TED Mission, Values, and Goals

MISSION STATEMENT: The Teacher Education Division is a diverse community of professionals who lead and support teacher education on behalf of students with exceptional needs and their families.  We accomplish this through research, professional and leadership development, and advocacy

VISION STATEMENT: Every professional educator possesses the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and values to enable students with exceptional needs to reach their potential.

TED VALUES:

• Members’ diverse perspectives.
• Research that promotes the use of best practices in teacher education
• Knowledge generation, using a wide-range of research methodologies, synthesis and dissemination of quality practices related to teacher education.
• Teacher education programs that graduate well-prepared special education personnel.
• Teacher educators who utilize principles of adult learning to facilitate the exchange and transfer of knowledge with students and all stakeholders.
• Collaborative relationships that advance professional interests in teacher education.
• Well-prepared leaders who provide vision and passion to the administration of teacher education programs.
• Advocacy for the development of local, state, national, and international policies that promote, support and sustain high quality special education teacher preparation programs.
• Content knowledge as an essential element of the preparation of highly qualified special education personnel.
• Mentoring and supporting the next generation of special education leaders to ensure sustainability of the Division and the profession.

TED GOALS (2009-2011)

• To increase member engagement.
• To develop a nimble organizational structure to allow production of at least three products on issues or topics of importance to teacher education.
• To advance teacher educators’ implementation of evidence-based practices and collaboration within content areas between general and special education.
• To actively influence policy through strong advocacy for teacher education in special education.
• To elevate TED in the professional community.
• To improve the dissemination of information regarding research and other issues.
• To foster and develop the research and evaluation skills of members.