PULSE: A Collaborative Partnership between University and Local Special Educators.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper describes a two-year full partnership between special education teacher educators from five regional institutions of higher education and six school districts. The purposes of the partnership are identified and include working collaboratively to address and improve services to learners with special needs and to respond to the problems of teachers working with learners with special needs. The four partnership needs that were identified after the first year of the partnership are also discussed and include: (1) to provide effective support for beginning teachers; (2) to provide effective support for teachers on emergency certificates; (3) to coordinate professional development opportunities in light of scarce resources; and (4) to develop a continuing regional network among consortium members to address mutual concerns and problems. The final section of the paper reviews the outcomes of the partnership. Highlighted are: the fully operational working regional consortium of university and local school district special educators, the development and distribution of a survey to first-year special education teachers about their experiences during the internship, the clarification of priority issues through a survey of special education coordinators, and the collection, and publication of a joint list of professional development opportunities for special education teachers. (CR)