Retention of Special Education Teachers: Longitudinal Evidence From Washington State

• In Event: 79.049 - Supporting and Sustaining Capacity: Leadership in Special Education

Abstract

Washington has persistently faced critical teacher shortages in special education (Morton, 2017). This paper studies whether, and if so when, special educators leave the teaching profession and how these patterns differ based on teacher demographics and teaching characteristics. This study uses rich administrative state records that follow a sub-sample of 7, 039 special educators over a period of 14 years (2002-2016). The study uses discrete-time survival analysis to estimate the conditional probability of teachers leaving the special education profession. Results reveal special educators have been more likely to leave the profession in last five years; this is particularly true for teachers who are part-time, belong to minority race or are service-workers. These results have important implications for school districts.

Author

• Syeda Farwa Fatima, University of Pennsylvania