Special education faces persistent challenges with teacher attrition and retention in the ever-changing landscape of education post COVID-19. Using empirical research and scholarly insights, this systematic review investigates the factors that influence whether special educators choose to continue or leave their jobs following the pandemic.…

In the United States, teacher shortages in high-needs fields such as special education have considerable negative impacts on the academic and functional achievement of students with disabilities. Furthermore, strategies such as the employment of undercertified teachers to serve as teachers of record and fill vacant positions raise questions about…

COVID-19 shocked the education system, disrupting the policies and practices of special education over multiple school years. This essay brings together the institutional logics perspective and racialized organization theory to first examine aspects of special education and then describe how leaders and teachers can improve special education to…

'Twice exceptionality' describes the coexistence of a learning difficulty or disability (SEN/D) and exceptional performance in one area of learning. A popular discourse around autism and savantism in the United States promotes a hierarchical differentiation of the 'twice exceptional' based on measured intelligence and commodifies support for this…

Down syndrome is the most common form of intellectual disability. However, there is a paucity of educational research focused on this vulnerable segment of learners especially in the present novel situation. This paper aimed to explore how teachers tailor remote special education for children with down syndrome amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the…

This study employed quantitative descriptive statistics, including time series analysis, to explore how special education enrollment rates in Pennsylvania changed in the school years during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous trends. Data were gathered from publicly available annual reports of special education enrollment between 2010 and…

The rapid shift to online learning exposed significant gaps in special educators' preparedness and ability to adapt instruction for students with disabilities (SWDs) effectively. The study sought to develop an in-depth understanding of these challenges to inform training, resource allocation, and support for special education teachers providing…

As society has gotten increasingly digitalized, schools have made extensive efforts to accommodate to that development. With the digitalization of school, the special education practice and the roles of special education needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers (SETs) change. However, there is a lack of research examining this…

The drive for inclusive practices has required the special education teacher to become an integral part of the general education setting. Yet as the nation recovers from the ubiquitous COVID-19 virus, many schools are challenged to provide a learning environment that is conducive to all students while balancing the need to provide safety and an…

The COVID-19 pandemic not only caused a disruption to the education of children, but has contributed to the ever-growing teacher shortage in the United States. In an effort to better understand the effects of the pandemic on special education teachers, this study utilized a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology to explore the lived experiences…

Researchers have reported that preservice teachers are unprepared for teaching in inclusive classrooms (Gilmour & Wehby, 2020; Swindlehurst et al., 2019; Texas Education Agency, 2019). The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze novice elementary educators' perceptions on their preparedness to teach inclusive classrooms. For this…

Since March 2020, many school districts across the country have employed remote learning procedures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, schools continued to provide special education services, yet little is known about how services were adapted for remote or hybrid learning during the height of the pandemic in the United…

Knowledge of instructional strategies in cotaught K-12 classrooms raises awareness of this unique collaboration for benefitting students with disabilities. The purposes of this qualitative study were to (1) identify pedagogical strategies that facilitate coteaching in inclusive environments and (2) explore the relevance of coteaching teams and…

A national survey of Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in England was conducted during the summer of 2020 in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The annually conducted survey typically collates demographic data about the SENCO workforce, but given the wider context, this particular survey also included nine questions about…

This article explores nine SENCOs' lived experiences of the changes, challenges and opportunities which arose when working in Swedish upper secondary schools through the spring term of 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article provides further insights into the particulars of the SENCOs' line of work and also aims to say something about the…