Preparation to Educate Students with Learning Disabilities

Michael Gottfried, University of Pennsylvania & Jacob Kirksey, Texas Tech University

This work was completed while both authors conducted their research at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms has become a major aim of federal education policy, and the focus of state and local officials. Teacher preparation programs are taking on increased responsibility to prepare all teachers, whether or not they are working towards a special education credential. This study explores how teachers percieve their own preparation for working with students with disablilites, specifically in the area of math instruction, and then revisits these teachers during their first year in the classroom as the teacher of record.