BILINGUAL SPECIAL-EDUCATION TEACHERS SHIFTING PARADIGMS - COMPLEX RESPONSES TO EDUCATIONAL-REFORM

This study examined the nature and process of change among five biling ual special education teachers as they attempted to modify existing in structional practices. Three factors affected the change process: (a) The more special education training in the teachers' background, the s tronger their reductionist orientation; (b) change involves shifts in instructional practices and shifts in beliefs, and they do not automat ically go hand in hand; and (c) change is most facilitated at the begi nning stages of collaboration by including practicing members of the t eachers' occupational community as agents of change.