Bridging Bilingual and Special Education: Opportunities for Transformative Change in Teacher Preparation

• In Event: Salient Issues in Special Education: Working With Bilingual, English Language Learner, and Marginalized Students

Abstract

This paper will report the outcomes of ALAS: (Acquisition of Language Skills and Academic Literacy) Teacher Education Project that bridges Biliteracy and Special Education teacher preparation. ALAS was designed to respond to California’s need for bilingual special education teachers, where less than 2% (563 out of 28,159) of special education teachers in California are credentialed in both bilingual and special education disciplines (CBEDS, 2010). The importance of the project is to actively address academic programming to develop qualified bilingual special education teachers to meet the needs of K-12 English learners via high-quality university courses, field experiences and workshops in bilingual and special education. The outcomes, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and tensions of the ALAS two-year teacher preparation are discussed.

Authors

• Alberto M. Ochoa, San Diego State University

• Karen Cadiero-Kaplan, San Diego State University

• Regina Brandon, San Diego State University