Abstract
It’s hard to believe that this is our fourth issue published since the beginning of our partnership with the Hammill Institute on Disabilities. We are grateful they are now publishing Rural Special Education Quarterly (RSEQ) in collaboration with SAGE. This partnership has not only allowed for a new look and broader circulation, but will permit us to publish even more manuscripts per issue, in turn giving rural special educators an even greater voice.
This issue brings two research reports focused on very different populations. In the first, Mason, Cramer, Garwood, Varghese, Hamm, and Murray report on the evaluation of a practice-based professional development model for self-regulated strategy development instruction on students’ persuasive written expression. The model resulted in positive gains for both struggling and nonstruggling writers in rural classrooms. The authors offer implications for rural classrooms as well as resources for self-regulated strategy development instruction. In the second article, Van Boxtel describes the implementation of an asynchronous video-based remote supervision model within a university-based teacher preparation program from the perspective of education specialist teacher candidates and their cooperating teachers. The author reports the feasibility, effectiveness, preferred mode of delivery, and time and cost savings. Suggestions for a scale-up of the model to remote and rural settings are offered.
The third article is a description of a professional development program to support teachers of students with moderate and severe disabilities across a rural state. Courtade, Shipman, and Williams describe the content and delivery of the professional development, support for coaches and teachers across the state, and the use of technology to ensure fidelity of implementation and to provide professional learning communities for rural teachers.
Finally, Collins, Leahy, and Ault offer guidelines for becoming a teacher leader in rural special education. The authors give suggestions for leading at the school level, community level, and state and national level. Included is a “Quick Tips” table with succinct ideas about how to strengthen skills in different areas of leadership.
I look forward to bringing you another year of research, program descriptions, practitioner ideas, and viewpoints that support the education of students with disabilities in rural areas. Volume 37 will include a special topics issue, Using Assistive Technology in Rural Settings, as well as invited commentary from several experts in the field of special education. Please enjoy reading this new issue of RSEQ and I hope you are able to use some of the ideas in your own community of practice.