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Free Toolkit Helps Address Special Education Teacher Shortages Locally

A new, free toolkit is now available to help lead state and district teams through a collaborative process in developing a comprehensive approach for addressing special education teacher shortages.

The toolkit, “Educator Shortages in Special Education: Toolkit for Developing Local Strategies,” is a collaborative effort between the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders and the Collaborative for Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform, both funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).

The free resource is organized around a facilitation guide and three supporting tools. Aligned with current efforts from OSEP, the collaborative process featured in the toolkit intentionally examines shortages across the entire career continuum—from attracting to preparing to retaining teachers—so that all students with disabilities have access to effective teachers.

Critical Shortages in Special Education Teachers. Sound Familiar?

Lynn Holdheide, and Jenny DeMonte
Originally posted by American Institutes for Research, February 17, 2016

“Teacher shortages may be the most acute problem in special education. For years, states and districts have struggled to find qualified people to teach students with disabilities… Though not a new challenge, its impact has intensified as the number of students receiving special education services has increased over the past two decades.

Part of the problem may be the recent decline in enrollment in all teacher preparation programs. And retaining special education teachers is especially challenging. Often, school administrators say, it’s difficult to keep new special education teachers for more than a few years.

What drives them out? And how can we keep them?”

Read the full article.

Autism Surge Creates Special Education Teacher Shortages in Castro Valley

By Rebecca Parr, The Daily Review
Originally posted by Contra Costa Times on October 27, 2014.

“Like many area school districts, Castro Valley Unified has had a shortage of specialized teachers, especially special-education ones. The demand for special-education teachers nationwide has grown, as more children are diagnosed with autism.”

Read the full story.

From Information to Implementation: Combatting Shortages of Educators Serving Students with Disabilities

Starting April 14, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the CEEDAR Center are collaborating with national partners and practitioners to produce a free 12-part webinar series focused on evidence-based strategies to strengthen and diversify the special education workforce.  From supporting new educators to implementing inclusive leadership plans, you’ll walk away with evidence-based strategies to put into practice to start combatting special educator shortages in your states, schools, districts, and educator preparation programs.

More information at:  https://exceptionalchildren.org/events/information-implementation-combatting-shortages-educators-serving-swds.

California’s Special Education Teacher Shortage

Naomi Ondrasek, Desiree Carver-Thomas, Caitlin Scott, Linda Darling-Hammond

Originally posted by the Learning Policy Institute

California is in the midst of a severe and deepening shortage of special education teachers—and it is not alone. The field of special education at large has long been plagued by persistent shortages of fully certified teachers, in large part due to a severe drop in teacher education enrollments and high attrition for special educators. As a result, students with disabilities who often have the greatest needs are frequently taught by the least qualified teachers.

To better understand the nature of the shortage in California, and what can be done about it, the Learning Policy Institute released California’s Special Education Teacher Shortage. 

Read the full article.

Shortage of Special Educators Adds to Classroom Pressures

Christina A. Samuels and Alex Harwin
Originally posted by Education Week, December 5, 2018

The number of special education teachers nationally has dropped by more than 17 percent over the past decade, a worrisome trend in a career path that has seen chronic shortages for years.

Read the full article.

The Special Education Teacher Crisis: Who’s Teaching Our Most Vulnerable Students?

Desiree Carver-Thomas
Originally posted by the Learning Policy Institute, May 16, 2017

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia experienced shortages of special education teachers in the 2016–17 school year. As a result, school districts have filled those vacancies with underprepared teachers. Strategic investments in evidence-based programs can alleviate this perennial shortage.

Read the full article.

A Coming Crisis in Teaching? Teacher Supply, Demand, and Shortages in the U.S.

Leib Sutcher, Linda Darling-Hammond, Desiree Carver-Thomas
Originally posted by the Learning Policy Institute, September 15, 2016

“Widespread media reports of local teacher shortages have become a hot topic in education since the summer of 2015. After years of teacher layoffs, districts began hiring again as the economy recovered from the Great Recession. Many were surprised to find they had serious difficulty finding qualified teachers for their positions, especially in fields like mathematics, science, special education, and bilingual education/English language development. A number of states greatly expanded emergency permits to allow hiring of untrained teachers to meet these demands—which is the classic definition of shortage. To date, however, there has not yet been a detailed national analysis of the sources and extent of these shortages, and the prognosis for the future.

This report details the outcomes of such a study, which analyzes evidence of teacher shortages, as well as national and regional trends in teacher supply and demand. Using several federal databases, the authors examine the current context and model projections of future trends under several different assumptions about factors influencing supply and demand, including new entrants, re-entrants, projected hires, and attrition rates. They also investigate policy strategies that might mitigate these effects based on research about effective approaches to recruitment and retention.”

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Behind The Shortage Of Special Ed Teachers: Long Hours, Crushing Paperwork

Lee Hale, NPR
Originally posted by NPR, November 9, 2015

“The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, requires that every student have what’s known as an IEP — Individualized Education Program. And almost always, those IEP’s spell out that students — either some of the time or all of the time — must be taught by a teacher fully certified in special education.

And yet, around the country, that’s exactly the category of teacher that’s most in demand, as many states and districts are reporting severe shortages.

…So what’s the answer? Aggressive recruitment, says Trevor Greene. He’s the human resources director of Highline Public Schools, a 19,000-student district south of Seattle…”

Read the full story.