Meeting the Demands for Specialized Teachers of Students with Severe Disabilities

Abstract

This paper describes a federally funded, 5-year (1989 to 1994) personnel preparation program for unendorsed teachers of students with severe disabilities in Virginia. The program involved a cooperative union of training and technical assistance from 3 state universities and the Virginia State Department of Education. The program was designed to be inexpensive to participating teachers and minimize their travel, to allow supervised application of content schools, and to meet state endorsement requirements for severe disabilities. Teachers were selected for their demonstrated teaching talents and their predicted job stability. The 61 teachers who completed the program participated in 1 of 3 repeated training cycles. This article presents evaluation findings on the training program and explores other solutions to personnel shortages in low incidence disability areas in most state.

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