Rural America Institute for Special Educators: A Collaborative Preservice Teacher Training Program for Rural Special Education.

Overview & Synopsis

Project RAISE (Rural America Institute for Special Educators) was a preservice teacher training program specifically designed for preparing special educators for the demands of rural settings. The project was conducted by the Department of Special Education at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and concentrated on training special educators in a 12-county region in northwest Ohio. Project goals included: (1) train teachers to meet the academic, social, vocational, and ancillary service needs of rural special education students; (2) improve the quality of training to rural special education preservice trainees; and (3) assist in the recruitment and retention of teaching personnel specifically trained for rural special education. The program covered problems and issues for personnel in rural special education, foundations and instructional strategies for rural special education, instructional design, collaboration for related educational services, consultation skills, statistics, research, and various practicum experiences. The paper documents the regional need for special education preparation; lists teaching competencies identified as important; and describes project goals, recruitment of students, project faculty, the pre-training program, the graduate training program, program content, and program evaluation. (JDD)