Preparing Elementary Education Teachers for Inclusive Settings: A Constructivist Teacher Education Program.

Overview & Synopsis

Current efforts to reform special education have focused on the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings. The success of inclusion is contingent upon preparing general education teachers at the preservice level for inclusive classroom settings. This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative preservice teacher education program in elementary education in the Inclusive Early Childhood Education Unit at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This program possesses several unique features: alternative approaches to instructional delivery, curricula, and assessment; local school mentoring; and extensive field-based experiences. Evaluation of program outcomes were collected from mentoring teachers, school administrators and trainees to assess the impact of the program. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/ND)