Special education teachers (SETs) are expected to use effective practices to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, yet even those who are well-prepared may not be effective in teaching these students, as problematic working conditions may limit their opportunities to teach effectively and their longevity in the profession. To complicate matters, the context of SETs’ work has changed, calling into question the nature of their roles in supporting student learning. The purpose of this article is to provide a broad overview of what is known about working conditions and to articulate how we might improve them. The authors identify key themes from the research literature about the relationship of SETs’ working conditions to their early experiences in schools and their burnout, attrition, and effectiveness. The authors then outline an action agenda focused on researching and leveraging the roles of varied stakeholders, teacher educators, educational leaders, and professional organizations to improve these conditions.

Improving inclusive middle school science teachers’ vocabulary instruction is a critical step toward helping those professionals support the learning needs of all students. In this Institute of Education Sciences (IES)–funded project, inclusive science teachers received professional development using elements of a multimedia-based approach called the Content Acquisition Podcast Professional Development (CAP-PD) intervention process. In this article, the authors discuss the three iterative pilot studies conducted as a part of this project and how each contributed to its development. Drawing on a theoretical framework that considers the characteristics of effective professional development, CAP-PD has three elements: (a) use of instructional videos that highlight the steps of practices and embed modeling videos to demonstrate practice, (b) preproduced instructional materials that support the implementation of evidence-based practices, and (c) feedback for teachers using data outputs from a classroom observation tool developed as a part of this project. Across studies, teachers who engaged in the CAP-PD process made important gains in terms of how much time they spent delivering evidence-based vocabulary instruction and the number of different practices implemented with fidelity. Future research should address questions of the lasting impact of this process on student learning and how to adapt the CAP-PD to help teachers do more than improve their vocabulary instruction.

Summary

No abstract

edTPA is designed to strengthen teacher professionalization and provide a framework for program redesign. However, using a national assessment to shift the content of local programs is challenging because of their inherent organizational complexity. In this article, we focus on this complexity, using a systems lens to analyze edTPA implementation at a large, public university. Employing a mixed-methods case study design, we survey 250 teacher educators and candidates to understand how they interpret the demands of edTPA and how their varied perspectives impact each other. We interview a stratified, purposive subset of participants to explore mechanisms underlying quantitative findings. We find substantial internal variation in edTPA implementation that translates into differential support for candidates. This variation could not be explained by duration of implementation of edTPA. Varied perspectives may stem from distinct perceptions of teacher educators’ professional roles and the role they see edTPA playing in teacher professionalization.