A study of the amount of training that pre-service and in-service special education teachers receive in the teaching of reading

The purpose of this study was to determine if special education teachers at the pre-service and in-service levels have received and are receiving enough training to proficiently teach reading to their students, This study attempted to reveal the level of knowledge and training that special education personnel possess in the area of teaching reading. Data was gathered through a questionnaire, and then the responses for all of the participants were analyzed and presented in graphs. The responses were classified as those from in-service teachers or pre-service teachers in order to compare the data between the two groups. The findings for research question one suggest that pre-service special education teachers do not receive adequate training in the teaching of reading as evidenced by their lack of undergraduate coursework and knowledge of current research and programs. For research question two, the findings indicate that in-service teachers did have more training and knowledge than pre-service teachers, but the application of that training and knowledge is not being monitored in any specific way. Concerning research question three, the findings point towards requiring more undergraduate reading coursework for pre-service special education teachers and requiring accountability for the reading progress of students of in-service special education teachers