Current efforts to reform special education are contingent upon preparing general education teachers at the preservice level for inclusive classroom settings. In this article, we describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative preservice teacher education program in elementary education in the Inclusive Early Childhood Education Unit at The University of Tennessee. This program possesses several distinctive features: a three-phase training model; alternative approaches to instructional delivery, curricula, and assessment; local school mentoring; and extensive field-based experiences. Program outcomes from mentoring teachers, school administrators, and students were collected to assess the impact of the program.
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