Shortage Of Special Education Teachers Research Articles

Developing the Knowledge and Mentoring Skills of Future Special Education Leaders

To curb the negative impact that rural Hawaii’s qualified special education teacher (SET) shortage has on students with disabilities, a professional development (PD) course was developed to examine the effect the program had on mentoring beginning SETs. Course programming was aligned to SET preparation coursework, targeted at the ongoing PD needs of beginning rural SETs, in addition to being grounded in the literature on special education teacher retention and Tichy’s (1983) Technical, Political, and Cultural Dynamics Theory. Seven licensed educators and their mentees participated in the course. Data were collected using surveys, knowledge assessment, culminating reflections, and course evaluations. Participants were satisfied with the course and found mentoring and instructional practices beneficial. The course had a positive impact on the overall knowledge of participants. Nearly all mentees discussed that coaching helped them grow as a teacher and resulted in lessons where students were more successful. Implications for practice are discussed.

Workforce Outcomes of Program Completers in High-Needs Endorsement Areas

Purpose: For decades, federal and state agencies have identified teacher shortages in high-needs endorsement areas (HNEAs), including science, mathematics, and special education, as a critical prob...

Choosing a career in special education

AbstractOver the past three decades, the severe shortage of special education teachers has continued to pose a significant challenge for schools in several countries. This study investigated factors that influence an individual’s decision to choose a career in special education. Understanding more about the experiences of those entering the field of special education provides insight to assist in recruiting individuals to meet this demand. Nineteen graduate students enrolled in a university’s special education program in the United States completed a survey and participated in semi‐structured interviews to examine factors that contributed towards their decision to choose a career in special education. Seven factors were identified: experiences with individuals with disabilities, degree program/career goals, a preference for special education, a desire to be an advocate, influence from others, other educational experiences, and personal reasons. In addition, the participants provided recommendations for teacher preparation programs to effectively recruit special education teachers. The recommendations included providing more information to others about what special education teachers do and the impact they make, and providing more exposure to individuals with disabilities.

Special Education Teacher Shortage: Differences Between High and Low Shortage States

In this study, using Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) personnel data from 2006 to 2014, we identified seven states with consistently low shortages of highly qualified special education teachers and seven states with persistently high shortages. We employed Guarino et al.’s framework to guide our assumptions and selection of demographic, supply, and demand variables and compared two groups in this descriptive analysis. We found significant differences across supply and demand variables. Low shortage states make greater investments in per pupil expenditures; have higher teacher salaries, generally; have greater preparation capacity; and produce more special education graduates. Taken together, our findings suggest that special education teaching is a relatively better job in low shortage states than in high shortage states. We situate the discussion of our findings within policy recommendations that states may use to address shortages. Limitations of our analysis are addressed, and implications for future research are proposed.

Ecobehavioral Assessment of Paraeducator Behaviors That Support Engagement of Students With Disabilities

Due to a shortage of special education teachers and an increase in the number of students with disabilities, the use of paraeducators is common. Paraeducators frequently provide instruction, under the direction of a teacher, to support elementary students with disabilities in elementary school classrooms. However, if and how paraeducators implement foundational instructional strategies is largely unknown (e.g., opportunities to respond [OTR], praise). Likewise, how students with disabilities respond to paraeducators’ instructional behaviors is also unknown. With decades of evidence indicating that contextual factors (e.g., group size, activity type) influence interactions between educators and students, we relied on ecobehavioral assessment to measure paraeducators’ use of core instructional strategies and students’ response in the natural context. Our results indicated a correlation between higher rates of paraeducator-delivered OTRs and praise statements and increased student engagement. Of concern, paraeducators infrequently used core, evidence-based instructional approaches, and students often were not engaged. Findings suggest increased student engagement may depend on professional development efforts aimed at improving paraeducators’ implementation of these essential core strategies.

Rethinking Shortages in Special Education: Making Good on the Promise of an Equal Opportunity for Students With Disabilities

In this article, the authors describe the complexity of special education teacher (SET) shortage, how shortage undermines equal educational opportunity, and strategies that school districts and state and federal governments have used to combat them. The authors consider the economic consequences of shortage and describe how school budgets are burdened by turnover and, in some cases, litigation. The authors consider specific aspects of SET shortages, including the problems of staffing high-poverty urban and rural schools, recruiting and retaining teachers of color, and staffing alternative educational placements. The authors then consider more general factors related to shortage, including the valence of teaching as a profession, attrition, working conditions, and compensation. The authors describe how broad policy-based interventions, such as federal spending on personnel preparation and alternative route entrées to teaching, have largely failed to remedy SET shortage. Finally, the authors posit that SET shortage cannot be addressed successfully without improving working conditions and differentiating compensation for shortage area teachers and teachers working with struggling students. Although special education cannot achieve such sweeping change alone, the time seems ripe for moving forward on this important agenda.

The Impact of Federal Personnel Preparation Grants on Special Education Teacher Candidate Recruitment for Rural and Remote Alternative Teaching Pathways

This article describes rural and remote teacher training in low incidence (LI) disabilities through an alternative teaching pathway (ATP) and the efforts of one university’s ATP program to address the ongoing critical special education teacher shortage in rural and remote school districts. The impact of the federal investment in recruiting/training teacher candidates in LI disabilities in rural and remote areas is described, and critical features of a distance education ATP programs in LI are discussed. Lessons learned over two decades of distance ATP delivery in LI are shared.

Robots Can Teach Students With Intellectual Disabilities: Educational Benefits of Using Robotic and Augmented Reality Applications

In the face of a worldwide teacher shortage and, in the United States, a critical shortage of special education teachers, there is an urgent demand for appropriate educational resources. For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DDs), in particular, there is a compelling need to develop educational tools and strategies to facilitate independence and self-sufficiency and address poor employment outcomes in adulthood.

A study of the relation between special education burnout and job satisfaction

The ongoing shortage of special education teachers coupled with increasing attrition rate has caused for a further analysis into why teachers are choosing to leave the field. A quantitative (n = 363) study was completed on the factors that lead to attrition among special education teachers from 34 states in the United States. Canonical correlation analysis was used to determine if there was a statistical significance in job satisfaction (as measured by a set of teaching characteristics) related to teacher burnout (as measured by a set of burnout factors) among public school special education teachers. Results indicate that there was a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and burnout among special education teachers. Implications for pre‐service education programs, school districts and administrators are discussed as well as retention strategies such as mentoring and providing meaningful professional development opportunities.

The Landscape of Special Education Licensure, 2016

With vetted data from state department of education websites, the authors undertook to update previous studies of special education licensure. They organized state licensure structures by the presence or absence of (a) grade bands and (b) differentiations (by category or severity). They assessed the impact of structure on student outcomes and special education teacher (SET) shortage, and sought commonalities in structures of effective states. They found that almost all states differentiate licensure for preschool teachers and teachers of students with visual or hearing impairments. Most states also offer a generic license. Currently, fewer states use other disability categories than was true in the past, and more states now use grade and severity distinctions. Structure was unrelated to student outcomes and SET shortage, and the authors found only two commonalities among effective states. As a unit of analysis, state may be too coarse, and the authors argue for within-state time series analysis as an alternative.

Republication of “NCLB and the Demand for Highly Qualified Teachers: Challenges and Solutions for Rural Schools”

Teacher shortages in special education have been a source of long-standing concern for professionals and parents involved in the education of students with disabilities. Because of their geographic location, culture, and lack of resources, rural administrators have always struggled to staff their schools with qualified special education teachers. No Child Left Behind and its definition of highly qualified teachers present new challenges to rural district administrators attempting to secure adequate numbers of special education teachers. In this article, we outline the challenges rural administrators face in reducing special education teacher shortages, present strategies being used nationally and regionally to reduce strategies, and critique those strategies. We conclude our article by advocating for a more comprehensive approach to solving teacher supply and demand problems, one that is driven by personnel data.

The Demand for Special Education Teachers in Rural Schools Revisited: An Update on Progress

In this commentary, we revisit “NCLB and the Demand for Highly Qualified Teachers: Challenges and Solutions for Rural Schools,” an article we published in this journal in 2005. We consider the predictions we made then about the impact of the Highly Qualified Teacher mandate on special education teacher (SET) shortages in rural states and regions, acknowledging that we overlooked the diversity of rural areas and their differentiated needs in our original article. We then update strategies and programs for preparing, recruiting, and retaining SETs in rural schools and discuss the implications of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which has replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, for special education in rural areas. We note with optimism the resilience that rural areas have exhibited in the face of teacher shortages and see hope in recent technology applications and other context-based strategies.

Exploring the Special Education versus Regular Education Decisions of Future Teachers in the Rural Midwest

Persistent shortages of special education teachers, particularly in rural areas, exist across the country. This study assessed the openness of teacher candidates enrolled in an introductory education course at two rural Midwest universities to a special education career path. Survey findings confirmed that work or volunteer experience involving people with special needs is a significant predictor of choosing special education as a career path. Findings also revealed that not all students who have experience with individuals with special needs choose to pursue special education. Considerations for teacher education faculty hoping to attract more special educators to the field are discussed.

Diversity and Equity in the Distribution of Teachers With Special Education Credentials

The shortage of special education teachers (SETs) is a persistent challenge in the United States, but less is known about two other important issues that affect students with disabilities: racial diversity within the SET workforce and the distribution of SETs. Using administrative data on all teachers in California from 1997 to 2014, we examine the racial composition and distribution of teachers with special education credentials. Our results from descriptive and regression analyses show that while teachers with special education credentials remain majority White, the number of teachers of color with special education credentials has increased at a rate more than twice that of general education teachers and special education students of color. We also find that much of the distribution of teachers with special education credentials occurs across districts within the same regional county, while disparities in teacher qualifications are larger by school poverty, racial composition, and student achievement. The results have policy implications for improving diversity and educational equity within the special education workforce.

An Intelligent Tutor-Assisted Mathematics Intervention Program for Students With Learning Difficulties

The Common Core Mathematics Standards have raised expectations for schools and students in the United States. These standards demand much deeper content knowledge from teachers of mathematics and their students. Given the increasingly diverse student population in today’s classrooms and shortage of qualified special education teachers, computer-assisted instruction may provide supplementary support, in conjunction with the core mathematics instruction, for meeting the needs of students with different learning profiles. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential effects of the Please Go Bring Me-Conceptual Model-Based Problem Solving (PGBM-COMPS) intelligent tutor program on enhancing the multiplicative problem-solving skills of students with learning disabilities or difficulties in mathematics.

Special education professional development needs in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACTSince 1980 when Zimbabwe obtained political independence, special education has not received the same priority as the entire education system. One of the manifestations of this discrepancy is the shortage of qualified special education teachers in the country. In order to address this trend and promote the development of special education, researchers have suggested the need for professional development in the area of special education. The purpose of this study was to identify the special education professional development needs of both special and general education in-service teachers in Zimbabwe. A semi-structured survey instrument, developed by the first and second authors, which included open- and closed-end questions was used in this study. The sample consisted of 204 schoolteachers drawn from two school districts of Zvishavane and Gwanda. The participating schoolteachers overwhelmingly expressed the need for more professional development in the area of special education. The schoolteachers also identified several topics that they considered to be important for professional development.

Special Education Teacher Preparation in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Abstract Researchers have repeatedly identified special education teacher shortage as one of the factors that have stymied the development of special education in many African countries. Highly qualified special education teachers are an integral part of successful national educational systems. In order to ensure an optimum supply of qualified special education teachers in any country, one can start by examining special education teacher preparation programs in the country. In this paper, the authors sought to explore special education teacher preparation in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to identify the characteristics, key features, gaps, and therefore come up with specific recommendations. In doing this the authors hope that this information would be helpful to researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and organizations that are interested in contributing to the development of special education in these countries through personnel preparation.

The Impact of Field Experiences on Pre-service Teachers’ Decisions Regarding Special Education Certification

The Impact of Field Experiences on Pre-service Teachers’ Decisions Regarding Special Education Certification Kathleen M. Everling, Julie A. Delello, Frank Dykes, Joanna L. Neel, Bernadine Hansen Abstract Across the United States, there is a continuing shortage of special education teachers. As a result, institutions of higher education must prepare a sufficient number of highly qualified special educators to meet the needs of students with disabilities. One necessary component of teacher preparation programs is the field-based experience which allows prospective teachers to practice what they have learned in their academic coursework. This qualitative case study examined the relationship between field-based experiences and preservice teachers’ decisions related to obtaining a special education certification. Using an open-ended survey, 55 pre-service teachersfrom one regional four-year university reported that economics and employability were major factors impacting their decision to become certified in special education. In addition, the context of the field experience including time, setting, and teachers, impacted the pre-service teachers’ decisions related to field experiences, both positively and negatively. Recommendations include increasing the amount of time spent in special education classrooms, providing students with improved classroom strategies for working with diverse learners, increasing training in positive behavior intervention techniques, and providing additional opportunities to participate in Individual Education Placement (IEP) writing activities. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v4n1a8

Unequal Opportunities

This study profiles the qualifications and preparation of special educators from the 2003–2004 Schools and Staffing Survey and investigates their relationship with teaching in a high-poverty school. Based on Berne and Stiefel’s (1984) equal opportunity standard, students with disabilities in high-poverty schools are not provided an equitable education. The results echo state accountability reports that document a shortage of special education teachers meeting the highly qualified teacher standards in high-poverty schools and other research studies on the uneven distribution of teachers. Policies such as alternative certification programs, economic incentives, and induction programs aimed at recruiting and retaining qualified, prepared special educators are considered along with ideas for future research.

Caught in the Cross-Fire: The Psychological and Emotional Impact of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) upon Teachers of Children with Disabilities, A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Analysis

The shortage of special education teachers in the United States, and the adverse consequences flowing from factors related to this condition provide a unique opportunity for scholars to study these issues through interdisciplinary research. Educational scholars have typically focused their research on educational practice and institutional policy. Although this scholarship frequently acknowledges the statutory and regulatory foundations of the IDEA, the literature does not generally adopt a legal framework for research purposes. This is not a criticism of educational scholars. It is merely an observation that opportunities exist to study special education teacher issues in a broader context. This Article argues for such an approach, and thus, seeks to analyze the psychological and emotional impact of Special Education Law upon special education teachers through the lens of Therapeutic Jurisprudence.