Many states struggle with shortages of special education teachers (SET). To address the shortage problem in the long term, policymakers, preparation providers, and state and district administrators must ensure that any short-term strategies are combined with a comprehensive plan that includes long-term systemic strategies to strengthen the supply, preparation, and retention of special education teachers.

A new law passed in July aims to shrink the special education teacher shortage in Washington state by providing an easier path to teaching certification for paraeducators, also known as instructional aides or teacher assistants.

Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) in Manchester launched its new clinical master’s degree program during the 2018-19 academic year. The program offers dual certification in elementary and special education or early childhood and early childhood special education. It is designed to prepare teacher candidates for certification and to ensure that new educators have the required skills, competencies, knowledge, and dispositions specifically needed to support the development and learning of students in elementary grades (K-8) and general special education (K-12).

This study examines how extensive preparation in pedagogy and practice teaching contributed to the attainment of the two key NCLB indicators of a highly qualified teacher: full certification and in-field teaching.

This study examines the relationships between 14 different types of preservice teacher preparation practices. Teaching quality, preschool to university student performance, and university student and beginning teacher belief appraisals are reported. Findings indicate that active university student and beginning teacher involvement in mastering the use of instructional practices and both knowledge and skill acquisition by far stood out as the most important preservice teacher preparation practices.

This paper present findings from a comparative study of 3 teacher preparation prototypes: traditional, university-district partnership, and district add-on programs.

This paper examines the impact of pre‐service preparation and in‐service formal and informal training on the ability of teachers to promote academic achievement among students with disabilities. It finds that pre‐service preparation in special education has statistically significant and quantitatively substantial effects on the ability of teachers of special education courses to promote gains in achievement for students with disabilities, especially in reading.