Exploring the Relationship Between Teacher Experience, Student Disability, and Reading Outcomes for Third Graders.

• In Event: Research in Progress Roundtable Session 3
  In Invited Roundtable: Teacher Training, Attitudes, and Resilience in Special Education (Table 15)

Abstract

The majority of students with disabilities spend 80% or more of their education day in a general education classroom. However, little is known about the experience or the effectiveness of the teachers who work with these students. This study utilizes third-grade public access dataset of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten: 2011 to explore the relationship between student disability status, general education teacher experience, student reading outcomes, and student demographics. Through using regression analysis, preliminary results indicates that (1) there is a negative relationship between student IEP status and general education teacher experience, and (2) both IEP and teacher experience were significant predictors of students’ third-grade reading scores. All results were moderated by student demographics and school level fixed effects.

Author

• Jiaxin Jessie Wang, Vanderbilt University