Teacher turnover in urban high-poverty schools is detrimental to students' achievement. In fact, one of the most prevalent social justice issues today is the unequal distribution of experienced teachers to urban high-poverty schools. Researchers suggest that experienced teachers are more effective at raising student performance than new or early…

Project SASI (Students with Autism and Sensory Impairments) tested the use of community engagement strategies to increase recruitment of professionals working with students with sensory impairments in rural and remote communities to address personnel shortages in these areas. The project was based on the intersection of high-impact strategies for…

Background/Context: Instructional policy aims to shift the nature of teaching and learning. Decades of policy studies have highlighted the challenges inherent in these aims and the conditions necessary to support such change, including a robust infrastructure to support teacher learning. Further, teachers themselves must perceive and experience…

Background/Context: Instructional policy aims to shift the nature of teaching and learning. Decades of policy studies have highlighted the challenges inherent in these aims and the conditions necessary to support such change, including a robust infrastructure to support teacher learning. Further, teachers themselves must perceive and experience…

The purpose of the current study was to examine barriers, if any, reported by special education directors to providing extended school year (ESY) services. Results indicate four barriers to providing ESY services listed in order of importance by special education directors: difficulty in finding qualified personnel to work over the summer,…

The study investigated the knowledge, skills, and beliefs of RTI among educators' in two ways: whether they work in schools with differing proportions of economically disadvantaged students and whether they are general education teachers, special education teachers, or campus leaders. This study took place in a school district along the southwest…

Background/Context: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) requires that all students with disabilities (SWD) receive a free, appropriate public education designed to meet their unique needs to prepare them for post-school education and employment (American Psychological Association, 2018). In the past two decades, momentum…

Background/Context: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) requires that all students with disabilities (SWD) receive a free, appropriate public education designed to meet their unique needs to prepare them for post-school education and employment (American Psychological Association, 2018). In the past two decades, momentum…

Many teachers do not feel that their pre-service training adequately prepared them to manage and teach students with learning/behavioral challenges, a situation that often diminishes a teacher's sense of instructional self-efficacy. Researchers observe that many teachers with low self-efficacy skills in the classroom also have issues with their…

Transition planning requires quality vocational and transition assessment tailored to the student's needs, strengths, preferences and interests. Limited research is currently available that addresses assessment types and use of results that rural practitioners utilize to aid in transition planning for students with intellectual disabilities (ID).…

This case focuses on one novice school principal's experience with an elopement incident. School elopement sets the background for this case, and in this situation, the principal sees the need to take action to increase school safety and special needs students' teacher support. The authors enumerate leadership practices and organizational…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify effective teaching strategies used with students with autism to enhance social skill development. With the growing need for teachers to address students with autism, viable strategies are needed to be implemented effectively to ensure social outcome success for students. The Individuals with…

Online and distance education strategies offer a path for closing opportunity gaps for students with disabilities because of digital technologies' flexibility and capacity for differentiation, but fully online schooling does always guarantee an inclusive education. The COVID-19-induced shift to remote learning highlighted the need for more insight…

Developing preservice special educators' understandings of curricular content knowledge in inclusive and self-contained settings is essential. The purpose of the present study was to better understand specific preparation practices teacher educators use to equip preservice special educators with curricular content knowledge. Using a survey…

Little is known about stress perception and perceived coping mechanisms used by special educators. This article presents a study with 211 special educators to determine how they deal with stress. Participants completed a survey reporting stressors and coping skills. Special educators reported stress in their positions. Increased caseloads,…