A Statistical Analysis of Special Education Teacher Support and Retention

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: An Investigation of Teacher Retention Plans Among Special Populations Using the 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey

Abstract

High teacher turnover compromises the staffing of well-prepared, capable teachers in schools when the number of teachers leaving surpasses the numbers of qualified teachers entering the field. Approximately one-third of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years of teaching (Boe, Cook, & Sunderland, 2008; Darling-Hammond, 2003; Ingersoll, 2001). Steep attrition in the first few years of teaching is a long-standing problem and contributes to teacher shortages and school instability. In addition to the concern of the turnover rate for beginning teachers, an even higher rate of attrition for special educators poses a particular problem for the field of special education. However, there is limited research on the three types of turnover of special education teachers, which include leaving the profession; migrating from one school to another; and transferring to a different teaching area outside of special education.

In view of the widespread use of research to prompt changes in educational policy and practice, it is imperative to have valid, comprehensive, and current data about the turnover phenomena of general education and special education teachers. Moreover, understanding why special education teachers leave is important for developing effective interventions aimed at improving teacher retention. The main purpose for this paper was to investigate if there was an association between North Carolina special education teachers’ perceptions about the support they received for teaching special needs students and their intentions to continue teaching.

The Schools and Staffing Survey 2007-2008 (SASS) provided national information about public school teachers during the school year prior to turnover. For the purposes of this study, teachers who indicated special education as their main teaching assignment were selected from the sample of North Carolina public school teachers (n=72). The SASS questionnaire asked teachers if they were given the support they needed to teach students with special needs (Question 55o). In addition, teachers were asked if they planned to remain in teaching (Question 58b). A simple linear regression was computed to investigate whether support for teaching special needs students predicts North Carolina special education teachers’ intentions to remain in teaching.

From the 72 special education teachers, 76% agree that they are given the support needed to work with special needs students as seen in table 1. Out of the 72 special education teachers, 81% intend to remain in teaching and 6% responded that it depends on either life events or more desirable job opportunity. The regression predicting special education teachers’ intentions to remain teaching from support for teaching special needs students was not statistically significant because the probability (p = .111) is not less than the preset alpha level (<.05).

Further analysis of special education teachers in the south would provide a larger sample and more variation in the teachers’ responses regarding support for working with special needs students and more variation in the teachers’ intentions to remain in teaching. Extensive research is needed to understand the reasons for special education teacher attrition, migration, and teaching area transfer in order to target effective interventions (Boe et al., 2008).

Author

• Jessica Rani Milton, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill