A Possible Dream: Retaining California's Special Education Teachers
By Ken Futernick, Director, K-12 Studies, Center for Teacher Quality, California
State University
On April 26, 2007, the Center for Teacher Quality released a report I had
written on teacher retention in California: A Possible Dream: Retaining California
Teachers So All Students Learn. When I set out to gather data for the report
in 2005, my aim was to gain a better understanding of the factors affecting
staffing patterns in California's K-12 public schools. Unless policymakers,
educators, and researchers really understood why so many teachers were leaving
the profession before they retired, why many were transferring away from certain
types of schools or assignments, and especially why many chose to stay where
they were, it would be difficult to develop and adopt policies and practices
that would address and solve the retention problem. If the state could find
a way to retain more of its qualified and experienced teachers, it could significantly
and positively affect student learning.
Before conducting a survey for the report, I knew that, in 2005, 14 percent
of special education teachers in California's public schools did not have an
appropriate teaching credential and that nearly half of first-year special
education teachers were underqualified. It was clear that the status of these
professionals needed to be a significant part of the study. With guidance from
special education teachers, I included in the survey several questions that
specifically addressed their circumstances.
Over 1,000 survey responses from current and former special education teachers
informed our study. These data provided a fascinating and, at times, sobering
perspective on their professional worlds. Before sharing some of the highlights
from these findings and the report's recommendations to improve the retention
of special education teachers, I want to underscore the serious costs associated
with high teacher turnover.
California spends over $455 million each year to recruit, hire, and prepare
teachers to replace those who leave the profession or transfer to other schools
before reaching retirement age. Nearly a quarter of California's newly prepared
K-12 teachers walk away from their teaching posts by the end of their first
four years.
On top of the monetary costs, the educational costs of high teacher
turnover are nearly incalculable when one considers the loss of continuity
and expertise at schools with high turnover rates. The churning of teachers
in some schools is, of course, an unambiguous signal that something in the
school environment is not right and needs to be fixed.
So, why do special education teachers leave?
One important finding from our study is that many special education teachers
do not leave the profession altogether; instead, they take positions in general
education. Approximately one-third of the teachers we surveyed who had special
education credentials were teaching in general education. But whether they
leave their profession or just special education, many special education teachers
point to the same factors that cause general education teachers to leave, frequently
citing the following concerns:
- Bureaucratic impediments
- Lack of support from the district office
- Low staff morale
- Lack of resources
- An unsupportive principal
- Too little time for planning and collaboration
In addition, special education teachers often pointed to factors that are
unique to their work environments:
- Inadequate support for special education
students
Many teachers described how their students and programs lack adequate
materials, physical space, and attention from administrators. One special
education teacher working at a high-poverty elementary school said, "For
nine of the 12 years I have worked as a resource specialist, I had no materials
of consequence, and I shared one room with four others, all teaching at the
same time to groups as large as ten. The noise, chaos, and confusion were
hard to bear. In desperation, I found an empty room, and I moved every month
to a new room for one and a half years."
- Lack of understanding from general
education colleagues
Special educators spoke about feeling isolated from
colleagues and frequently at odds with them. One 14-year veteran special
education teacher explained, "The
lack of understanding from general education colleagues translated into being
more isolated, left out, excluded, and devalued. Oftentimes special education
teachers at my school aren't viewed as 'real teachers.' We are always needing
to fight battles--advocating for the children to be included, getting basic
teaching supplies/resources for them, or getting the teachers to understand
and follow IEPs."
- IEPs and related paperwork
Special education teachers
who left their professions pointed to the frequent changes to IEP (Individualized
Education Program) forms, the lack of standardization across the state, and
the lack of time or assistance for completing them. A teacher with seven
years of experience in special education complained, "IEPs seem to change
every year, and it is frustrating that IEP forms are not standardized throughout
the state. It takes extra time to find information on IEPs for students coming
from other districts. I spend at least four hours testing every child, two
hours writing every IEP, at least five hours testing for triennial reviews,
and another two-to-three hours writing the report for every child. Most of
this [work] takes place on weekends or after school gets out. We do not have
release time to work on these reports. The paperwork overload is out of control.
Teachers are burning out, and something needs to give. I love teaching. I
really do not love the paperwork."
Why special education teachers remain "active"
Despite the problems
that cause many teachers to leave special education, many "active" special
education teachers report being satisfied with their work. The three most
frequently cited reasons for staying are related to the "collegial supports" in
their workplace--those elements that maintain strong relationships among
staff. Sixty-eight percent of special education teachers who remain in their
profession said they stay because of close professional relationships with
other members of the staff; 67 percent stay because their principal is supportive
and effective; and 66 percent because their staff works effectively as a team.
Positive morale among the staff and close personal relationships with other
staff members was cited by 60 percent of on-the-job special educators. These
figures point, once again, to the critical role that professional relationships
play in teachers' attitudes toward their jobs. As one survey respondent said, "I
stay because I work with a partner in special education who is highly regarded
by staff and administration and who was my mentor when I started at the junior
high school setting. I have learned that special education can be very lonely,
and many times I have self-doubts. The progress we see is usually slow and
is not always valued by the parents and certainly does not seem to be valued
by society in general. I stay where I am because I have a co-teacher who
shares my philosophy and whom I respect. The job is so isolating at times,
but even though I could make quite a bit more money elsewhere, I cannot replace
the support I get."
Getting "inactive" special education teachers back to special education.
As
noted above, many teachers holding special education credentials have chosen
to work in general education classrooms. Given the chronic shortage of special
education teachers and the substantial investment that has already been made
in their training, getting these "inactive" special education
teachers back to special education is a worthy goal. When surveyed, just
eight percent of the inactive special education teachers said they would
return to special education if they were offered a sufficiently high salary.
Twenty-two percent, nearly three times as many, said they would return to
special education if many of the working conditions were improved to better
support their work.
In general, those who have left special education are
unwilling to return to it without improvements in teaching and learning conditions.
The range of concerns these former teachers have expressed indicates that there
is no single, simple change to teaching and learning conditions that would
motivate them to return. That said, the positive and stirring comments from
teachers who stay point to a host of system and collegial supports that can
keep our valued special education teachers in the classrooms for which they
were trained--and even lure a fair number of them back. As described below,
what will be needed is a multifaceted approach that is based on local assessments
of teaching and learning conditions and on teacher-generated solutions for
improving them.
Recommendations for policy and practice
The findings from this study demonstrate
that teaching and learning conditions play a critical role in teachers' decisions
to stay or leave the classroom--even more than compensation. But the study
would not have added anything new to the body of research on teacher retention
if it merely demonstrated that teaching and learning conditions affect teacher
retention.
By providing educators and policymakers with a clearer understanding
of both the specific and general types of teaching and learning conditions
that really matter to teachers, this report can help reformers construct strategies
that improve schools in ways that will keep more teachers, especially experienced
teachers, in the classroom. The recommendations from the report represent
a balance of strategic and tactical actions that are borne out of the data
collected from this K-12 teacher retention study. Implementing these recommendations
will require action from local educators and statewide education officials.
If, together, they commit to improving teacher retention rates in California
schools, especially among special education teachers, there is an excellent
chance that students and their schools will thrive.
The specific recommendations
offered to retain special education teachers are as follows:
- At the school
level, collect and interpret data on teaching and learning conditions for
special education; incorporate solutions into broader retention strategies.
- Reduce
the unnecessary burdens imposed by IEPs and related paperwork.
- Cultivate strong
collegial supports for special educators, with particular attention to the
relationships between special education and general education teachers.
- Expand
programs that support novice special educators.
These findings have guided the construction of a sound and detailed set of
recommendations that will be especially useful to state and local decision
makers as they wrestle with the teacher shortage in California's public schools.
If implemented, not only will it be possible to reduce the shortage of special
education teachers, but doing so will also have a profound and positive effect
on student performance in all types of school settings in California: high-poverty
schools as well as low-poverty schools; high schools as well as middle and
elementary schools; special education classrooms as well as general education
classrooms.
That is the possible dream.