Novice Urban Elementary Teacher Preparedness in Teaching Students With Special Needs

• In Event: Roundtable Session 55
  In Roundtable Session: Approaches to Critical Teaching With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Exceptional Students

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how colleges were preparing general education and special education teachers to educate students with special needs in urban schools. General and special education elementary teachers’ perspectives on pre-service teacher preparation were compared. The larger study included three groups of stakeholders: six novice teachers, the two principals of those teachers, and three faculty of the college or university the novice teachers attended while earning their teaching degree. The proposed paper is limited to a qualitative analysis of the themes, patterns, and discrepancies in the responses of the general education and special education teachers. Novice teachers described their fieldwork, preparation program, mentoring, and instructional supervision.

Authors

• Deana Rinaldi, P.S. 56

• S. Marshall Perry, Dowling College