There aren't enough faculty to train new special education teachers

By Del Stover

4/23/02 – The nation's chronic shortage of special education teachers has its roots in a more fundamental–and largely overlooked problem: a shortage of university faculty to teach new teachers.

Classrooms feel the effect

That's the conclusion of a group of university researchers who report that one-third of faculty positions in special education programs go unfilled at the nation's universities each year.

These unfilled positions, they argue, reduce the nation's capacity to train new classroom teachers by the thousands.

And the situation could be worsening. It's become so difficult to fill faculty openings that some universities are eliminating positions–a trend with long-term implications, says Deborah D. Smith, principal investigator for the study and research professor of special education at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College.

"It's the infrastructure of special education that's shrinking," she says. "If we have a faculty shortage, we will have a shortage of teachers."

The findings appear in a new report, The Shortage of Special Education Faculty: Why It Is Happening, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do About It.

The report makes clear that this previously overlooked shortage of university faculty has a direct impact on day-to-day classroom instruction in the nation's schools.

"Using conservative estimates, for every faculty position that goes unfilled, approximately 25 special education teachers are not produced in any given year," the report says. "For every special education teacher that is not produced, approximately 16 children with disabilities are not served adequately. Thus, every unfilled faculty position could have a negative impact on 400 children with disabilities."

Universities out of step

According to the National Academy of Sciences, for example, the number of children with disabilities has increased 38 percent since 1975.

Yet, the report notes, the number of doctoral graduates has declined nearly 30 percent over the past two decades.

What's more, since 1992, the number of job openings for special education faculty nationwide has averaged about 250 per year–approximately the number of special education doctorates awarded annually.

But, the report emphasizes, more than half of those graduates opt for a non-faculty position–in state departments of education, school districts, or non-academic settings.

The result is a crimp in the supply pipeline, the report says. Citing the U.S. Department of Education, the report states that faculty members in special education programs needed to prepare almost 37,000 special education teachers in 1998-99 to fill classrooms currently staffed by uncertified teachers.

Yet, according to the Council for Exceptional Children, only 22,000 special education teachers are produced in the nation's universities each year–meaning that roughly 352,000 children with disabilities are not being served by "qualified personnel," the report concludes.

Researchers identified several factors contributing to the current situation. For one, federal support for students seeking advanced degrees has atrophied over the years–and students are forced to take on additional debt to pay for their education.

As a result, students are more likely to interrupt their education to take a job and, being older when they ultimately earn their doctorates, they're less willing to relocate or leave established careers for junior faculty positions.

Universities also are out of step with today's job market, Smith says.

Recent doctoral graduates are being offered an average of $42,000 for junior faculty positions–18 percent lower than what they might be earning as a veteran teacher in a school district.

Policy changes urged

Such issues will need to be addressed by federal policymakers when Congress takes up reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Smith says.

Decades ago, federal support played a key role in boosting the numbers of special education faculty–and classroom teachers–in the years after IDEA was passed. Federal support can help reverse today's trends.

"We have to address this issue as part of our response to better serve children with disabilities, because the faculty shortage impairs the infrastructure needed to provide a fully qualified work force," the report says.