We overview several key issues of the past, present, and near future of special education for students with severe disabilities. We contextualize the Telos of special education by briefly remarking on its historical roots in the United States, then delve into several issues we believe are critical for advancing toward better outcomes for students…

Teacher shortages in special education have been a source of long-standing concern for professionals and parents involved in the education of students with disabilities. Because of their geographic location, culture, and lack of resources, rural administrators have always struggled to staff their schools with qualified special education teachers.…

In this commentary, we revisit "NCLB and the Demand for Highly Qualified Teachers: Challenges and Solutions for Rural Schools," an article we published in this journal in 2005. We consider the predictions we made then about the impact of the Highly Qualified Teacher mandate on special education teacher (SET) shortages in rural states and…

According to current research, attrition of teachers in public schools throughout the United States has become increasingly worrisome, especially since the passage and inception of No Child Left Behind (2001) as well as the reauthorization of Individuals with Disabilities Act (1997). This rate of attrition remains especially problematic in the…

For years, the debate about American education was like a bad marriage. The arguments were about everything but the core issue--instructional quality. The other issues--education finance, school choice, standards--all matter, but are secondary to the importance of effective instruction. In the labor-intensive education field, effective instruction…

Previous researchers have found that special education teacher shortages are pervasive and exacerbated by federal policies regarding "highly qualified" teacher requirements. The authors examined special education teacher personnel data from 2 federal data sources to determine if these sources offer a reliable and valid means of…

This study examined the effectiveness of the application of the Professional Development School (PDS) Model (Holmes Group, 1986), to an alternative special education (SPED) credential program designed to prepare SPED teachers (for culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse urban K-12 schools and to ease SPED teachers shortages within our…

Perhaps one of the most controversial topics in the field of teacher education today is what constitutes an effective preservice program for preparing individuals to instruct students in the twenty-first century. A discussion of the merits of the approaches to teacher certification has also been compounded by issues relating to legal mandates such…

The teacher shortage throughout the United States, especially in areas considered "at-risk," has reached an alarming level. Novice teachers often decide not to return after one year of service, with the number of teachers not returning doubling at five years. One possible means of overcoming these two problems is alternative…

Forty-seven states have adopted a pathway to teaching, alternative to the standard state certification otherwise required. But is alternative certification impairing student learning? That is ultimately the justification for traditional teacher certification. To see which states have established genuine alternative certification programs and which…

The roles and obligations of teacher educators have expanded substantially in recent years. Expectations have increased because of national concerns about the overall achievement results of all students and because of specific federal mandates--expressed in reauthorizations of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals With Disabilities…

For decades, the supply of qualified special educators has been critically low. In 1983, the shortage of special educators was highlighted in "A Nation at Risk," and the situation remains much the same 25 years later. The most recently available data indicate that just 0.86 teachers were prepared for each available position in special…

The teaching force in the United States is facing an impending crisis, one that Scherff (2008) describes as a "perfect storm," due to massive retirements, increasing impractical mandates related to the No Child Left Behind Act, and an alarmingly high teacher attrition rate. This unprecedented crisis in both the supply and retention of…

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of the emphasis on achieving Adequate Yearly Progress at elementary schools under the regulations of the No Child Left Behind legislation. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews with fifty educators: forty-three teachers and seven administrators. All of the educators worked at six…

With both high retirement and high attrition rates among educators and a nationwide increasing student population, more teachers are needed. With the impact of a teacher shortage, educational systems began to examine the alternative certification methods. Alternative routes to teacher education profoundly impact the teaching force. The "Ways…