Trends in the Potential Supply of New Special Educators

Special education teacher shortages result in unqualified teachers working with students who have disabilities. Past research has focused on national shortages and the number of special education teachers in schools, but fewer studies have examined the number of new special education program completers, an important aspect of the potential special educator pipeline. In this study, we used publicly available data to examine long- and short-term trends in the number of program completers, if these trends were related to the number of students with disabilities over time, and if trends varied by state. Using graphs and multilevel modeling, we found that trends in the special education teacher pipeline varied dramatically by state, that national averages might be substantially influenced by large states, and that trends in recent years suggest a decline in special education program completers. We discuss the implications of these findings for ensuring that all students with disabilities have access to teachers with special education training.