A Promising Practice: Low Incidence Teacher Education in Rural and Remote California

Rural Special Education Quarterly, Summer 2005 by Larwood, Lou

Abstract

California has a critical shortage of teachers. The US Department of Education reported approximately 2,500 teachers of deaf and hard of hearing are needed annually. The majority of teachers serving deaf and hard of hearing students in the rural northern California areas are not credentialed in the area of Deaf Education. Some of the reasons include: the long distance to a university that offered the credential, limitations of employers, high costs of commuting, and limited access to online learning as well as the hardware necessary to study and complete coursework requirements. This research discusses an alternative method and a promising practice for preparing teachers of the deaf from remote distances and how to support and mentor these new teacher candidates in times when it is critical to be a highly qualified teacher.

The California Department of Education reports that 300,000 new teachers will be needed in the next decade (Shrup, 1996). By 2005, the US will need an additional 267,000 teachers for special education students, including approximately 24,000 for deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students (USDOE, 1998). Special educators now have, as an occupation, the 11th highest growth rate among careers in this country (Passell, 1995). According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) in 1997, the number of students in special education is increasing while the number of teachers being credentialed to teach these students is either leveling off or decreasing, depending on the area of disability. In 1997, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing adopted a new model of professional preparation for special educators in an effort to reduce the teacher shortage. Distance learning has become a needed option for those individuals who do not live near a university that offers a desired teaching credential.

Distance education used to be fairly simple to define. Keegan (1986) defined distance learning as the "semipermanent separation of teacher and learner, the use of technical media and the provision of two-way communication" (p. 49). Interest in distance education in teacher education has grown in the past 30 years due to the teacher shortage gap across the United States (Schrum, 2002). Distance education for preservice teachers allows access for those who cannot attend weekly lectures or seminars for reasons of geography, health, employment, or complicated lifestyles. The majority of these individuals is already teaching in the classroom and lacks the professional preparation needed to retain their employment.

Dr. Thomas Jones, the Director of the Council on Deaf Education (CED) at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, recently reported that there are few Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) the provide Deaf Education Teacher Preparation Program in the United States with a distance learning options (2003). Some of the IHEs include:

* Gallaudet University in Washington DC

* The University of Southern California in Los Angeles

* Kent State University in Ohio

* Eastern Illinois University in Illinois

* San Jose State University in Northern California

Evolution of the Deaf Education Alternative Program

San Jose State University (SJSU) is the only northern California State University (CSU) that offers the Education Specialist Teaching Credential for deaf or hard of hearing students to teacher candidates who reside in rural northern California. According to the California Department of Education special education pupil count data in 1999; educational programs were serving 6,243 hard of hearing and 4,539 deaf students in California. All programs report problems finding qualified teachers. Historically, school districts have been forced to hire teachers with emergency permits. As of July 2005, the state of California will no longer issue new Emergency Teaching Permits as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation views this as one way a teacher is not a highly qualified teacher. In the past years, a teacher candidate without training in California could be issued an emergency teaching permit if the candidate had at least nine semester units in the field of Special Education and agreed to concurrently enroll in a teacher-training program that matched the type of population the teacher candidate taught. These teacher candidates were required to complete only six semester units annually in order to renew their Emergency Permit for the next year. The state allowed for Emergency Teaching Permits to be renewed only four times over the course of four years. This credential option will cease to exist as of July 2005. As a result of NCLB, California State Universities will now offer 'Intern Credentials' in addition to the already existing Credential Programs. This new option allows the teacher candidate to be able to teach immediately without training in the special education classroom. The teacher candidate must complete the targeted special education credential program in 24 months. There are no exceptions to this credential option or timeline if the teacher candidate chooses this road of teacher preparation. Teacher candidates living in rural and remote areas of California who do not have the credential to teach deaf and hard of hearing children will be seeking this type of credential option through their employers if a teaching position cannot be filled by a qualified teacher who has the requisite teaching credential and preparation.