Respecialization in Special Education (RISE) Program: An Alternative Certification Program. An Overview.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper describes the Respecialization in Special Education (RISE) program, which helps noncertified special education teachers in Hawaii earn their endorsement for certification. The program was developed to address the shortage of special education teachers experienced by school systems both nationally and locally. The alternative teacher training program attempts to both alleviate the critical shortage of qualified special education teachers and enhance the long-term retention of trained teachers. Major characteristics of the program are: (1) its unified and systematic approach; (2) its usage of 20 all-day seminars covering curriculum and instruction, classroom management, foundations of special education, and professional development; (3) its supervised field experience using resource teachers as mentors; and (4) its centralized training delivery despite geographic separation, via the Hawaii Interactive Television System. Formative and summative evaluation is built into the program and has indicated a pass rate of 82 percent on the National Teachers Examination Special Education Area Test. Expansion of the program is being considered. (DB)