Development and Design of a Merged Secondary and Special Education Teacher Preparation Program

Authors

Ann Fullerton, Portland State UniversityFollow
Barbara Ruben, Portland State UniversityFollow
Stephanie McBride, Portland State UniversityFollow
Susan Bert, Portland State UniversityFollow

Published In

Teacher Education Quarterly

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2011

Subjects

Teachers -- Training of, Middle school education -- Curricula, Students with disabilities, Special education

Abstract

As middle and secondary classrooms become increasingly inclusive, some special educators may not be prepared to teach content, and some general educators may not be prepared to address diverse learning needs. This mismatch between the reality of today's schools and traditional teacher preparation has led to the development of new models for teacher education that integrate or merge special education and general education. Integrated and merged models are two approaches to combining special and general education pedagogy for teacher education. In merged programs, faculty in general and special education collaborate to develop one program in which all candidates receive licensure in both general and special education. Merged programs are developed through the extensive and deliberate collaboration of general and special educationfaculty to redesign the teacher education curriculum and field experiences. However, while several merged programs have been developed to prepare elementary candidates, programs for middle/secondary candidates are scarce. When faculty from Curriculum and Instruction and Special Education consider creating a merged secondary program, many questions and issues arise. These questions and issues were addressed in the development and implementation of the Secondary Dual Educator's Program (SDEP). The overall purpose of SDEP is to develop strategic teachers with the versatility to meet the learning needs of all secondary students. This article describes the process used by cross-department faculty to develop the program design and components and how program evaluation led to revisions that strengthened the program.

Description

This is the publisher's final PDF. Article appears in Teacher Education Quarterly.

http://www.teqjournal.org/index.html

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/12856

Citation Details

Fullerton, A., Ruben, B. J., McBride, S., & Bert, S. (2011). Development and Design of a Merged Secondary and Special Education Teacher Preparation Program. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(2), 27-44.