SPARC Center

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (#IDEA) was enacted 50 years ago. @airinforms.bsky.social highlights IDEA’s impact and the ongoing work to ensure a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities below.

💡“Our shortages aren’t really from not having enough people; it’s having people teaching the wrong thing.” - @afgilmour.bsky.social

Check out this article from Education Week which features research from our recent working paper on the #SpecialEducation teacher workforce.

Screenshot from the SPARC Center Data Explorer. The graph looks at the percentage of special education teachers (SETs) who changed schools by school-poverty level. Seven states are included: Hawai‘i, Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. For each state, there are three dots showing the percent of SETs moving schools at low-poverty schools, middle-poverty schools, and high-poverty schools. In all states except Hawai‘i, the rate is highest for high-poverty schools.

Did you know recruitment and retention of #SpecialEducation teachers varies widely by school contexts, including by poverty level, enrollment demographics, and location?

🔎Explore more with our data visualizer: sparccenter.org/data-explore...

Photo from the award presentation for the Excellence in Teacher Education Award from the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children. Two people stand in the center of the photo, both smiling. LaRon Scott, left, wears a tan suit. Lucky Mason-Williams, right, wears a black suit and holds the award plaque in her hand.

🎉 Congratulations to SPARC Center’s @lmasonwms.bsky.social for receiving the Excellence in Teacher Education Award from @ted-cec.bsky.social!

This honor recognizes Lucky's outstanding contributions to preparing and supporting #SpecialEducation teachers.

✨What does the #SpecialEducation teacher workforce look like within and across states? Our new interactive data visualizer tool looks at the composition, stability, and distribution of the workforce in our seven partner states.

Explore the tool: sparccenter.org/data-explore...

States face different special education staffing challenges that require targeted responses | Brookings Special education teacher turnover varies by state, calling for targeted, locally informed policy solutions.

"As we have demonstrated, different states face different #SpecialEducation teacher turnover problems. This suggests that the most promising solutions might vary across states."

Read more about our recent findings in our article with @brookings.edu: www.brookings.edu/articles/sta...

🔍Our new Working Paper uses consistent variables across states. Leveraging Common Education Data Standards and Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems enables meaningful cross-state comparisons of the #SpecialEducation Teacher workforce.

Read more: sparccenter.org/research-fin...

💡SPARC Center’s @roddy-theobald.bsky.social is presenting at @appam.bsky.social this week. Explore his sessions at the link below.

Nov 14 Session:

💡Piloting the Revealing Special Educators’ Conditions for Teaching Measure: A Psychometric Evaluation with a Nationally Representative Sample with @lizbettini.bsky.social
🕐️ 11–11:50 am
📍 Washington Park 2

Nov 13 Sessions Continued:

💡A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Dual-Certification in Special Education and General Education (Session: Multiple Paper 41) with @afgilmour.bsky.social
🕐️ 3–3:50 pm
📍 Century A

Nov 13 Sessions Continued:

💡Multiple Lenses on Special Educators’ Work: Exploring the Complexity and Multidimensionality of Special Education Teaching Quality with @lizbettini.bsky.social
🕐 Thursday 11/13 from 3:00–3:50 pm
📍 Pershing Place West

Nov 13 Sessions Continued:

💡Project SUSTAIN: Developing a Collaborative Intervention for Special Educators’ Conditions for Teaching with @lizbettini.bsky.social
🕐️ 11–11:50 am
📍 Penn Valley

Nov 13 Sessions Continued:

💡Examining the Special Education Workforce through Cross-State Analysis with @lmasonwms.bsky.social and @afgilmour.bsky.social
🕐️ 10–10:50 am

Nov 13 Sessions:

💡Overwork in Special Education: A Qualitative Analysis of Teachers’ Perspectives with @lizbettini.bsky.social
🕐️ 8–8:50 am
📍 Washington Park 3

💡Keynote Panel: Preparing Special Educators in a Time of Uncertainty with Lynn Holdheide
🕐️ 9–9:50 am

Nov 12 Sessions:

💡Publishing and Reviewing for Teacher Education and Special Education Journal with LaRon Scott and @lizbettini.bsky.social
🕐 1-1:50pm
📍 Century B

💡Special Educators’ Working Conditions and Building Family Relationships: A Missing Link?
🕐️ 1–1:50pm
📍 Pershing Place East

Promotional graphic for an upcoming conference. The background shows a twilight view of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. White bold text at the top reads: “Upcoming Conference.” Below, in smaller text: “Teacher Education Division 2025, Nov 11–14 | Kansas City, MO.” At the bottom, the SPARC logo appears with colorful starburst lines. The website “sparccenter.org” is displayed in blue on the lower right.

🌟SPARC Center researchers are presenting at @ted-cec.bsky.social next week. Check out this thread for their sessions:

Our results underscore the importance of considering #SpecialEducation staffing challenges across states and contexts. Read the full paper here: sparccenter.org/research-fin...

A stacked bar chart showing turnover rates of special education teachers in seven states, broken down by school type and by turnover type (attrition from teaching, moving schools, or switching to general education).

➡️ Patterns of turnover varied across school types, with the highest turnover in charter schools.

A stacked bar chart showing turnover rates of special education teachers in seven states, broken down by school poverty level and by turnover type (attrition from teaching, moving schools, or switching to general education).

➡️ Special education teacher turnover rates were generally higher in higher-poverty schools.

A line graph showing attrition rates for special education teachers between 2015 and 2023.

➡️After the first year of the pandemic, special education teacher attrition rates declined, spiked, and then stabilized.

A bar chart showing attrition rates of special education teachers vs non-special education teachers in seven states. Most states had higher rates of attrition for SETs.

➡️ In most states, special education teacher attrition rates were higher than attrition rates for other teachers.

A bar chart showing the ratios of students with disabilities to special education teachers in seven states. Ratios vary widely.

➡️ States varied considerably in how they identify special education teachers in their data and how they staff special education, leading to different staffing ratios.

Abstract of SPARC Working Paper No. 01-1025, titled "The Composition, Distribution, and Stability of the Special Education Teacher Workforce in Seven States." The abstract reads: Special education staffing challenges threaten the delivery of effective special education services to students with disabilities. We investigated the composition, distribution, and stability of the special education teacher (SET) workforce over time and across seven states. Some challenges were similar across states, such as trends in SET workforce stability over time, while other challenges (e.g., SET certification rates) varied considerably by state. Staffing challenges also varied within some states, contributing to considerable inequity in SET stability and in the distribution of novice SETs, SETs without full certification, and SETs of color. These findings suggest a need for policies and practices that vary by state context and target the districts and schools most affected by SET staffing challenges.

📢 Our new Working Paper provides important cross-state insights into the #SpecialEducation teacher workforce.

We highlight some of our major findings in this thread⬇️

We are grateful to our partner states for their collaboration in this important work. We look forward to continuing our research in the year ahead.

⭐Resource #3: An interactive dashboard exploring the key dimensions of the special education teacher workforce across all our partner states: sparccenter.org/data-explore...

⭐Resource #2: Eight SPARC Fact Sheets with state-specific summaries: sparccenter.org/resources/sp...

Abstract of SPARC Working Paper No. 01-1025, titled "The Composition, Distribution, and Stability of the Special Education Teacher Workforce in Seven States." The abstract reads: Special education staffing challenges threaten the delivery of effective special education services to students with disabilities. We investigated the composition, distribution, and stability of the special education teacher (SET) workforce over time and across seven states. Some challenges were similar across states, such as trends in SET workforce stability over time, while other challenges (e.g., SET certification rates) varied considerably by state. Staffing challenges also varied within some states, contributing to considerable inequity in SET stability and in the distribution of novice SETs,SETs without full certification, and SETs of color. These findings suggest a need for policies and practices that vary by state context and target the districts and schools most affected by SET staffing challenges.

⭐Resource #1: A Working Paper with details of our cross-state analysis of the special education teacher workforce: sparccenter.org/research-fin...

Promotional graphic for the SPARC Center’s new multi-state analysis resources. It includes a bulleted list detailing the resources, including a working paper, fact sheets with state-specific summaries, and a data visualizer tool.

📢 NEW RESEARCH ALERT! The SPARC Center is excited to share THREE new resources with our findings from our first year of research on the #SpecialEducation teacher workforce.

Explore the resources in this thread, or visit our website to learn more: sparccenter.org

Promotional graphic for the SREE 2025 session titled "Measuring and Strengthening the Special Education Teacher Workforce." Scheduled for October 11 at 12 PM CT at Palmer House Hilton – Crystal. Includes headshots of speakers Elizabeth Bettini and Allison Gilmour, both Co-Directors of the SPARC Center. The bottom features the SPARC logo with the tagline "The Special Educator Workforce: A Research Collaborative," and icons for Twitter and LinkedIn.

💡Attending #SREE2025 this week? Join SPARC Center experts @lizbettini.bsky.social and @afgilmour.bsky.social for their session on Measuring and Strengthening the Special Education Teacher Workforce on Saturday, Oct 11 from 12-1:30 CT at Palmer House Hilton – Crystal.

✨To better serve students with disabilities, it’s critical to understand and address the challenges facing the #SpecialEducation teacher workforce. The SPARC Center is committed to contributing to this body of research.