How effectively are we preparing teacher educators in special education? The case of deaf education

The study assessed how well the field of teacher education in special education is preparing the next generation of teacher educators to be stewards of the discipline by exploring the particular case of deaf education. Assuming that preparing doctoral graduates who are able to conduct valuable and quality research requires mentoring by faculty who conduct such research, the study examined the scholarly productivity of 127 teacher educators in deaf education at U.S. postsecondary institutions. Results showed that most had published relatively little during the past 6 years, greater than half had published relatively little over the course of their careers, and less than half of their dissertations had been published. If this case study of one special education field is representative of the others, it suggests that special education needs to broaden the dialogue to address not only the shortages but the quality of faculty.