynes, Hughes, Hardin, & Becht, 2015; Hager, 2011; Rooks-Ellis, 2017) and to deliver services in geographically isolated areas. This has included the use of telepractice to deliver speech/language services to rural communities (Lowman & Kleinert, 2017) and coaching of parents of children with autism using the Internet (Meadan, Meyer, Snodgrass, & Halle, 2013).…”

Learning From Graduate Training in Related Fields: A Model Online School Psychology Program

“…Despite numerous examples of successful online/distance education programs in the field of education (e.g., Bailey & Zumeta, 2015;Jameson & McDonnell, 2007;Rooks-Ellis, 2017;Ruby et al, 2017), most teacher education and school psychology certification programs continue to utilize the traditional approach of face-to-face professional education (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, 2016). Unfortunately, one prominent challenge for candidates in rural areas is their distance from a university (Canter, Voytecki, & Rodriguez, 2007).…”

“…Distance education is not a new concept to the fields of school psychology and special education teacher preparation (Bailey & Zumeta, 2015; Jameson & McDonnell, 2007; Rooks-Ellis, 2017; Ruby, Chaffin, & Islam-Zwart, 2017). For example, Jameson and McDonnell (2007) described a 25-year evolution of distance teacher education at the University of Utah.…”