1. Essential Standards for Preparing Secondary
Content Teachers to Effectively Teach Students with
Mild Disabilities in Included Settings
by Janice A. Grskovic & Sheila M. Trzcinka
By Melissa Welch
7. Summary
• Lack of training
• 31 standards
• Pre-service teacher curricula
• In-service training
8. References
Trzcinka, S.M. & Grskovic, J.A. (2011). Essential standards for
preparing secondary content teachers to effectively teach
students with mild disabilities in included settings.
American Secondary Education, 39 (2), 94-106.
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Editor's Notes
Written by Dr. Janice A. Grskovic and Sheila M. Trzcinka in 2011Grskovic is an Associate Professor of Education at Indiana University Northwest and is Coordinator of Special Education ProgramsTrzcinka is an Assistant Professor of Education at Indiana University Northwest
Pressure to place students in the least restrictive environment causes general education teachers to teach classes including students with special needs.General education teachers have often received little to no training on special education.The authors’ purpose was to identify the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are most important for equipping general education teachers to successfully reach students with mild disabilities (Trzcinka & Grskovic, 2011).
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has 213 standards and indicators special educators are to meet.The authors used these standards to create a survey and sent the survey to over 3000 educatorsGoal of the survey was to rate the standards on a scale from “not important” to “essential” in order to identify which should be emphasized in teacher prep programs and in-service training31 standards were deemed to be essential, although were considered to be of some importance
Some essential standards that were chosen included knowledge of disabilities, pre-service experience with students with disabilities, behavior management, and consistent expectations (Trzcinka & Grskovic, 2011).Trzcinka and Grskovic recommended that schools provide in-service training to general education teachers in these areas The authors hope their research will be implemented into pre-service teacher preparation programs
These 31 standards could be helpful in focusing my own professional development goalsIt is likely that many experienced general education teachers are already capable of successfully meeting many of the standardsAs a general education teacher with many students with disabilities, I have often felt my pre-service training left me ill-prepared to effectively teach all ability levels
Many general education teachers have students with mild disabilities in their classrooms and have not received the necessary training to effectively teach these students31 standards were identified by a variety of educators as essential for general educators of students with mild disabilities to meetThese standards could be used in developing pre-service teacher curricula as well as in choosing in-service training options for teachers
