This article describes the Council for Exceptional Children's professional standards for special education teachers, including the content standards and the knowledge and skill standards. Information is provided on how to use the standards to structure a professional development plan, maintain expertise and evaluate competency. Self-evaluation…

Explores changes in teacher knowledge through curriculum reform in the middle grades. Summarizes middle school reforms across the core subject areas, how some of the recently developed mathematics curricula have been used to improve student learning and enhance teachers' content knowledge, and analyzes responses from teacher interviews on one such…

A study involving 84 special educators in two western states investigated special education knowledge and use of various transition assessment strategies. Although most of the educators indicated they were aware of all types of assessment strategies, they still relied heavily on those that were either standardized or teacher prepared. (Contains…

This article discusses teacher misconceptions of gifted students and gifted programs and the effects of a postgraduate teacher education program in Australia called the Certificate of Gifted Education. Results of the program indicate powerful changes in teachers' attitudes and support the need to provide every teacher with training in gifted…

Focuses on changes in British education affecting teacher education and training, examining rhetoric and reality, politics, the structure of experience, staff perceptions, and organizational systems. Experiences at a teachers' college in northern England illustrate these changes in the context of the British National Curriculum. (SLD)

Higher education institutions can enhance school reform by establishing accountability measures for professional preparation of curriculum specialists. The article describes a knowledge base of curriculum domains and related practices. A quantifiable compendium of operationalized behaviors and skills can help establish frameworks for program…

Preservice teachers must be properly prepared to teach English-as-a-Second-Language students to read. This article describes the informed approach to reading instruction, discussing what teachers need to know to be effective teachers of reading and offering recommended core requirements for preparing teachers (conceptual foundation, knowledge of…

A study explored the perceptions of 14 teachers on the meaning of curricular individualization for preschool through primary-aged students with severe mental retardation. Findings indicate individualizing practices may stem from two disparate sources of understanding: institutional or local. Instructional opportunities made available to children…

Explores high school students' and preservice teachers' knowledge of light, vision, and related topics before and after commonly practiced instruction. Suggests a hierarchical structure to represent the collective conceptual knowledge of students and teachers in terms of facets and schemes of knowledge. Makes suggestions for designing instruction…

This article addresses educators' ethical responsibility for recognizing the inherent dignity and worth of African American students with disabilities. It opens with a brief overview of multicultural education and continues with a three-pronged model for addressing multicultural competencies: awareness, knowledge, and skills. Strategies for…

Examines the efficacy beliefs preservice teachers bring to methods courses in science and mathematics and the changes in their beliefs as a result of the enriched experiences of methods courses. Contains 22 references. (DDR)

Contends that two standard approaches to assessing coaching expertise (behavioral assessment and assessment of coaches' knowledge base) are flawed because they cannot adequately improve coach development. The paper reviews literature from other areas of cognitive psychology that offer more promising directions and makes recommendations for…

An interview with Susan Loucks-Horsley, director of professional development at the National Research Council's Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education, explores the importance of good teachers, deficiencies in professional development, rural problems, the importance of high academic standards, how the newer standards differ…

Investigated what middle and high school master health educators considered important regarding content, skills, and experiences for preparing school health educators. Surveys indicated that both groups considered the most important priorities to be: awareness/use of various instructional techniques; skill in working with parents; knowledge of…

A study involving 114 educators of students with profound and multiple learning difficulties, interviews with 20 head teachers, and observation in four British schools, found student assessment was largely informal, Individualized Education Programs were often lacking in detail, and about one-third of teachers had no special education…