Identifying Competency Indicators of Teachers of the Severely Handicapped

Abstract

This article describes a research effort designed to identify indicators of competencies of teachers of the severely handicapped. Two indicators of competency (amount of instruction time, percentage of curriculum materials task analyzed) were identified as contributing to 78% of the variance for all variables. A training model was described for teaching these competencies to teachers, and subsequent student performance data were reported which demonstrate that the students of teachers trained under this model perform significantly better than students of teachers not trained. The implications of this study for teacher-training institutions are also addressed.