Promoting Teacher Quality and Retention in Special Education

Abstract

Qualified special educators are needed to carry out research-based practices in schools. The shortage of special educators, the high numbers of uncertified teachers, and high attrition rates threaten the practice of science in the schoolhouse and, consequently, the education that students with disabilities receive. If teachers are to use research-based practices to benefit students with disabilities, care must be directed toward teachers, what they do, and the complex conditions in which their practice occurs. In this discussion, I focus on four factors that are important to special education teacher retention--responsive induction programs, deliberate role design, positive work conditions and supports, and professional development. These retention-enhancing factors also serve to cultivate qualified special educators by providing the conditions in which they can thrive and grow professionally.

How Pedagogy 2.0 Can Foster Teacher Preparation and Community Building in Special Education

“…Field experiences and induction support play a vital role in the formation of quality teachers because both provide authentic opportunities to observe and practice what is known and being learned about the practice under the collaborative supervision and mentorship of teacher educators and experienced practitioners (e.g., Rosenberg, O'Shea, & O'Shea, 2006). When teachers with wide ranging levels of expertise engage in dialogue from inside the practice, the foundation is laid for the emergence of a professional learning community (PLC) that has the capacity to promote discovery and continuing professional growth for all involved (Billingsley, 2004). Work becomes the linchpin that connects research to practice.…”

“…Moreover, many schools employ only a few special education teachers at best and sometimes just one or two, which means it may be necessary to build multiple partner-ships at widely scattered schools to satisfy students' field experience needs (e.g., Epanchin & Colucci, 2002;Jenkins, Pateman, & Black, 2002). This solution, however, is impractical in terms of time, travel, and institutional resources available for partnership building in the field (Conderman, Morin, & Stephens, 2005) but may also explain why many special education personnel preparation programs are disconnected from the realities of schooling, lack an organized approach toward linking pedagogy with practice, and have produced little research on the benefits of field experiences and induction support (Billingsley, 2004;Boyer, 2005;Jones, 2009;Sindelar, Brownell, & Billingsley, 2010). This paper reports the results of an action research project conducted to explore the feasibility of using Web 2.0 technology to design a virtual PLC to support the practice of special education and facilitate collaboration among teacher educators and aspiring, novice, and veteran special educators.…”

“…Others programs provide an office of field experiences that assigns students to schools and employs clinical instructors to supervise fieldwork (Cochran-Smith et al, 2012). This model, however, can result in a lack of quality control because there is no assurance that the practices observed in the field will match the pedagogy taught during personnel preparation (Epanchin & Colucci, 2002;Prater & Sileo, 2002, 2004. Prater and Sileo (2004) conducted research on the use of clinical instructors to oversee field experiences in special education.…”

“…The results also revealed that only 3% of responding teacher education programs required cooperating teachers to participate in any kind of professional development prior to supervision or to have more than one to three years of classroom experience. Thus, many aspiring special educators may be learning the practice from teachers who are not adequately prepared to serve as cooperating teachers and, as a result, may enter the field lacking the knowledge, practical experiences, and background needed to assume a competent practice (Bay & ParkerKatz, 2009;Billingsley, 2004).…”

“…This model is sometimes practiced with the help of a clinical experiences staff person and sometimes not (Prater & Sileo, 2002, 2004. Since most schools employ only a few special education teachers at best and perhaps as many as half of those are either novices in their first few years of teaching or out-offield aspiring special educators (e.g., Boe & Cook, 2006), it can be very difficult to find enough quality field sites to meet every student's needs (Epanchin & Colucci, 2002;Jenkins et al, 2002).…”