A Role for the Counselor Educator in Teacher Education

Teacher education can use the knowledge and skills counselor education takes for granted. This article outlines a role for counselor education in preservice teacher education by describing two programs in which a counselor education faculty has contributed to the improvement of teacher education. Both programs—one facilitating the career development of prospective teachers and the other, teaching human relation skills to prospective teachers—have been integrated into the teacher education curriculum.     

Facts and fallacies: differentiation and the general education curriculum for students with special educational needs

As policy makers and educators respond to legislation promoting the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms, there is sometimes confusion about why this is being done and how it can be accomplished effectively. In this article, two categories of fallacies, or misunderstandings, are identified. The first fallacy is that students with disabilities are incapable of learning the general education curriculum. The second fallacy is that teachers are required to ‘cover’ the entire curriculum, sometimes at a pace that leaves students with and without disabilities behind. Facts are presented following each fallacy. These facts describe research‐based pedagogies effective for students with and without disabilities, indicating that students with mild disabilities can learn the general education curriculum when responsive pedagogies are used. These facts also describe how schools that promote differentiation can potentially achieve higher scores on large‐scale assessments than schools that promote ‘one size fits all’ instruction.