The Effects of Teacher Preparation and Professional Development on Special Education Teacher Quality

Co-Principal Investigator: Li Feng

Purpose: Teacher quality has a profound impact on student achievement and educational attainment, but research has produced few definitive findings on how best to prepare high quality teachers. The researchers on this project will analyze data from the Florida Education Data Warehouse to evaluate the potential impact of pre-service and in-service teacher training experiences on academic achievement, high school graduation, and post-secondary education and employment outcomes for students with disabilities. This analysis is made possible by the remarkable comprehensiveness of this data warehouse, which contains individual-level longitudinal data for the universe of public school students and teachers in Florida from 1995 forward, including approximately 400,000 special education students each year. The researchers will study the potential effects of both the quantity and content of teacher preparation courses as well as the number, content, and timing of in-service professional development courses. The findings of this project may suggest best practices for preparing teachers for students with disabilities. By identifying those characteristics of in-service professional development training that are associated with better outcomes for students with disabilities, the researchers are laying the groundwork for creating professional development programs that are more likely to improve the quality of instruction and student outcomes.