Validation of the California Preparedness to Teach Students with Autism (CAPTSA) Survey for Pre-Service Special Education Teachers

Abstract

As the number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has grown dramatically, so as has the urgency to adequately prepare special educators to teach these students. In an effort to address this need, national and state standards have been adopted in order to identify a) evidenced-based treatments that teachers should know in order to be effective teachers of students with ASD, and b) competencies specifically needed to teach students with ASD. This study involved the development, piloting, and validation of a survey based upon 11 “established treatments” identified by the National Standards Project (NSP) and recently adopted California standards for teachers of students with ASD. The instrument was piloted with 84 pre-service special education teachers and interns in three California university-sponsored special education teacher preparation programs. Factor analysis demonstrated that the instrument has high construct validity. Implications for future administration of this instrument are discussed.