WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TEACHER TURNOVER IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

1
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TEACHER
TURNOVER IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

• 2007 OSEP Project Directors Conference
• Bonnie S. Billingsley
• Virginia Tech
• School of Education
• July 17, 2007

2
OVERVIEW

• Shortage and turnover trends
• Costs of turnover
• Contributors to turnover
• How to improve retention

3
TEACHER SHORTAGE TRENDS

• Chronic
• Pervasive
• Growing
• Inadequate supply
• Inadequate diversity

4
TURNOVER TEACHER SHORTAGE
5
TURNOVER RATES (3 year average)Boe, Cook,
Sunderland (in press)
Switch/transfer to general education 8.27
Exit to non-teaching positions 6.74
Move or migrate to other special education positions 7.85
TOTAL (across 3 years) 22.85
6
INCREASING TURNOVER Boe, Cook, Sunderland
(2006)

• 18.8 (1991-92)
• 21.4 (1994-95)
• 27.7 (2001-02)

7
TURNOVER COSTS

• Financial
• School
• Inclusive reform
• Student
• Teacher

8
COSTS UNEQUALLY DISTRIBUTED Fall Billingsley
(2007)

• Administrators in high poverty schools
• Significantly higher turnover rates
• Significantly higher vacant positions
• How districts address shortage
• Employ uncertified/substitute teachers
• Raise caseloads
• Increase paraprofessionals

9
RESEARCH ON TEACHER TURNOVER

• Ask teachers why they left
• Investigate factors associated with leaving
• Teacher characteristics
• Teacher preparation/induction
• District/school characteristics
• Work conditions

10
REASONS FOR LEAVING

• Special educators leave for
• Personal reasons
• Work-related reasons
• Other reasons (e.g., retirement, involuntary)
• Special educators more likely than general
  educators to leave due to dissatisfaction

11
TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS TURNOVER

• Strong support
• High turnover rates among new teachers
• Some support
• Higher leaving rates among whites and females
  (Guarino et al., 2006)
• No consistent findings about race and gender in
  special education

12
HIGHER TURNOVER AMONG THOSE WITH LESS PREPARATION
Boe, Cook, Sunderland, 2006
13
WORK CONDITIONS TURNOVER

• School climate
• Leader support
• Collaboration/inclusion
• Job design
• role ambiguity
• role conflict
• role overload
• Resources
• Professional development
• Compensation

14
New Teachers Vulnerable to Poor Work
ConditionsBillingsley et al., 2004

• 72 indicate that routine duties and paperwork
  interfere teaching
• 29 of new teachers indicate that workload
  manageability is a problem
• 25 do not feel a sense of belonging in their
  schools
• 31 do not have the necessary resources to do
  their jobs

15
Summary

• Teacher Shortage
• Increasing Turnover
• New Demands
• MAJOR CHALLENGE!

16
LABOR MARKET THEORY OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND

• Individuals will enter/remain if most attractive
  activity available
• Overall compensation
• Adjust attractiveness of the job
• Elements of attractiveness become the policy
  levers to increase retention
• Applied to teacher supply, demand and retention
  by Guarino, Santibanez, Daley, 2006

17
Conclusions Further Study
18
REFERENCES

• Billingsley, B. (2005). Cultivating and keeping
  committed special education teachers What
  principals and district administrators can do.
  Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.
• Billingsley, B., Carlson, E., Klein, S. (2004).
  The working conditions and induction support of
  early career special educators. Exceptional
  Children, 70(3), 333-347.Boe, E. E., Cook, L. H.,
  Sunderland, R. J. (2006). Attrition of
  beginning teachers Does teacher preparation
  matter? (Report No. 2006-TSDQ2) Center for
  Research and Evaluation in Social Policy,
  Graduate School of Education, University of
  Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
• Boe, E. E., Cook, L. H., Sunderland, R. J.
  (2006). Teacher turnover in special and general
  education Attrition, teaching area transfer, and
  school migration. (Research Report No.2006-TSDQ3
  )
• Edgar, E., Pair, A. (2005). Special education
  teacher attrition It all depends on where you
  are standing. Teacher Education and Special
  Education, 28(3/4), 163-170.
• Fall, A., Billingsley, B. (2007). Structural
  inequalities in special education A comparison
  of special educators qualifications, working
  conditions and local policies. Manuscript in
  development.
• Gehrke, R.S., Murri, N. (2006). Beginning
  special educators intent to stay in special
  education Why they like it here. Teacher
  Education and Special Education, 29(3), 179-190.
• Gersten, R., T., K., Yovanoff, P., Harniss, M.
  K. (2001). Working in special education Factors
  that enhance special educators' intent to stay.
  Exceptional Children, 67(4), 549-567.
• Guarino, C. M., Santibanez, L., Daley, G. A.
  (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention A
  review of the recent empirical literature. Review
  of Educational Research, 76(2), 173-208.
• Kaff, M.S. (2004). Multitasking is multitaxing
  Why special educators are leaving the field.
  Preventing School Failure, 48(2), 10-17.
• Miller, M. D., Brownell, M., Smith, S. W.
  (1999). Factors that predict teachers staying in,
  leaving, or transferring from the special
  education classroom. Exceptional Children, 65(2),
  201-218.
• Sindelar, P. T., Shearer, D. K., Yendol-Hoppey,
  D., Liebert, T. W. (2006). The sustainability
  of inclusive school reform. Exceptional Children,
  72(3), 317-331.