Preparing Special Education Personnel for Rural Schools. Current Practices and Future Directions

Abstract

There has been dramatic growth in thenumberofspecial educationprograms to serve students with special needs in the nation's schools since thefederal mandate for a free appropriate public education in 1975. Such growth created a paralleldemandforqualified teachers and therapists to staffthese programs. Thisdemand resulted in the developmentof a vast personnelpreparation infrastructure to support the training, licensure, andemploymentofpractitioners in special education and related services. The last two decades havewitnesseda huge investment ofstate andfederal funds into the development ofpreservice programs at colleges and universities; elaborate policies and proceduresfor state licensing and professional certification; and recruitment, retention, andstaffdevelopmentpractices in local school systems. Rural schools have experiencedmajorproblems related to every aspect ofpersonnel preparation in special education: lack of preservice programsdesigned to prepare personnelfor rural programs; an insufficient supply ofadequately trained and appropriatelyqualifiedpersonnel to staffrural positions; and significant difficulties in recruiting, retaining, and retrain­ ing teachers and therapists in rural areas. Despite ongoing experimentation and innovation in the area ofpreservice programs, licensure and certification policies, recruitment and retention efforts, and staffdevelopment activities, rural schools will continue to face thesechallenges as the next century begins. This article discussescurrent trends and future directions in personnel preparation in special education as they affect rural schools. Preparing special educators and related services spe­ cialists skilled in best practices for working with children and adolescents with special needs is one of the most press­ ing issues in education today. To insure that these students have well-trained teachers and therapists requires a per­ sonnel preparation infrastructure that includes three major components: preservice programs to teach personnel the competencies needed to work with students in school set­ tings; state policies and procedures to license personnel for practice as well as certification requirements through which professional organizations exercise oversight of individu­ als and programs; and school system efforts related to re­ cruitment, retention, and staff development to insure that all students are served by qualified personnel. This infra­ structure is highly developed and functioning well in many respects, but it still faces a number of critical issues in in­ suring an adequate and appropriate supply of personnel to meet the demand for teachers and therapists in the nation's schools. Nowhere are these issues more urgent than in the preparation of personnel for schools in rural areas, which continue to experience difficulties in securing a sufficient number of trained and qualified special educators and re­ lated services specialists to work with students with spe­ cial needs.