What Every Must Know Special Educator - Council for Exceptional ...

submitted assuring that the graduates of the program
possess appropriate knowledge, skill, and dispositions
to practice within the respective professional role
safely and effectively.
Colleagues review the performance of the program
assessment results to determine how well the program
has prepared their prospective teachers in alignment
with CEC national professional standards. Only
when a special education preparation program has
CEC national recognition is the public assured that
program graduates are prepared to practice safely and
effectively.
For individuals looking for a preparation program,
it is important for them to assure that the program is
nationally recognized by CEC. For over 27 years, CEC
alone and in partnership with NCATE has provided
recognition to quality special education preparation
programs.
Through the CEC partnership with NCATE, CEC has
agreements with 50 states or territories in the United
States. To date CEC has evaluated and approved approximately
one third of all special education preparation
programs in the United States.
Additionally, CEC maintains procedures to conduct
performance-based program reviews outside the
United States and in those instances in which a preparation
program does not seek national accreditation
through NCATE (Appendix 7).
Alternative Preparation Programs
Currently it is estimated that almost a million individuals
with exceptional learning needs receive their
special education services from approximately 50,000
individuals who are not even minimally qualified under
licensing standards to practice special education.
Many other children receive special education services
from teachers doing double duty because over 3,000
Historically, the licensing of individuals to practice
has been the responsibility of states and provinces.
Although approaches to licensing special educators
taken by jurisdictions have been variable and somewhat
idiosyncratic, most states today base their licensing
process on the standards of the national societies
representing the various disciplines within education.
Currently, over 40 states are committed to align their
licensing processes with the CEC standards. As mentioned
previously, most individuals are now licensed
for multicategorical practice. Many states use terms
assuring high-QualiTy liCensure
special education teaching positions remain vacant
each year or school districts have assigned them unreasonably
large caseloads. This crisis in demand for
special education teachers is fueling a good deal of
interest in alternative ways to prepare special educators.
Many of these alternatives hold promise, and
CEC actively embraces innovative approaches preparing
well-qualified special educators. However, some
poorly conceptualized alternative approaches appear
to have sacrificed standards in attempting to place
unprepared individuals in poorly supported teaching
positions. The result has been an expensive revolving
door through which ill-prepared individuals are
rushed into classrooms only to become overwhelmed
and disillusioned. These individuals leave special
education in large numbers. Most significant, a large
price is extracted from the learning of individuals with
exceptional learning needs.
Alternative preparation programs have historically
played and can continue to play a positive role
in addressing the demand deficit in special education.
However, decision makers must not be seduced by
“quick fixes.” School districts cannot afford to waste
precious dollars on recruitment and induction of
unprepared individuals. Most important, too many
individuals with exceptional learning needs will
never benefit from the promise of the Individuals With
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) unless decision makers
embrace solutions that address both quantity and
quality in teacher preparation. Regardless of whether
a preparation program is traditional or alternative,
campus-based or school-based, distance or face-toface,
CEC expects all programs preparing special
educators to meet CEC nationally validated standards
by undergoing a performance-based review. As stated
in the introduction, this approach provides the most
reasonable assurance to the parents and the public that
beginning special education teachers are prepared for
their professional responsibilities.
such as Teaching of Individuals With Mild/Moderate
Exceptionalities and Teaching of Individuals With
Severe/Profound Exceptionalities to describe these
multicategorical licenses. According to the latest figures
from the U.S. Department of Education, over 90%
of the titles of the special education degrees granted
each year are multicategorical (U.S. Department of
Education, 2003). For those states that use a multicategorical
approach, CEC has developed the Curriculum
Referenced Licensing and Program Accreditation
Framework. The Individualized General Education
Curriculum and Individualized Independence
SECtion : prEparing to bECoME a SpECial EduCation profESSional 1