Teacher Education

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. Teacher talking with young student CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides professional development, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice. CEC is known as THE source for information, resources, and professional development for special educators. CEC has local Units in all 50 states and Canada, as well as 18 optional Special Interest Divisions focused on a specific topic, specialty area, role, or exceptionality. We also have CEC Student Chapters at hundreds of colleges and universities.

As part of the Texas Education Agency, this website provides information about special education in the state of Texas.

SPEDTex is committed to providing families and educators with high-quality resources to enable students with disabilities to achieve the highest outcomes. The links below lead to information and resources provided by SPEDTex toward achieving that goal.

The Texas Education Agency is the state agency that oversees primary and secondary public education. It is headed by the commissioner of education. The Texas Education Agency improves outcomes for all public school students in the state by providing leadership, guidance, and support to school systems.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children, supports early intervention services for infants and toddlers and their families, and awards competitive discretionary grants.

The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) is a national membership organization dedicated to rendering all possible support and assistance to those preparing for or teaching in the field of special education. NASET was founded to promote the profession of special education teachers and to provide a national forum for their ideas. The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) is a national professional association that seeks to meet a critical need for many of America's special education teachers. NASET was established as a professional organization for former, current, and future special education teachers who had no professional organization to call their own. NASET develops and promotes professional excellence through the support of teachers who provide services to children with special needs.

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. We are independent and non-partisan. Our mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public.

The mission of the National Education Association is to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) is a comprehensive resource published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that provides detailed information about various occupations in the United States. It's a popular and trusted source for individuals seeking career guidance, offering insights into job duties, work environments, educational requirements, pay, and job outlook.

This link provides data about students ages 3–21 served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as a percentage of public school enrollment, by state and jurisdiction: School year 2022–23

The US Department of Education (ED) is a cabinet-level executive branch agency responsible for overseeing education policy and administering funding for various educational programs and individuals. Its key functions include supporting state and local education systems, promoting educational equity, and providing financial aid for higher education.