ERIC Number: ED665096
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jan
Pages: 36
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Misalignments between Student Teaching Placements and Initial Teaching Positions: Implications for the Early-Career Attrition of Special Education Teachers
Ben R. Backes; James E. Cowan; Dan D. Goldhaber; Zeyu Jin; Roddy J. Theobald
Grantee Submission
Graduates of special education teacher education programs can teach in a range of special education settings, raising the potential that their training can occur in very different settings than where they find their first jobs. We follow 263 completers of Moderate Disabilities programs in Massachusetts from their field placements to their early-career teaching positions and study the characteristics of their field placements and the degree to which these are aligned with their early-career teaching positions. We also assess the degree to which alignment is associated with early-career teacher turnover. We found that many of these teachers student taught in an inclusive setting but were hired into a self-contained special education setting and vice versa, and teachers who experienced this misalignment were more likely to leave the workforce early in their careers. Teachers who student taught with a supervising practitioner without a special education license were also more likely to leave early. Findings suggest that teachers training to educate students with learning disabilities should student teach in a setting that is aligned with where they are likely to be hired and with a supervising practitioner who is trained in special education. [This paper will be published in the "Journal of Learning Disabilities."]
Descriptors: Teacher Education Programs, Special Education Teachers, Student Teaching, Student Placement, College Graduates, Inclusion, Self Contained Classrooms, Teacher Qualifications, Student Teacher Supervisors, Teacher Certification, Students with Disabilities, Predictor Variables, Elementary Secondary Education
Related Records: ED643365
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305S210012