NCTQ

 
 

Methodology: Special education pedagogy

This evaluation is in a preliminary stage and has only been applied to four Illinois special education programs with findings noted here but not on the institutional rating sheets. Evaluation is based on a double screening of all professional coursework in special education programs:

Screen 1: Determine through the review of lecture topics and required reading that the course has a strong focus on instruction in a particular content area (e.g., reading, mathematics, science, social studies) or in multiple content areas.

For those courses that pass the first screen:

Screen 2: Determine that several significant assignments in such a course require that students design instruction. The requirements should cover:
  1. appropriate development of a curriculum feature (e.g., develop a new task or lesson that explicitly teaches a new concept or a prerequisite concept),
  2. modification (i.e., curriculum architecture remains intact but a feature is changed; for example, adding more positive examples of a concept),
  3. major adaptations (i.e., the architectural structure of an existing curriculum is changed significantly; for example, the teaching of a rule relationship is changed entirely to include a revised rule, teacher wording, and teacher presentation and practice examples), or
  4. major enhancement (i.e., a template involving an entirely new curriculum architecture is used to teach the content of an existing lesson of a curriculum program).

A top rating on this standard reflects at least one course with a strong focus on instruction, with all such courses containing several significant assignments requiring that students design instruction. (All courses pass both screens.)

A middle rating reflects at least one course with a strong instructional focus but an adequate number of relevant assignments in only some such courses. (One or more courses, but not all courses, pass the first and second screens.)

A low rating reflects at least one course with a strong instructional focus but an adequate number of relevant assignments in none of such coursework. (All courses pass the first but not the second screen.)

A failing rating reflects no course with a strong instructional focus, or a number of courses that address content instruction, but only as a minor topic. (All courses fail both screens.)