Special Education

 

Professional Organizations

National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) is the profession’s mechanism to help establish high quality teacher preparation. Through the process of professional accreditation of schools, colleges and departments of education, NCATE works to make a difference in the quality of teaching and teacher preparation today, tomorrow and for the next century. NCATE’s performance-based system of accreditation fosters competent classroom teachers and other educators who work to improve the education of all P-12 students. NCATE believes every student deserves a caring, competent and highly qualified teacher.

 

Helpful Websites

The Council for Exceptional Children
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted. CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides continual professional development, advocates for newly and historically underserved individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.

Federal Resource Center for Special Education
The site is produced by the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Resource Center with the cooperation of the Office of Special Education Programs and the Academy for Educational Development. The site links to activity listings; FRC publications; the RRFC network; special education technical assistance for teachers, parents, persons with a disability, paraprofessionals, and policy makers; financial, policy-related, and legal resources; trends in special education in the news; education Web resources, and conference information.

National Center to Improve Practice in Special Education through Technology, Media, and Materials
The site promotes the effective use of technology to enhance educational outcomes for students with sensory, cognitive, physical and social/emotional disabilities; the site offers facilitated online discussions and workshops about technology use for students with disabilities, virtual classroom tours, NCIP Library, Video Profiles of students using assistive and instructional technologies, and related links.

The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities
This is the national information and referral center that provides information on disabilities and disability-related issues for families, educators, and other professionals. Its special focus is children and youth.

Internet School Library Media Center (ISLMC)
This link lists Special Education Resources for K-12. The ISLMC is a meta-site at which teachers, librarians, parents and students can review selected WWW resources.

Special Education Resources on the Internet

Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI) is a collection of Internet accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to Special Education. This collection exists in order to make on-line Special Education resources more easily and readily available in one location.

The Dyslexia Institute
The Dyslexia Institute (DI), founded in 1972, promotes the assessment and teaching of people with dyslexia and the training of teachers. It has grown to become the only national dyslexia teaching organisation in the world.

The New York Institute for Special Education
The New York Institute for Special Education (NYISE) is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian educational facility which provides quality programs for children who are blind or visually disabled, emotionally and learning disabled and preschoolers who are developmentally delayed. The NYISE has been serving students with special needs since 1831.

The Special Ed Advocate, Understanding Tests and Measurements
This site discusses, in detail, the rights of the special abilities child. It also includes information to parents of special needs children.

ERIC EC Digests
ERIC digests include short reports (1,500 to 2,000 words) that provide a basic overview, plus pertinent references, on topics of interest to the broad educational community.

ERIC EC Frequently Asked Questions
Lists topics on which the clearinghouse frequently receives questions. Responses include citations from the ERIC database as well as other relevant information.

Special Education/Gifted Education Journals
Includes a comprehensive list of journals for Special Education. The name of the journal and the address of the publisher are included in the list. The site is sponsored by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education.

Gifted Education/Dual Exceptionalities
Includes Frequently asked questions, Digests, Fact sheets, Minibibliographies, E-mail lists (discussion groups), links to other resources, and miscellaneous articles.