Sufficiency of Teachers’ Access to Resources and Supports for Students With Disabilities

Abstract

Students with disabilities are served by both special and general educators, yet teachers often feel unprepared to meet the needs of these students in their classrooms. Using data from a nationally representative survey, we examined the sufficiency of teachers’ access to supports available for meeting the needs of students with high-incidence disabilities, their access to development opportunities, and the sources teachers used to access interventions. We explored differences in teachers’ experiences by grade band, service delivery model, and teacher preparation model. We found teachers of students with disabilities rated the sufficiency of access to supports between somewhat insufficient and somewhat sufficient, with the lowest ratings for planning/release time and training and information. Teachers reported greater rates of access to collaboration than professional development. Colleagues were sources for resources related to academic interventions and administrators were sources for nonacademic intervention resources. There were few significant differences in these results by teacher characteristics.

Educator Perspectives on Accessing Disability-Related Information and Resources

“…One exception to this finding was the use of internet searches, which have become a ubiquitous source of information. As also evident in a study by Gesel et al (2021), one primary avenue considered helpful was educators' personal connections. Educators may be more likely to rely on a personal connection (i.e., fellow teachers) as a source of information because of the regularity of their encounters in school and shared professional expertise.…”

Moderators of the Association Between Teaching Students With Disabilities and General Education Teacher Turnover

“…Teachers in schools with administrators who received poor instructional leadership scores had higher risks of moving within district as the percentage of SWD in their classes increased. The instructional leadership measure included items related to supporting intervention selection and use, an area in which teachers report having somewhat insufficient access to supports (Gesel et al, 2021). That the moderation was only present for moving within district could reflect that teachers have knowledge of working conditions related to instructional leadership within other schools in their district rather than across districts.…”

“…However, many of these teachers do not have training in special education nor do they feel confident in their abilities to meet the needs of learners who require special education services (Johnston & Young, 2019;Moore et al, 2017). Further, many teachers report insufficient access to the resources they need to support SWD (Gesel et al, 2021). A potential consequence of the mismatch between teacher preparation, skills, and supports, and the student demands in the classroom, is that teachers may eventually make decisions to leave their current teaching placements (Bettini, Gilmour et al, 2020;Gilmour & Wehby, 2020).…”

The Crucial Role of Administrators in Shaping Working Conditions for Teachers of Students With EBD

“…For example, school administrators make key decisions regarding the adoption and implementation of school-wide systems to address behavior (Andreou et al, 2015). Teachers also report that they rely on their administrators for learning about nonacademic interventions (e.g., behavioral interventions) for supporting students with high incidence disabilities (Gesel et al, 2021).…”

“…Although results from a qualitative study including 16 special educators in Connecticut suggest many teachers had access to special education–specific PD, some teachers reported that the PD was not applicable for their specific roles or working conditions (Woulfin & Jones, 2021). Special and general educators rank the supports they are provided for teaching students with high incidence disabilities, including PD, as somewhat insufficient (Gesel et al, 2021).…”