Systematic Alignment of Dual Teacher Preparation

In 2009, our Department of Special Education and Child Development initiated the Collaborative Preservice Project: Preparing Excellent Professionals (CPPEP). Initiation of the Collaborative Preservice Project was in direct response to recommendations by community partners and recent teacher education graduates from across multiple disciplines (e.g., Elementary Education, Middle Grades, and Secondary Education) suggesting a significant need to incorporate more content specific to the instruction of diverse students, including those with disabilities, into coursework. The primary goal of our project was to increase the number of highly qualified teachers prepared to teach students with disabilities in urban and rural general education classroom settings across the state and nationally. The development of the integrated dual program option expands the existing special education initial licensure options at our university. The newly added program provides undergraduate students (referred to as scholars in our program) the option of acquiring knowledge and skills in core content areas, as well as evidence-based pedagogy and discipline specific proficiencies in both Special Education and Elementary Education (e.g., Common Core, Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support [PBIS]). Unique aspects of our dual preparation program include (a) a K-6 focus, (b) progression in cohorts from acceptance into the program to graduation, (c) peer mentoring by another dual major scholar who provides support and encouragement as scholars advance through coursework, (d) development of teacher leadership skills during the second year of the program by becoming a mentor to newly admitted dual scholars, (e) faculty mentoring and support via mid-semester progress monitoring each year, and (f) an intensive 7'/Week student teaching experience in an elementary General Education classroom followed by a 71/2-week student teaching experience in an elementary Special Education classroom.Conceptual and Historical FrameworkMost traditional special education preparation programs offer little direct connection to the general education content, assessment, and proficiency standards. Instead, a majority of special education preservice programs continue to train candidates by categorical content, evaluation measures, and separate professional standards. As a result, novice teachers exiting traditional special education preparation programs find themselves employed in collaborative teaching arrangements where they experience notable fragmentation between their preservice training and the expectations and demands of their daily roles and responsibilities (Blanton & Pugach, 2007, 2011; Ford, Pugach, &. Otis-Wilbom, 2001; Fullerton, Ruben, McBride, & Bert, 2011; Hardman, 2009; MasonWilliams, 2015; Stayton St McCollum, 2002).Similarly, most general education preparation programs offer content, assessment, and proficiency standards specific to disciplines (e.g., Elementary Education, Middle School Education) with limited or no connection to teaching students with disabilities within natural classroom environments either required or infused into their specified plan of studies. Even in teacher preparation programs with purposefully infused content specific to students with disabilities and required clinical field experiences in inclusive settings, general education candidates view themselves as poorly prepared to teach students with learning and behavior problems (Fullerton et al., 2011; McLeskey & Billingsley, 2008).This separate approach to preparation of special education and general education teachers is particularly problematic given that an increasing number of students with disabilities are receiving the majority of their academic instruction within general education classrooms. For example, according to the 30th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2011), more than half (53. …