Special educators are crucial to supporting students with disabilities, but they’re becoming harder to find, recruit, and retain. With fewer people entering the field, the unmet demand for special educators continues to increase. They’re leaving the profession in greater numbers than other types of teachers, and they’re telling their friends and colleagues not to enter special education. For too many, their first few years are filled with stress and tears—but it needn’t be such a rough start.
Why so much burnout? As a consultant and researcher, I have worked with nearly 5,000 special educators across 30 U.S. states over the last 15 years. Based on the conversations I have had with them, it’s clear they have one of the hardest, most varied jobs in a school. They help in reading, math, and writing; assess students for disabilities; write individualized education programs (IEP); manage IEP compliance; participate on behavior support teams; spend hours in meetings each week; and interact with parents regularly—to name just a few of their responsibilities. Imagine asking a high school social studies teacher to also teach math and art or a math teacher certified in teaching geometry to also teach Algebra I. One look at the scope of the job of a special educator is all it takes to see why they’re burning out so rapidly.
The lengthy list of varied responsibilities means that special educators spend a lot of time pulled away from working with students, which is their passion. Many also shared with me that they felt less supported by building leadership than their general education peers. As a result, many special educators—especially those newly entering the field—feel overwhelmed.
What’s Key to Retaining Special Education Teachers?
Fortunately, the following three strategies can dramatically improve the quality of the special educator’s work life and deliver a better experience for them in their first few years in the field. I have seen firsthand that these strategies, which I cultivated through hundreds of conversations with special educators, have brought joy and relief to the districts that have implemented them.
1. Play to Their Strengths
Special educators are incredibly talented, but no one is great at everything. Some may feel confident teaching reading, but not math. Some may excel at writing IEPs, whereas others may find it challenging or tedious. Nearly all the special educators I spoke with reported spending at least two hours daily on tasks they feel undertrained for or believe shouldn’t be their responsibility. Most newly hired special educators lack adequate preservice training in several content areas, especially math. According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, which has analyzed teacher preparation programs in its Teacher Prep Review since 2006, some special educators are not required to take preservice courses in the science of reading or in reading strategies. More than half of the teachers I spoke with shared that they have little practical training in addressing challenging behaviors. It’s clearly overwhelming to ask these teachers to do all of the above on day one.
Varied responsibilities mean that special educators spend a lot of time pulled away from working with students, which is their passion.
The solution is deceptively straightforward: Let special education teachers play to their strengths. Staff members who spend at least 80 percent of each day on tasks they enjoy and are trained for will have a better experience and will stay in the field longer. Here are the four most common areas of specialization for special education teachers:
- Academic content. Some special educators are well prepared to support student academic learning in specific areas such as in reading, math, or writing.
- Behavior support. Whether it’s identifying the root cause of a student’s outbursts, conducting a functional behavior assessment, or helping classroom teachers prevent problematic behavior before it happens, some staff want to focus on addressing students’ behavioral needs.
- Case management. Some staff thrive on managing the IEP process, from assessment to writing the IEP to scheduling meetings and ensuring full compliance.
- Pedagogical coaching. Some staff are well suited to build the capacity of their general education peers by showing them how to modify instruction, design accommodations, and scaffold content.
There are two ways to enable new special education teachers to play to their strengths. The first path is simply asking them. If school and district leaders create a safe environment, special educators, if asked, will self-identify their strengths and areas of expertise. As a result, special education leaders might better customize their special educators’ assignments for the coming year.
The second path is targeted hiring. Rather than posting a listing for a special educator or school psychologist, clarify that you’re looking for a special educator to manage IEPs or for a school psychologist to spend 80 percent of their time counseling. Staff will self-select for the roles they want; the district will hire teachers with the appropriate expertise; and, according to the experience of my clients, turnover will diminish. Interestingly, the number of applicants often increases because playing to one’s strengths is appealing.
This approach can be implemented districtwide, but it works with even a single school that has just two special education teachers. Many elementary schools assign special educators to grade levels. For example, Teacher A works with grades K–2 and Teacher B with grades 3–5, so that both teachers do a little of everything every day. However, a conversation with the two staff members might reveal that one is more interested in math and the other in reading, or one is more excited by IEP management and assessment and the other in providing academic support. Teacher A would then be tasked with meeting all the reading goals for K–5 students with special needs, and Teacher B would be tasked with meeting all their math goals.
2. Streamline Meetings and Paperwork
Although most special educators entered the profession because they love kids, nearly all will spend more than half the week in meetings and on paperwork. In a study I conducted based on client data, more than 50,000 staff members from nearly 150 districts shared how they spent every minute of their workday during one week. The study showed that some special educators are much quicker with some tasks than others. For example, some can complete an IEP three times faster than their peers, whereas those who are brand new to the field may require far more time to do so.
Providing new special educators with training and strategies to help them streamline meetings and paperwork can make all the difference. Most new special educators report receiving a bit of training at the start of the year on how to conduct and write an IEP, but then they’re on their own to learn how to do it quickly and efficiently. One of the best ways to help them streamline IEP-related paperwork is by identifying the most efficient IEP writers on staff, those who have learned how to maximize their time with students. Ask these individuals to be an “IEP paperwork mentor” to support newer team members. If they provide training at the start and check in with their mentees each month, the year will be much less stressful for the new special educators.
Just like paperwork, meetings can also be streamlined. New teachers tend to be uncomfortable saying “no” to meeting invitations. Empower new staff to push back nicely if they’re invited to meetings to which they can’t add much value. They might reply, “I’m happy to attend, but do you think I might do more good working with my students instead during that time?” Principals may think that the more people at a given meeting the better, and not realize that this might create a lot of extra after-hours work for some attendees. When a new teacher (or any teacher) goes to three extra hour-long meetings, three hours of work they could have been doing is pushed to the weekend. Districts might consider limiting new special educators’ attendance to IEP meetings or to only those student support meetings that involve a student in their caseload.
Identify the most efficient IEP writers on staff and ask them to be an “IEP paperwork mentor” to support newer team members.
3. Ensure Access to a Special Education Leader
When a classroom teacher is hired, the principal typically selects the candidate, interviews them, and extends an offer. On arrival, the teacher looks to the principal as their boss, mentor, and general go-to person. It’s not nearly as straightforward for special educators. Many special educators aren’t hired by the principal, but rather by the special education director or other central office special education leader. Even when the principal does hire them, the principal often doesn’t have the same relationship with the special educator as with other teachers at the school. This is because most principals don’t have a background in special education, few observe IEP evaluations, and some aren’t comfortable answering special education–related questions when they’re unsure of the various laws and regulations that may come into play. Many often think, Shouldn’t special education leaders answer special education questions? In fact, when I ask special educators, “Who is your boss?” or just, “Who do you go to if you have a question?” even veterans often shrug their shoulders and lament the lack of access to a leader who can help resolve problems.
Going days with problems unresolved or important questions unanswered creates tremendous stress on new special educators. It’s crucial for them to have access to a leader who has the expertise and authority to help them find solutions. Clarify who among special education leadership they can reach out to when needed. A special education leader can come in many forms. In smaller districts, it’s likely to be the special education director; in midsized districts, it might be an assistant special education director; and in districts with 10 or more schools, it might be an experienced special educator who receives a stipend to answer questions and resolve issues at the building level.
Once a clear go-to person is identified, it’s still necessary to ensure access to them. Schedule one-on-one check-ins monthly for the first three months of the educator’s first year and then once every three months for the rest of the year. Giving a new special educator permission to text an urgent question to a preassigned special education leader can make the difference between having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day—or having an OK one.
Winning the Burnout Battle
To help all students with disabilities succeed, districts need to ensure that new special educators entering the field receive the support they need to thrive in their roles. Enabling special education staff to play to their strengths, helping them learn to streamline meetings and paperwork, and ensuring access to special education leadership can dramatically improve their job experience in the early years of their career and beyond.
Reflect & Discuss
➛ Special educators: What aspect of your role brings you the most fulfillment, and how can schools better support you in focusing on that strength?
➛ Principals: What’s an immediate step you could take to ensure the special educators at your school are receiving the support they need?
