HD23 - The Special Education Model Curriculum for Regular and Vocational Educators and Recommendations for Its Use
Executive Summary: Many students identified as having disabilities and eligible for special education spend most of their instructional day in regular classes. It is unknown how prepared the regular and vocational teachers are to accept these students and adapt their instruction to meet their individual learning needs. Until recently, there was no requirement in Virginia for teacher preparation institutions of higher education to include content and experiences that address recognition of individual differences, including students with disabilities. Since implementation of the requirement, there has been a wide variety of offerings among colleges and universities intended to meet this requirement. The purpose of this project was to develop a model teacher education curriculum for consideration by institutions of higher education, local education agencies, and state operated programs in the provision of pre-service and in-service instruction for regular and vocational educators to teach students with disabilities in the regular setting. A team was formed to develop the model curriculum. Expertise from Department of Education staff included regular, special, and vocational education specialists. The Delphi method was used to gather input from stakeholders. A total of 38 reviewers were identified who represent various constituencies including teachers, administrators, faculty from institutions of higher education, and parents of students with disabilities. The model curriculum was designed to be broad enough to be considered a model which institutions of higher education faculty and local educators can use to guide their staff development in serving students with disabilities in regular and vocational classrooms. It is recommended that the model curriculum be: • disseminated to Virginia's institutions of higher education, local school divisions, state operated programs, and proprietary facilities for use in training regular and vocational educators. • used by institutions of higher education for inclusion in pre-service course work for preparing regular and vocational educators in fulfillment of the requirements to address recognition of individual differences and provide practical experiences with students who have disabilities. • used for course work in the area of special education to satisfy the content requirement for recertification (refer to Appendix E). • distributed to local school divisions in order to provide a resource for staff development of new and veteran regular and vocational teachers in Virginia. Included in the report (Appendix B) are letters from Delegate Crouch and the State Special Education Advisory Committee reflecting positions that support use of the model curriculum. |
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