planning and instructional decisions that enhance educational outcomes for students
with LD. Training opportunities in data collection and analysis should be provided.
4. Inclusive instruction should be viewed as an opportunity to make changes in the
instructional practices generally implemented by the GET in the classroom to improve
the educational opportunities of all students. Training in ways of providing differentiated
instruction and the concept of universal design in lesson planning should be available at
both the pre-service and professional development levels.
5. Little research has been done that tries to make the teacher preparation-classroom
practices-student outcomes connection for SETs. More has been done in the area of
preparing general education teachers, and some of the findings from that body of research
may be applicable to special education teacher preparation. However, there are also
substantial differences that make it important to single out the special education
connection for research, including: SETs practices go beyond academics; special
education teachers are often trained in separate departments apart from general preservice
teachers; and SETs are no longer providing individualized services in segregated
settings. Implementing a mixed-methods research design (using data collected from
multiple sources such as observations, interviews, surveys, logs, and test scores) would
be appropriate. However, this type of research typically occurs with a high cost element,
thus, obtaining funds sufficient to carry out this research will require the cooperation of
many funding agencies.
Teachers in this study raised a number of questions about the influence of special
education law on teacher practice. Research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of
federally legislating broad educational mandates without adequate funding or research base.