Findings: Special education
The greatest share of programs that we reviewed partially met the standard, with the failure rate the highest in graduate secondary preparation programs (18 percent). Although numerous undergraduate programs we reviewed had grade span-specific coursework, Eastern Illinois University, Millikin University and Northwestern University among them, only two graduate programs we reviewed had grade span-specific special education coursework.
As in the case of classroom management, there were three weaknesses in design that we commonly observed:
- Five programs did not address this topic at all.
- Two programs addressed the topic in too many courses.
- Fifty programs did not tailor their coursework on this topic to a specific grade span.
Rationalizations for the lack of grade span-specificity of special education courses were commonly provided by programs. For example, Northeastern Illinois University defended the K-12 coverage of its special education coursework, indicating that elementary teachers need to understand their students' differences and similarities "after having worked with them."
How Illinois teacher preparation programs fare on this standard
