3.7.3 Self-Regulated, Prepared, Professional, Emotionally/Socially/Culturally Intelligent, Determined (SP2ED) Special Education Teacher Preparation
Project Description:
SP2ED PREP
Principal Investigator: Melissa Fogarty
Co-Principal Investigators: Erinn Whiteside & Marcia Montague
Title: Self-Regulated, Prepared, Professional, Emotionally/Socially/Culturally Intelligent, Determined (SP2ED) Special Education Teacher Preparation (PREP)
Purpose: The purpose of this proposal is two-fold 1) expand an existing professional disposition project that provides explicit instruction to pre-service special education students around the professional dispositions targeted through the undergraduate special education program, 2) to jump start a collaborative research group, SP2ED PREP, which will investigate issues around special education teacher preparation.
Our project aligns with the CDD mission of cultivating community members as change agents for individuals with disabilities. Special education teachers are often the first line of defense for communities in the advocacy of individuals with disabilities. Developing and fostering the special education professional dispositions will help create effective special educators who can create meaningful relationships and change within their respective communities.
Background: High-quality special education teachers can change the outcomes of children with disabilities. Of course, as with all programs, our goal is to produce the best possible first-year special education teachers in the state of Texas. Pre-service teachers are entering our programs with a wide range of skills, experience, and professional dispositions. Over the course of the past few years, we have had an increasing number of students requiring extra support to reach the expectations of our program. To address this concern, we developed the Teacher Preparation Positive-Behavioral Interventions and Supports (TP-PBIS), a multi-tiered level of support system, as well as data systems using program expectations, practical field-based expectations and professional disposition expectations as assessment outcomes and progress monitoring measures.
Project Activities: Over the summer, the project PIs and a graduate assistant will develop modules that correspond with the previously identified professional dispositions. The modules will be brief, asynchronous, online tools to help students identify and master the professional dispositions before entering the professional phase of the program. Additionally, a brief manual will be created to outline expectations and activities for the future collaborative research group, SP2ED PREP, for which the modules will serve as a cornerstone project.
Products: In addition to previously reported conference presentation, this work has resulted in a publication and a regional conference presentation (detailed below).
Sallese, M., Fogarty, M., Whiteside, E., & Montague, M. L. (2023). Multi-tiered system of
supports for teacher preparation: A framework to attract, retain, and prepare special
educators. Journal of Special Education Preparation, 3(1), 34-45.
https://openjournals.bsu.edu/JOSEP/issue/view/331/107
Montague, M. L., Whiteside, E., & Fogarty, M. (2023, May). Integrating multi-tiered systems of support in higher education. 10-minute presentation at the annual Transformational Teaching and Learning Conference. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
Keyword(s):
special education, teachers, teaching programs, teacher preparation
