Faculty Perspectives on the Recruitment, Retention, and Preparation of Special Education Doctoral Students of Color

Abstract

The field of special education continues to grapple with the presence and implications of disproportional representation related to race and ethnicity. While research focuses mostly on disproportional representation of students, there remains long-standing acknowledgment that too few students of color populate our special education university doctoral programs. The present study, therefore, surveyed current special education faculty members at doctoral degree granting institutions to understand the practices used to recruit and retain doctoral students of color and perspectives on their programs’ climate related to racial and ethnic diversity. In addition, the research team conducted a series of exploratory analyses to examine whether responses depended on respondent race or whether the respondent worked at a minority-serving institution. Results suggest a general commitment to increasing doctoral student diversity; however, there appears a lack of formalized plans and culturally relevant coursework. Findings of the exploratory analyses suggest that programs within minority-serving institutions may provide important leadership in this area. We conclude with limitations and recommendations for doctoral programs.

Social and Emotional Intervention Research as Justice: A Case for Accountability

“…The national shortage of full-time faculty members at IHEs is well documented (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2022), including that of special education faculty who are BIPOC (Smith & Montrosse, 2012;Smith et al, 2010). While data collected from a recent study indicates that faculty express commitment to address student diversity, systematic and comprehensive strategies to support a racially/ ethnically diverse student body is lacking (Maggin et al, 2022). However, there are effective strategies that can be implemented to recruit doctoral students from these communities and increase their placement in IHEs.…”