The need for teachers who are prepared to work with the increasingly diverse population of special education students in urban areas has become critical. Accordingly, teacher educators must seek to improve the effectiveness of their programs. Urban trainees will need to be competent in a wide range of research-based instructional practices, and teacher educators can introduce these practices to trainees by modeling them in teacher education courses. In order to investigate current practice, this study examined urban trainees' (N=249) perceptions of the frequency and importance of teaching methods modeled in their professional training. The results of a survey suggested that little variety of instructional practices was erycployed and that trainees tended to value most those approaches most frequently used. The expansion of research and training efforts in this area is recommended.
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