H. Johnson1 Author: Dr. Harold Johnson, Kent State University To contact the author for permission to use this presentation, please To use this presentation in its entirety, please give credit to the author.

Teacher Preparation w/in Sensory Impairments: Supply & Demand, Professional Preparation & Certification/Licensure Harold Johnson 2/6/03 COPSSE Research Design Panels – Washington, DC

H. Johnson3 Issue Briefs: Free and Appropriate Public Education and the Personnel Crisis for Students with Visual Impairments and Blindness –by Ann Corn & Susan Spungin U.S. Deaf Education Teacher Preparation Programs: A Look at the Past and a Vision for the Future –by Harold Johnson

H. Johnson4 Summary of Findings: We know that there is a critical, nation wide shortage of teachers, but… we do not know the extent to which our teacher preparation programs are working at anything close to capacity.

H. Johnson5 … Findings We know that our students are increasingly isolated from each other and the resources that they need to be successful, but… we do not know the actual number of those students, nor the qualifications of the individuals who are teaching them.

H. Johnson6 … Findings We know that individuals who graduate from our teacher preparation programs have been taught how to assess and teach, but… we do not know if they actually become teachers, if they teach how we have preached, how effective they are, or even how long they teach.

H. Johnson7 … Findings We know that our faculty are stressed and stretched that they rarely have time to carry out research, publish or even take advantage of grant buy-outs, but… we do not know how we will replace them as they rapidly approach retirement.

H. Johnson8 … Findings We know that our students are increasingly diverse and that they posses the full range of abilities and disabilities, but… we do not know how to recruit a more diverse pool of teachers, nor do we know how to prepare those teachers to teach students in grades ranging from kindergarten through high school.

H. Johnson9 … Findings We know that our educational system has failed to provide most of our students with the increasing levels of linguistic, academic and social competencies that are required to become economically independent and successful adults, but… we do not know the best practices, proven instructional strategies and academic content of our general education colleagues who now teach many, if not most, of our students.

H. Johnson10 … Findings We know that a redesign of our teacher preparation programs must be carried out if they are to survive and to become more readily available throughout the nation, but… we lack the vision, time and collaborative will to evolve the needed teacher preparation program designs.

H. Johnson11 … Findings We know that we became educators because we value learning, know the value of becoming an effective and independent learner and become excited when we make a difference in the lives of our students, but… we do not know how to learn with our students, we do not know how to give our students practical reasons to use what we ask them to learn, nor do we know how to provide our students with the role models that they need to become the successful adults.

H. Johnson12 … Findings We know the students that we taught way back when, but… we are much less sure of the students that our teachers are now teaching, or the students our teachers will soon be asked to teach.

H. Johnson13 … Findings We know that No Child Left Behind, Meeting the Highly Qualified Teacher Challenge and A New Era in Special Education will require our students to take state proficiency test, out teachers to become content specialists and our special education programs to more flexible and accountable than ever before, but… we do not know how we will accomplish all of this when we have yet to accomplish so much that we have worked on for so long.

H. Johnson14 … Findings Finally, we know that many, if not most of our students have not only been left behind, but essentially written off by an educational system that has come to expect, if not accept the ongoing linguistic, academic and social failure of our students, but… what we do not know is whether or not we can use the challenges of No Child Left Behind to document, the opportunities of Meeting the Highly Qualified Teacher Challenge to enhance and the requirements of A New Era in Special Education to apply the technological advances of our time to reduce isolation, to increase expectations, to share resources, to recognize excellence and to increase learning opportunities for us all.

H. Johnson15 Thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts with you tonight.