By Mary Mehaffey, Ed.D.
Nov./Dec. 2002
Special educators face enormous challenges in their first teaching assignments. Some have access to support systems that were not there in the past. Although, formal mentoring programs are available for approximately 65% of beginning special educators, significant support is received by only 28% of special educators with three or more years of experience (Billingsley, 2002). Thus, despite support systems that were not available in the past, beginning special education teachers report that they rely heavily on informal support from colleagues and administrators rather than formalized mentor programs, inservice training, or regular meetings for new teachers. Special educators cannot wait until the next mentor meeting to learn how to complete a certain section of the draft IEP, to ask for advice on how to respond to a parental concern, or to request a recommendation on the best way to deliver a certain instructional strategy. It comes as no surprise then that the level of support provided in the early years, while important, does not seem to be significantly related to special education teachers’ intent to remain in the field (Billingsley 2002).
Keeping this in mind and knowing that we need special educators to remain in special education rather than switching to general education or leaving the field altogether, what are the factors that make the difference for new special educators and their experienced colleagues? What encourages them to come back to special education assignments year after year with excitement and enthusiasm?
Several principals in Virginia Superintendents’ Regions II and III offered
these helpful hints for supporting special educators:
Make your special educators feel a part of the school by assigning them
to grade-level teams. Give them a home.
Involve your special educators in SOL training opportunities and provide
them equal access to all SOL materials. Keep them in the state accountability
loop.
Assign your special educators to committees. Let them shine.
Set high expectations for their instructional activities and visit their
classrooms with the same frequency as you do other classes in your school.
Hold them accountable and let them know it.
Ensure that they receive adequate space, textbooks, teacher editions, curriculum
guides for essential skills, and supplemental materials. Keep them in the
instructional loop.
Require that they participate on grade-level teams when new information
is being disseminated. Make them a part of the whole.
Provide common planning opportunities and encourage your special educators
to share their strategy expertise with your content experts—your general
educators. Challenge them to share/collaborate.
Provide opportunities for your special educators to demonstrate leadership by chairing a committee or co-chairing one with a general education teacher. Demonstrate your trust.
These statements from local principals support the finding that special educators will continue to return to challenging positions with huge amounts of paperwork if they are valued as a part of the school family, kept abreast of important information being disseminated to the building, expected to provide quality instruction, trusted to make decisions, challenged to share, evaluated at the same frequency as their general education peers, and offered opportunities to provide leadership. The special educators in your schools are counting on you!
References
Billingsley, B. (2002). Beginning special educators: Characteristics, qualifications,
and experiences. SPeNSE Summary Sheet: Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education,
1-6. Retrieved September 19, 2002, from http://www.spense.org/IHEsummaryfinal.doc.
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