NCPSSERS

Take Action!

Alleviating the special education teacher and SISP shortage requires a multi-faceted approach. Mitigation efforts focus on the two factors that exacerbate shortages:

  • Recruitment of professionals into their schools
  • Retention of professionals who are employed

Local school districts, and state and federal agencies all have an important role to play in reducing the acute shortage of these professionals. The following recruitment and retention strategies are supported by NCPSSERS.

Additionally, these policy recommendations may be a helpful starting point for policymakers, and state and local school leaders to consider replicating.

Strategies

Recruitment

System-wide comprehensive recruitment strategies to attract special education

Retention

Comprehensive retention strategies for special education teachers and SISPs.

Policy Recommendations

Policy recommendations focused on identifying schools’ needs, professional licensure and accreditation, increasing funding, and professional development can help local, state and federal policymakers to recruit and retain special education teachers and SISP.

Presentations

NCPSSERS meets on the second Thursday of January, March, May, September, and November and has benefitted greatly from presentations provided by experts from around the country. Perhaps your school district or state agency could also benefit from these recorded presentations:

Success Stories

Michigan Attracts, Prepares and Retains with OPTIMISE

The OPTIMISE task force, initiated in 2021, has worked with professional organizations, associations, institutes of higher education, multiple legislative offices, and the governor’s office to network, collect and review data, and identify strengths, barriers and opportunities. This work resulted in recommendations on how to effectively attract, prepare and retain a qualified and diverse workforce pipeline in Michigan. Their website allows exploration of SISP and special education teacher positions, including informative videos about each profession, with information on how to earn a degree, Michigan colleges that offer the degree, available scholarships and grants, volunteer and job shadowing opportunities, and a job board. OPTIMISE has a significant social media campaign to Elevate the Profession and celebrate being a special educator in Michigan. See https://optimise.education for more information.

Iowa Area Education Agencies Partner to Grow Their Own School Psychologists

The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) partners with two area education agencies (AEAs) to create a distance education program that will increase the number of school psychologists in these areas by 20% across a five-year grant period. The partnership serves high-need rural areas with high poverty rates and fewer options for referrals for school psychologists. The program will train existing K-12 educators who already have a master’s degree. They will complete the program and earn an education specialist (Ed.S.) degree in 18 months, while working full-time, and commit to working in their AEAs for three years.  Contact Nicole Skaar, Associate Professor & Coordinator, School Psychology Program at the University of Northern Iowa at nicole.skaar@uni.edu for more information.

Ohio District Grows Their Own School Psychologists and SLPs

Because of a shortage of school psychologist candidates to interview for openings in the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center, they engaged in a relationship with the University of Toledo. A 3-year program was developed to allow individuals already employed in schools to maintain some level of employment in the schools while pursuing their coursework to become a school psychologist.   Funding for tuition is provided by Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center funds.   The students’ tuition is paid in exchange for a 5-year commitment as a school psychologist, a $38,000 commitment. Adding 3 more school psychologists into their region is a game changer. Mid-Ohio ESC is looking for candidates who are invested in the region and their superintendent is fully committed to growing their own providers.

Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center has developed a similar program for speech-language pathologists (SLPs). They have a 2-year grad program and then their 3rd year is their clinical fellowship. That’s a $41,000 commitment and those SLPs also give a 5-year commitment to being an SLP for Mid-Ohio ESC. For more information, contact Jonathan Burras, Director of Student Services at Mansfield City Schools, at burras.jonathan@mansfieldschools.org or Jennifer Crum, Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center at crum.jennifer@moesc.net.

Wisconsin District Implements Two Changes to Attract and Retain Speech-Language Pathologists

The Speech, Related Services and Assistive Technology Coordinator for Racine, WI developed a relationship with other administrators to address a chronic shortage of speech-language pathologists. After many meetings, making multiple requests over time, and sharing the
data of how staff retention was impacted using information from neighboring districts, the school district’s administration agreed to:

  • add a budget item to pay for ASHA dues for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) including all new clinical fellows (CF) and those with their certificates of clinical competency (CCCs)
  • provide a clinical fellowship (CF) supervisor for any new CFs.

Once word spread that ASHA dues were paid, and a dedicated CF supervisor was available, more SLPs applied, and the school district is at full capacity for SLPs. Contact Ann Barry, Coordinator of Speech, Related Services and Assistive Technology in Racine, WI at ann.barry@rusd.org for more information.