Implications for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Special Education Teacher Preparation in Classroom Management: Implications for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Foundations of Exceptionality (EDUC 521)

Special Education Teacher Preparation in Classroom Management:

Implications for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Classroom management and organization plays a vital role in the learning process for all students, and especially in students having EBD. The research conducted in the article, Special Education Teacher Preparation in Classroom Management: Implications for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, by Regina Oliver and Daniel Reschly, examines the question “Do academic courses and training prepare special education teachers to know how to cope with the needs of EBD children in the classroom?” Special education teachers need the skills to manage the classroom effectively; lacking this knowledge can lead to students spending too much time outside the classroom and the learning process.

To examine the academics in teacher preparation programs a study was conducted using syllabi from these programs employing information from a larger assessment of higher education institutions; only classroom management categories were evaluated. In measuring this data the Innovation Configuration (IC) chart was utilized; IC’s are the usual form of quantifying assessment (Oliver & Reschly, 2010).

The results indicate that many institutions of higher learning were lacking in areas of curriculum preparing special education teachers to work with EBD students and their behaviors in the classroom. Areas established to be lacking were: active supervision and student engagement, classroom routines, structured environment, and school wide behavioral expectations. In the syllabi from the institutions many of the elements listed were not included and 42% did not include teaching how to set up classroom rules; a well planned set of rules and expectations in the classroom is a preventive approach to discipline (2010).

One can see that there could be a correlation between teacher preparation curriculum and EBD student’s behaviors and the learning process; further studies are needed to ascertain a connection. Students and teachers would greatly gain from such studies, because it could warrant a change in curriculum and training.