Special Education Teacher Preparation Policy
Scientifically Based Reading Instruction—Tests and Standards: Indiana requires all special education teachers to pass the CORE Exceptional Needs - Mild Intervention: Reading Instruction assessment, which addresses all five instructional components of scientifically based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Informational Texts: The testing framework also incorporates some of the instructional shifts in the use
of text associated with the state's college- and career-readiness
standards and requires the following:
Ensure that new special education teachers are prepared to incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
Indiana's standards are commendable regarding informational texts. To further
strengthen its policy, however, the state should expand these standards
to include literacy skills and using text to build content knowledge in
history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts.
Monitor rigor of reading test.
Although Indiana is commended for requiring all special education teacher candidates to pass a science of reading test, the state should ensure that this assessment is as rigorous as the one required of general education elementary teachers.
Indiana referenced the Exceptional Needs: Mild Intervention Reading Instruction Educator Standards which include:
"Components of Scientifically Based Reading Instruction
Teachers of students with mild exceptional needs have a broad and comprehensive understanding of the major components of reading development and demonstrate the ability to provide assessment, instruction, intervention, extension, and ongoing progress monitoring in reading, including:
2.7 knowledge of key concepts and scientifically based reading research in the development of vocabulary and academic language (i.e., the language used in books, tests, and other formal writing), such as the correlation between vocabulary knowledge and academic achievement; the essential role of wide and varied reading in the development of vocabulary knowledge; different levels of vocabulary knowledge; different tiers of vocabulary words; and the importance of early, robust, and explicit language and content experiences to promote young children's development of vocabulary and academic language."
Indiana's required reading test contains these standards, and this is referenced in the analysis.
4B: Teaching Special Education Reading
Teaching children to read is the most important task teachers at the elementary level undertake. Over the past 60 years, scientists from many fields have worked to determine how people learn to read and why some struggle. This science of reading has led to breakthroughs that can dramatically reduce the number of children destined to become functionally illiterate or barely literate adults. By routinely applying in the classroom the lessons learned from the scientific findings, most reading failure can be avoided. Estimates indicate that the current failure rate of 20 to 30 percent could be reduced to 2 to 10 percent.[1]
Scientific research has shown that there are five essential components of effective reading instruction: explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.[2] Many states' policies still do not reflect the strong research consensus in reading instruction that has emerged over the last few decades. Many teacher preparation programs resist teaching scientifically-based reading instruction. Reports by NCTQ on teacher preparation, beginning with What Education Schools Aren't Teaching about Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren't Learning in 2006 and continuing through the Teacher Prep Review in 2016, have consistently found the overwhelming majority of teacher preparation programs across the country do not train teachers in the science of reading.[3] Whether through standards or coursework requirements, states must direct programs to provide this critical training. But relying on programs alone is insufficient; states must only grant licenses to new special education teachers who can demonstrate they have the knowledge and skills to teach children to read.[4]
Effective early reading instruction is especially important for teachers of special education students. By far, the largest classification of students receiving special education services are those with learning disabilities. Based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, it is estimated that reading disabilities account for about 80 percent of learning disabilities.[5] While early childhood and elementary teachers must know the reading science to prevent reading difficulties, special education teachers, and especially elementary special education teachers, must know how to support students who have already fallen behind and struggle with reading and literacy skills.[6] States should require no less from special education teachers in terms of preparation to teach reading than they require from general education teachers.[7]
College- and career-readiness standards require significant shifts in literacy instruction. College- and career-readiness standards for K-12 students adopted by nearly all states require from teachers a different focus on literacy integrated into all subject areas. The standards demand that teachers are prepared to bring complex text and academic language into regular use, emphasize the use of evidence from informational and literary texts, and build knowledge and vocabulary through content-rich texts. While most states have not ignored teachers' need for training and professional development related to these instructional shifts, states also need to attend to the parallel need to align teacher competencies and requirements for teacher preparation so that new teachers will enter the classroom ready to help students meet the expectations of these standards.[8] For special education teachers, preparation and training must focus on managing these instructional shifts while also helping students who may have serious reading deficiencies.