New Teachers Say They Are Ill Prepared for Classroom Diversity and Special-Needs Students

By Paula Wasley

Many new elementary- and secondary-school teachers feel that their training left them unprepared for the challenges of working in racially and ethnically diverse classrooms or teaching children with special needs, according to a new report by Public Agenda, a public-policy research group.

Public Agenda, together with the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, a research center backed by the U.S. Department of Education, surveyed 641 first-year teachers about their