Persons with disabilities navigate multifaceted life experiences shaped by both community belonging and systemic exclusion. In Somaliland, where conflict, drought, and poverty frame everyday life, accounts of Deaf teachers’ professional experiences remain entirely undocumented. In this study, we examined the lived experiences of Deaf teachers employed at a special primary school for the Deaf in Borama town. Drawing on Husserlian descriptive phenomenology, we conducted semi-structured interviews with six Deaf teachers. We analyzed data thematically following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework. Findings reveal that Deaf teachers experience strong collegial solidarity within the school yet face systemic institutional neglect outside it. Challenges include inadequate salaries requiring supplementary employment, absence of sign language interpreters in institutional meetings, communication barriers with hearing colleagues and community members, exclusion from professional development opportunities, and severely constrained employment prospects. Participants consistently positioned themselves as role models for Deaf students. We recommend systemic interventions, including equitable compensation, sign language interpreter provision, inclusive professional development access, and implementation of Somaliland’s 5% employment quota for persons with disabilities. Implications for teacher education programs internationally are also discussed.
Collaboration with other adults is crucial for fulfilling special educators' professional roles. Yet even though their emotions deeply shape their collaborative efforts, most teachers receive little training on how to navigate the emotional elements of their practice. In this study, we explore the ways that in-service special education teachers (SETs) experience emotional labor during collaboration with other adults. Through thematic analysis of interviews with 13 SETs, we demonstrate how SETs' roles position them for unique forms of emotional labor, and how they use emotional labor strategies as a professional tool within interpersonal interactions and collaborative efforts with other adults. The present study serves to inform the design and implementation of future professional learning opportunities addressing the emotional dimensions of SETs' collaborative efforts, as well as the structural supports needed to fulfill their professional roles.
Early childhood teachers increasingly serve dual language learners (DLLs) with or at risk for disabilities, yet many report limited preparation to address their complex linguistic and learning needs. Professional learning grounded in culturally and linguistically responsive practices (CLRPs) and practice-based learning (PBL) has been proposed as a means of supporting teachers in developing responsive instructional practices. This review examined 19 empirical studies that met the inclusion criteria and focused on professional learning designed to prepare teachers to support DLLs with or at risk for disabilities from birth to age 8. Professional learning most frequently addressed linguistic responsiveness and instructional strategies and incorporated PBL components such as coaching and modeling. These programs improved teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, whereas changes in instructional practices and child outcomes were mixed. Evidence remains limited and largely focused on in-service PD, highlighting the need for stronger integration of CLRP and sustained PBL opportunities in future professional learning.
Engineering is a complex and multifaceted field that integrates scientific and mathematical principles to solve real-world challenges. Despite noteworthy growth in research on math and science instruction for students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities (MSD) over the past several decades, limited research has explored instruction in scientific and engineering practices for these students. The current qualitative, multiple case-study focuses on the first year of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research program following five teachers from multiple schools across two U.S. states implementing the engineering curriculum in special education classrooms for students with MSD. The results revealed the positive outcomes of the engineering program on both teacher perspectives and student outcomes. In addition, future research is discussed.
While the use of paraeducators has steadily increased over past decades, there is limited research on how school demographics impact the number of paraeducators working in a school. In this study, we use data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to determine the relationship between school and district demographics and the ratio of paraeducators to students in a school. We find that schools with higher percentages of students with Individualized Education Programs were associated with a higher paraeducator-to-student ratio. Additional school-level and district-level racial and demographic variables were associated with the paraeducator-to-student ratio. Because paraeducators provide a different level and kind of support than teachers, these relationships present potential equity issues regarding the resources and opportunities available to students given different school compositional features.
Worsening staffing challenges in special education have led to increased reliance on emergency permits to staff special education positions, but there is little large-scale quantitative evidence about special education teachers (SETs) who entered the workforce with emergency permits. We used longitudinal data from Pennsylvania to study the composition, distribution, and stability of emergency permitted special education teachers (EPSETs). EPSETs were more racially and ethnically diverse than other novice SETs, and they disproportionately taught in schools serving more historically disadvantaged students. EPSETs of color were more likely to leave the workforce and were less likely to transition to full certification than other EPSETs, as were EPSETs in schools with higher percentages of students of color in a district. Efforts to retain and fully credential EPSETs of color and EPSETs in harder-to-staff schools are one mechanism to improve the racial and ethnic diversity of the SET workforce and address special education staffing challenges.
Paraeducator-to-teacher (PTT) programs offer a promising approach to addressing teacher shortages and diversifying the workforce. Paraeducators, however, often encounter barriers such as limited awareness of licensure requirements, challenges in self-perception as learners, and academic readiness. According to the Social Cognitive Career Theory, career decisions are shaped by personal, behavioral, and environmental factors. In this study, the authors explore paraeducators' perceived motivators and deterrents to pursuing PTT pathways using generalist qualitative methods anchored in a pragmatic epistemological framework. Using inductive and deductive coding of 43 journal responses from three program cohorts, the authors identify three key themes: (a) experiences with students with disabilities, (b) contextual factors influencing licensure pursuit, and (c) perceived academic and career self-efficacy. Based on these findings, the authors highlight how university-based PTT programs can tailor support for paraeducators.
Paraeducators are an essential and growing part of the special education workforce, but concerningly, research indicates that paraeducators leave the workforce at higher rates than special educators. Not much is known about the demographic and professional profiles of paraeducators who leave the workforce, nor patterns that make turnover more or less likely. Such patterns have key implications for attracting and retaining a stable and diverse workforce. We leverage longitudinal administrative data from Washington state to track paraeducators across years they are employed in the workforce, using a series of survival analyses and regressions predicting time to and probability of workforce exit. Our findings indicate that paraeducators tend to leave early and often-especially men-but salary could be a malleable factor to increase the stability of the workforce, particularly for those most vulnerable to exit. These findings have implications for the stability, diversity, and effectiveness of the workforce.
Disabled and neurodivergent faculty members in higher education face barriers and stigma and there is a need to explore further the experiences of disabled and neurodivergent faculty members in teacher education. In this narrative inquiry study, I interviewed six faculty members from teacher education programs at New York State universities and colleges who self-identified as disabled and neurodivergent. Using crip methods, I conducted three interviews with each participant, giving participants a choice in the format of their interviews to improve accessibility, as modeled by other disability studies scholars in higher education. I analyzed the interview data using a constructivist grounded theory approach. This analysis revealed a new theoretical lens of Disability-Reflective Pedagogy, a novel way of explaining how these educators make connections between their embodied disability-related experiences, values and strengths, supports and strategies, and an environment of inclusion and belonging, to the benefit of themselves and their students.
Special education teachers often report having heavy workloads and problematic working conditions that lead to a desire to leave their campus. Some attention has been given to the role of principal especially since administrative support has been reported by special education teachers as a working condition influencing their decisions to leave. In this study, we use Texas administrative data from 1995-2024 academic years to identify the extent to which principals have special education teaching experience and examine the relationship between that experience and special education teacher retention. We find that roughly 22% of principals had some special education teaching experience in their careers. We also find that principals with special education teaching experience may be positively correlated with special education teacher retention, but our findings suggest that the influence of principal experience is partially moderated by school-level factors. We discuss these findings and implications for future research and practice.
A growing body of research uses state longitudinal data systems (SLDS) to study the special education teacher (SET) workforce in specific states, but these studies make different decisions about how to identify SETs within SLDS and link them to school and district data. We therefore used SLDS from three states-Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington-to explore the implications of these decisions for analyses of the SET workforce. While some methods used to identify SETs in prior literature (e.g., based on classroom assignments or position funding sources) produce estimates of the size of the SET workforce that are comparable to state-reported IDEA 618 data, using teacher certification to identify SETs substantially overestimates the size of the SET workforce in these states and can lead to misleading conclusions about turnover in these states. Other data decisions (e.g., how to handle multiple school assignments) have fewer implications for these analyses.
Teachers' beliefs about their disabled students' abilities impact students' well-being and success. These beliefs often inform teachers' decisions and instructional practices, which can influence the quality of disabled students' learning experience. Beliefs are commonly established early on and can be difficult to shift, although not impossible. In the current mixed-methods study, 57 preservice teachers pursuing a dual licensure in general and special education were taught disability-studies-related material within their special education methods course. At the beginning and end of the semester, participants wrote a definition for disability and completed a belief survey regarding their perspectives of people with disabilities. Some topics included language usage, ableism, neurodiversity, intersectionality, and accessibility. Students engaged with the topics through discussions and reflection opportunities. Results showed some positive shifts in preservice teacher understanding of disability; however, there is still much room for growth. Implications and next steps are discussed.
Meaningful professional connections are crucial to enacting inclusive education policy. Yet, extant qualitative research suggests that special education teachers' (SETs) professional experiences are often marked by isolation, devaluation, and subordination. Informed by homophily theory, in the present study, we extend beyond SETs' individual experiences to take an organizational perspective. We explore patterns of advice and information seeking, providing, and brokering between general education teachers (GETs) and SETs regarding English language arts (ELA) and mathematics using social network data from 14 elementary schools in one district. Our results suggest that SETs were differently positioned in content area networks, the work necessary to be a part of these networks tended to fall on SETs, and GETs tended to have a slightly greater influence on their ELA networks than SETs. Results have implications for efforts to support and sustain meaningful connections between teachers, a crucial aspect of collaboration for inclusive practice.
The purpose of this study is to descriptively examine the characteristics of early career alternatively certified special education teachers (SETs). Building off the growing evidence base studying these teachers, we use nationally representative, teacher-level data from the Schools and Staffing Survey and the National Teacher and Principal Survey from 2007 to 2021. Four main findings emerge from our descriptive analysis: (a) 30% of early career SETs are alternatively certified, and early career alternatively certified SETs (b) are much more likely to be racially minoritized than other early career SETs (34% vs 19%), (c) teach predominantly in schools with higher populations of students of color, and (d) enter the profession with less preservice preparation but are no more likely to participate in comprehensive mentoring and induction programs. We discuss the implications of these findings among ongoing efforts to reduce special educator shortages.
The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and social validity of a training and coaching intervention for Chinese special education teachers implementing trial-based functional analysis (TBFA). Four lead teachers from a special education elementary school in China participated. A multiple-probe across participants design was used to evaluate the functional relationship between the intervention and the accuracy of TBFA implementation for three teachers. Results demonstrated a functional relationship across these three participants, indicating that the intervention was effective in teaching TBFA implementation. Maintenance was assessed 1 week after the TBFA assessments, and generalization was evaluated in multiple ways, including one of the three main participants teaching a fourth teacher to conduct TBFA. Findings showed that all three primary participants maintained and generalized the skills taught. In-depth qualitative and quantitative social validity data were collected before, during, and after the intervention. The data suggested that all teachers were satisfied with the intervention and showed increased confidence in implementing the TBFA. Nevertheless, they reported feeling stressed when conducting TBFA in real classrooms. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Providing and assessing high-quality professional development can support teachers in implementing technology-delivered interventions that promote student self-determination and goal attainment. Still, there is limited research on teachers' knowledge, skills, and use of technology-delivered, self-determination interventions, such as the Goal Setting Challenge (GSC) App. The purpose of this convergent mixed-methods study was to evaluate qualitative and quantitative data collected from secondary special education teachers during a pilot study of the impact of the GSC App on student with disabilities goal attainment outcomes. Integration of our quantitative and qualitative data confirm, disconfirm, and expand our findings in that teachers felt the GSC App, a technology-delivered self-determination intervention, was an effective method for supporting student goal setting and delivering self-determination instruction via technology to students with disabilities. Teachers felt it was useful to have an alternative to teacher-delivered self-determination instruction. Limitations and implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Teachers with disabilities serve as role models for students who share their disability identity, offering lived experience as a valuable source of knowledge and representation. The misconceptions about the potential contributions a visual disability affords the field of education not only limit employment opportunities for individuals with visual impairment (VI) in a field with a critical shortage but also deprive students with VI of educators with a shared disability identity who could serve as role models. This qualitative multiple case study used semi-structured interviews to explore the lived experiences of seven adults with VI who pursued careers in the field of visual disabilities education. Findings indicate role modelship impacted all aspects of considering, becoming, and being a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TSVI). Their professional journey was marked by a double bind; they were simultaneously perceived as unqualified due to their disability and dismissed as taking the easy route due to the shared disability identity. TSVIs with VI, however, bring critical lived experience to their teaching, advocacy, and school communities. Breaking the double bind requires collective responsibility across teacher education, policy, and school leadership. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
The field of early childhood special education continues to be dominated by deficit-based perspectives of young disabled children. In contrast, Descriptive Inquiry supports educators to see children as multifaceted and full of strengths, promoting the democratic aim of schooling to nurture individual human flourishing for the good of society. Through a qualitative discourse analysis, we explore how 36 graduate students applied Descriptive Inquiry to their work with young disabled children. We highlight four cases of graduate students and their focus children in this article. Our findings indicate that Descriptive Inquiry can serve an important means of advancing democracy for young disabled children. We recommend that early childhood special education teacher educators consider incorporating Descriptive Inquiry into their programs if they hope to instill democratic dispositions in their teacher candidates.
Dual certification programs hold significant transformational potential for achieving comprehensive teacher education reform that cultivates equitable, inclusive education. Yet little examination of their curricular or structural elements has occurred. In this study, we used a multidimensional framework, based on four drivers of transformation for inclusion, to analyze the website discourse of all 272 self-identified elementary and secondary dual certification programs in the United States drawn from a national database of teacher education programs. Regarding depth and breadth of transformation, most program websites displayed combinations of extensive and limited inclusive discourse across drivers; few addressed inclusive teacher education philosophy and practices across all drivers in rich, extensive ways. Least represented with any rich discourse was the equity driver. These data offer insight into important aspects of the current state of mediated discourse related to teacher education for inclusion and provide guidance for more comprehensive approaches to advancing robust teacher education reform toward this goal.
This study used integrative data analysis to examine profiles of teacher–student relationships and teacher’s use of research-based behavior management practices in early childhood and K–third-grade classrooms with students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). We also examined the association of these profiles with student social skills and challenging behavior. Using an exploratory approach to latent profile analysis, we found significant evidence for the existence of three profiles among our sample of 266 student–teacher dyads that corresponded to three different profiles: (a) Low Rates of Practice Delivery/Positive Relationship; (b) Average Rates of Practice Delivery/Negative Relationship; and (c) Medium High Rates of Practice Delivery/Average Relationship. Nearly 90% of dyads fell into Profiles 1 or 3, with the remaining dyads in Profile 2. Furthermore, we found that profile membership did predict significant differences on later measures of student challenging behavior and social skills. Findings provide evidence that teacher’s use of research-based behavior management practices and relationships with students with or at risk for EBD are multifaceted and highlight the importance of transactional processes in these relationships.
