Abstract
Happy New Year! It was wonderful seeing those of you who were able to attend the TED meeting in Austin. It was a great conference and we thank Herb Rieth and his colleagues at the University of Texas for making us all feel welcome.
In this first issue of Volume 35 (2012), there are five articles we believe will be of considerable interest to the readership of Teacher Education and Special Education. The lead article focuses on teacher reflection. Specifically, Susan Etscheidt, Christina Curran, and Candace Sawyer describe the University of Northern Iowa’s innovative approach of integrating multiple opportunities for reflection into various components of teacher preparation programs. In addition to the description of their program, the authors provide an excellent review of conceptualizations, models, and processes of reflection. In the second article, Rachel Marie Fults and Beth Harry provide a comprehensive review of family centered practices, and demonstrate how such practices and cultural responsiveness are linked. In addition, both quantitative and qualitative outcome data are provided on the effectiveness of an early childhood teacher preparation course that integrated family centeredness and diversity. Diversity as it relates to disability is the theme of the third article. Rosa Milagros Santos, Andrea Ruppar, and Laurie Jeans describe a service learning program implemented in conjunction with an introductory special education course that emphasizes the culture of disability. Following a brief overview of the service learning initiative, outcome data assessing the impact of the program are provided. Student participants had increased knowledge about persons with disabilities and were more comfortable being around these individuals. Moreover, the participating community organizations expressed satisfaction with the program.
In the fourth article, Andrea Jasper and Carrie Wachter Morris address the preparation needs of those who teach students with nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors (NSSIB). Surveying a large sample of special education teachers, the authors found that while many special educators encounter students with NSSIB, few receive training on how to best respond to those who self-injure. The authors contend that such training is essential: Those in their sample who had received specific training were much more confident in their abilities than those who did not receive any training. Finally, Mary Catherine Scheeler, Kathleen McKinnon, and Jonathan Stout report their latest findings on the effectiveness of technological enhancements employed during preservice practica placements. In this current investigation, webcam and Bluetooth™ devices helped deliver immediate feedback to preservice teachers in different geographic locations, resulting in increased performance in targeted behavioral techniques. The authors conclude that immediate feedback while teaching improves teaching performance and that technology is available to accomplish this in a useful and efficient manner.
At the TED meeting in Austin we presented our annual editors’ report. A few statistics of interest: Over the past year, we processed 135 submissions, of which 107 were first time original submissions (28 were revisions). Based on all manuscripts that had completed the review process (a number are still pending), we have a first decision acceptance rate of 16.5% - up from 10.75% last year. We believe this increase is a function of invited manuscripts for special issues that typically receive considerable pre-submission feedback. Among the rejected manuscripts, approximately 20% were decided upon prior to sending them out to reviewers. Primary reasons for rejection were that the manuscripts were not aligned with the mission of the journal and/or had obvious and severe quality issues. We also reported on our mentor program, noting that 12 graduate students and beginning faculty worked on reviews with seasoned reviewers. The complete editors’ report can be found on the TED website (http://www.tedcec.org/).
Finally, please recall that we post manuscripts to OnlineFirst as soon as they are finalized in our production system. Please have your faculty use OnlineFirst (http://tes.sagepub.com/content/early/recent) to access the most recent published articles, and also urge them to use the link to TESE from their University library when they give articles to their students to read. As always, we trust that you are finding the articles in the journal interesting and useful in your research and professional development activities.
Keep sending us your best work. Stay tuned!