21st Century Change Drivers: Considerations for Constructing Transformative Models of Special Education Teacher Development

Contemporary challenges confronting special education teachers include, in part, workload, role ambiguity, evaluation, and shortages. Based on these and other challenges, the piece-meal fragmented approach to pre- and in-service training, which exists currently, needs to be replaced with 21st centur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teacher education and special education 2016-05, Vol.39 (2), p.98-120
Main Authors: Rock, Marcia L., Spooner, Fred, Nagro, Sarah, Vasquez, Eleazar, Dunn, Cari, Leko, Melinda, Luckner, John, Bausch, Margaret, Donehower, Claire, Jones, Jennie L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Achievement Gap
Change Agents
Credibility
Disabilities
Educational Improvement
Educational Legislation
Faculty Development
Federal Legislation
Special Education Teachers
Student Diversity
Teacher Persistence
Teacher Recruitment
Technological Advancement
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Summary:Contemporary challenges confronting special education teachers include, in part, workload, role ambiguity, evaluation, and shortages. Based on these and other challenges, the piece-meal fragmented approach to pre- and in-service training, which exists currently, needs to be replaced with 21st century models of special education teacher development that are seamless, technology enabled, comprehensive, cohesive, and career spanning. In this article, the authors briefly address persistent and unresolved challenges, identify contemporary change drivers, and discuss ways in which teacher education professionals could leverage the drivers to inform the development of 21st century models for special education teacher development aimed at improving outcomes for students with disabilities. Change drivers include the digital revolution, the diversity gap, the credibility factor, the demand for collective impact, and the culture of we. The authors conclude with a call to action.
ISSN:0888-4064
1944-4931
DOI:10.1177/0888406416640634