Project Activities
The research team created a dataset combining existing data on students, teachers, and teacher candidates in Washington State with survey data collected from faculty in teacher education programs and school district special education directors in Washington State. Researchers used this combined dataset to investigate relations between the preservice experiences of special education teacher candidates and their later workforce outcomes and academic outcomes of their students with disabilities.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The current study utilized a longitudinal dataset from Washington State that included data from preservice teacher candidates during their training programs and as they entered their K-12 teaching positions. The data collection was the result of the Teacher Education Learning Collaborative (TELC), a partnership with approximately 15 teacher education programs in Washington State designed to explore the effects of preservice teacher education experiences on in-service teacher and student outcomes. The primary data collection with teacher education faculty and special education directors took place in Washington State.
Sample
The extant dataset included data from over 1,300 special education teacher candidates who graduated from participating teacher education programs between 2005 and 2018 and were followed into their K-12 teaching positions. Additional data were collected from special education faculty and school district special education directors to gather information about the teacher education and school district practices in effect during this time period. The sample for this primary data collection included one special education faculty member per participating teacher education program and special education directors from school districts in which teacher candidates either completed their student teaching or were employed.
Key factors investigated in this project were preservice teacher education experiences, including student teaching, coursework, and the match between student teaching experiences and early-career experiences.
Research design and methods
Researchers used a combination of primary and secondary data to address the following three research questions: (1) Which preservice teacher experiences (i.e., student teaching, coursework, and the match between student teaching experiences and early-career experiences) are related to the timing and probability of workforce entry for special education teacher candidates? (2) Which preservice teacher experiences are related to the test performance of students with disabilities in the classrooms of special education teacher candidates who enter the workforce? (3) Which preservice teacher experiences are related to the retention of special education teacher candidates who enter the state's public teaching workforce? Student teaching experiences included the characteristics of the candidate's student teaching school (e.g., location, student demographics, turnover rates) and the cooperating teacher (e.g., credentials, experience). The match between student teaching and early career experiences was assessed by the degree of similarity between the student demographics of a candidate's student teaching school and early-career teaching school. In addition, they also assessed the match in terms of the alignment between the instructional strategies taught in the candidates' teacher education programs, the strategies supported in their student teaching placements, and the strategies used in their early-career teaching positions. To gather these data, the research team surveyed special education faculty in participating teacher education programs and directors of special education programs in school districts where candidates either completed their student teaching or obtained their first job. In addition to examining relations between preservice teacher education experiences and workforce entry, retention, and student outcomes, the research team investigated whether teacher performance at the end of their teacher preparation programs was a potential mediator of these relations.
Control condition
Due to the nature of this research, there was no control condition.
Key measures
Three preservice teacher experiences were included as variables in the secondary dataset—characteristics of the teacher candidate's student teaching school and supervising teacher; coursework taken by teacher candidates; and the match between a teacher candidate's teacher education experiences, student teaching experiences, and early-career teaching experiences. The match was also assessed using researcher-designed surveys to collect information about instructional strategies used in school districts and whether they aligned with strategies teachers learned in their teacher education program. Outcome measures were drawn from secondary data and included the probability and timing of public teaching workforce entry, the performance of students with disabilities in teacher candidates' classrooms (standardized test scores in reading, math, and science for elementary school students and end-of-course exams in math and science for high school students), and the probability of attrition from the state's teaching workforce.
Data analytic strategy
To address the first research question, researchers estimated logistic regression models that predicted the probability of workforce entry as a function of preservice teacher experiences, controlling for other observable teacher candidate characteristics. For the second research question, researchers estimated value-added models that examined relations between preservice teacher experiences and student test performance, controlling for student characteristics. For the third research question, researchers estimated discrete time hazard models to examine relations between the malleable factors and the probability of attrition, controlling for teacher characteristics. For this final research question, the researchers considered both special education teachers and paraeducators as key special education workforce personnel.
Key outcomes
The main findings of this project, as reported by the principal investigator, are as follows:
- Rates of workforce entry and retention in special education teaching positions are considerably lower for candidates with a dual endorsement in special education and another subject.
- Student teaching with a cooperating teacher who is endorsed in special education is associated with a higher likelihood of becoming a special education teacher, even when controlling for whether the placement was in a special or general education setting.
- Students with high-incidence disabilities tended to have larger reading gains when their district emphasized evidence-based literacy decoding practices (such as phonological awareness, phonics, and reading fluency) and when their special education teacher graduated from a teacher education program that also emphasized these practices. Students in districts that emphasized balanced literacy practices tended to have lower reading gains.
- Rates of paraeducator attrition have increased dramatically over the past 10 years (from 9% to 22% in the most recent year), undermining a key part of the special education workforce supporting special education teachers and students with disabilities.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
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