Fostering Collaboration with Families of Children with Disabilities: Online Professional Development for K–12 Teachers -- The Teacher Educator 52(2) (2017) (original) (raw)
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Online teacher professional development (oTPD) researchers have been concerned with design features, teacher change in practice, and student learning, as well as establishing guidelines for directing funding support. Even so, previous work suggests that high-quality instructional support for all students with disabilities is still on the horizon. As a response to the need for better instruction, professional development for SWD has emerged in all settings, including teachers who are not just receiving oTPD, but who are online teachers themselves. The purpose of this study was to use online teachers' descriptions of their oTPD for SWD to learn about the professional learning opportunities available to teachers around serving SWD and their families. Teachers and administrators from various online/virtual learning schools around the country participated in this study. Even though teachers had SWD in their courses and were directly responsible for SWD, most teachers and administrators described few professional development opportunities for learning to teach SWD in the online learning environment beyond giving and receiving information about legal compliance. Findings also raise concerns about the tensions between macro-and micro-development opportunities available to teachers and whether they are positioned to take advantage of these to build strong professional networks. Rice, M. F. (2017). Few and far between: Describing K-12 online teachers' online professional development opportunities for students with disabilities.
Online Learning
Online teacher professional development (oTPD) researchers have been concerned with design features, teacher change in practice, and student learning, as well as establishing guidelines for directing funding support. Even so, previous work suggests that high-quality instructional support for all SWD is still on the horizon. As a response to the need for better instruction, professional development for SWD has emerged in all settings, including teachers who are not just receiving oTPD, but who are online teachers themselves. The purpose of this study was to use online teachers’ descriptions of their oTPD for SWD to learn about the professional learning opportunities available to teachers around serving SWD and their families. Teachers and administrators from various online/virtual learning schools around the country participated in this study. Even though teachers had SWD in their courses and were directly responsible for SWD, most teachers and administrators described few profession...
Effectiveness of Online Professional Development for Rural Special Educators
Rural Special Education Quarterly, 2012
Retaining teachers and accessing professional development have been long-standing struggles for rural school districts, particularly with respect to teachers with special education endorsements. This study examined the effect of asynchronous online professional development in secondary special education and transition for 86 rural special education teachers. In addition, the study compared results of teachers in rural and non-rural settings. Results indicated that rural special education teachers who participated in the online professional development gained knowledge, increased personal capacity to apply research-based practices, and implemented research-based transition practices within their classrooms. Furthermore, participants developed meaningful, collaborative relationships with rural colleagues across the country. While rural and non-rural educators both experienced gains as a result of the professional development, rural educators initially rated their competency in providi...
Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children
Family–professional partnerships (FPPs) are an important, federally mandated part of the American education system that benefit all students, but especially students with disabilities. Although special education teacher preparation programs offer a viable and sustainable way to enhance FPPs, little is known about the degree to which these programs address FPPs within their curricula. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which special education teacher preparation programs address FPPs. A total of 113 special education faculty members across 52 institutions responded to a national online survey addressing this topic. Results indicated (a) a disconnect in the value and implementation of FPP-related knowledge and skills at the program and individual faculty levels and (b) patterns of inconsistent FPP-related content coverage across undergraduate and graduate offerings as well as across FPP-specific and non-FPP-specific coursework. Implications for practice and future re...
An experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and competency gains of secondary special education teachers related to working with families, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Fifty-three practitioners were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group and two online training modules were used for this study as an intervention. The results of the data analyses indicated that the online training modules were effective in enabling teachers to enhance their professional knowledge of family partnerships during transition. The results also found while the experimental group teachers did not feel significantly more competent in working with families than their counterparts, they did feel more competent in working with CLD families. Finally, this study indicated that all the participants perceived collaboration with families, including those from CLD backgrounds, as very important, regardless of the online training they received.
Home-school collaborations offer the promise of increased social and academic outcomes for students with disabilities. This qualitative study examines the practices of 25 preservice special education teachers and their implementation of state standards to collaborate with families of children with disabilities in schools during student teaching. Respondents' responses were categorized into two main themes of direct and indirect collaboration activities. Direct collaboration included invitations, meetings conversations, and sharing information. Indirect collaboration included training. Although the preservice special education teachers evidenced typical family involvement strategies, a more integrated connection between theory and practice is necessary for creating effective home-school collaborations.