Unprepared to Accommodate Special Education: Students' Unmet Needs

• In Event: 18.055 - Free and Appropriate? Contextual Factors Impacting the Provision of "Appropriate" Special Education Services

Abstract

Many students require special education and programming to succeed in the classroom (National Centre for Education Statistics, 2018; Statistics Canada, 2012). This study analysed international and national assessment survey data regarding special education to better characterize student classroom needs and teacher preparedness to support them. Most teachers indicated that they relied on teacher-based accommodations and some teachers did not have access to external resources. While many teachers did not indicate receiving adequate teacher training courses and professional development (PD) on special education, results indicate students from classrooms in which teachers took special education PD statistically significantly outperform their peers (F[1, 5.2]=526.60, p<0.05). These results are important to improving the quality of special education to ensure all students be successful.

Authors

• Man-Wai Chu, University of Calgary

• Heather Craig

• Lake Bedilu Yeworiew, University of Calgary

• Yue Xu