This paper addresses the national quantity demand, supply, and shortage of special education teachers (SETs) in comparison to general education teachers (GETs). The main data source was the 1999-00 Schools and Staffing Survey. Results indicated that the total demand for SETs increased 38% from 240,000 in 1987-88 to 330,000 in 1999-00, a rate of…

This guide is intended to assist groups of special educators to plan, design, and implement mutual professional support activities. The first section, on the nature of professional support groups, presents a definition and discussion of activity focus, format, permanence of focus, and structure. The second section looks specifically at the role of…

This paper outlines the tasks required in developing special education consultation programs to serve special needs students in the least restrictive environment: determination of program goals, selection of models and approaches, identification of specific consulting strategies and tasks, allocation of resources, preparation of affected…

This report discusses findings on the shortage of qualified teachers for students with disabilities. Data from the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 1992 Teacher Followup Survey of the National Center for Education Statistics, along with annual data reported by the Office of Special Education Programs and other data collected by the…

This article describes characteristics of special education teachers based on data collected and analyzed by the federal government. Tables, graphs, and text present data on the teaching force by age, ethnicity, gender, full certification in main teaching field, highest degree, teaching experience, and likelihood of becoming a teacher again. (DB)

This report presents national trend data on the supply and turnover of public school teachers in K-12 special and general education. Data were derived from three large national probability samples of teachers taken over a six-year period from 1987 to 1994. A summary of the results is in two sections. The first section, on trends in teacher supply,…

Based on a sample of 46,599 public school teachers, a study investigated the certification status of both special and general education teachers. Results indicated a chronic annual shortage of about 29,000 fully certified teachers in special education, a level that was almost twice the number in general education. (Author/CR)

This study used existing databases to analyze, from a national perspective, the turnover of special education teachers (SETs) at the district level due to district migration, teaching field transfer, and exit attrition. The study also investigated district retention of SETs as a function of district location and teacher experience. The study used…

This paper presents 1989 National Center for Education Statistics data on public school special education and general education teacher retention, transfer, and attrition. The study examined teachers in 1987-1988 who, in the next year, either remained as teachers in the same school, transferred to a different public school, or left public school…