There is a documented shortage of special education teachers nationwide, and many rural school districts report hiring uncertified or temporary teachers to fill the open positions. To meet the needs of rural schools in our state, Colorado Christian University developed an asynchronous online alternative special education teacher certification…

In this article, teacher education faculty of a medium-size university, historically grounded in teacher preparation within a rural context, describe their ongoing work to transform their practice in order to prepare special and general educators who co-plan, co-teach, and co-assess with their counterparts in the field. Follow-up research with…

The Technology Accentuated Teacher Education for Rural Specialists (TATERS) program aimed to: (a) prepare highly qualified special education teachers across a state comprised of more than 70% rural districts, (b) develop a system of support through a mentor network and institutions of higher education collaboration to address the needs of teacher…

National shortages of qualified personnel in the field of early childhood special education are well documented, with shortages magnified in regions characterized by poverty and rural geography. This article provides an overview of the challenges faced and innovations implemented by an alternate-track, personnel preparation program in Appalachian…

Describes how the Blackfeet Head Start Program uses professionals to train local residents as screeners and home trainers for preschool handicapped children. Notes that numbers of handicapped children and their families who receive services have increased as a result of using local home trainers and teachers as direct care providers. (JHZ)

During 1984-85 New York's 14 Early Childhood Direction Centers responded to 10,609 service requests and assisted 5,283 parents, 376 professionals, and 666 agencies in obtaining services for 5,510 handicapped children aged birth to 5. The network operated at a cost of only $218 per child matched to services. (JHZ)

Profiles three program awards for exemplary rural special education practices. Describes an Arizona program that allows teachers to pursue advanced training without quitting their jobs, an Idaho program of work experience and transitional services for special education students, and a Virginia program for normalization of students labeled…

Profiles three programs recognized for exemplary rural special education programs. Describes a program for severely handicapped birth-through-three children in an isolated mountainous Tennessee community, a multidisciplinary special education team that provides an itinerant resource room for an Alaska school district of 22,000 square miles, and…

Describes responses of 35 state gifted education consultants and 76 teachers of gifted students in rural areas to survey of rural gifted programming. Finds many needs for gifted programming involving cooperative efforts, adequate funding, use of community resources, more consistent/appropriate identification methods, teacher influence, and role…

Describes a program designed to help rural school staff meet the educational needs of handicapped students and to give preservice teacher education students the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to work successfully with handicapped students in rural schools. Discusses the project's implications for the shortage of speech-language pathologists in…

Nontraditional strategies for graduate student recruitment, training, and placement were developed to meet speech-language personnel shortages in northern Mississippi rural schools and to upgrade the existing services professionally. Candidates provided speech-language services in the project area simultaneously with their graduate training.…

Describes and evaluates a three-year, accelerated graduate education program designed to give participants a master's degree and two years of professional experience as speech-language clinicians in schools and intended to improve the supply and continuity of persons providing language, speech, and hearing services to children in rural schools.…