The purpose of this paper is twofold. We describe the goals and curricular content of a teacher education program designed to prepare individuals to teach limited English proficient children with disabilities. As part of this description, we include a discussion of graduates' feedback regarding program strengths and weaknesses. Next, based on this feedback and our experiences as teacher educators in the program, we present critical features of a bilingual special education teacher preparation program. These features emphasize providing social and emotional support to teacher candidates, teaching them how to create culturally responsive classrooms, challenging students to re-think their beliefs about teaching and learning, expanding the notion of collaboration to include community services, and supporting graduates while they attempt to effect change in their classrooms and schools.
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