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Student Teaching and Teacher Attrition in Special Education

University of New Hampshire

Suzanne Graham

University of New Hampshire

Research suggests that substantial pre-service student teaching is essential for the preparation and retention of special educators. Using logistic regression analysis, survey responses of beginning special educators were analyzed to answer the following questions: Are beginning special educators more likely to leave the field if they have had minimal or no pre-service student teaching? Are other characteristics of preparation related to the probability of attrition? It was found that substantial pre-service student teaching experience has a strong effect on the probability that a beginning special educator will remain in the field 1 year later (estimated odds ratio = 2.18). In addition, none of the effects of aspects of teacher pre-service preparation or teacher or school demographics analyzed had an impact on attrition, when controlling for the number of weeks of student teaching.

Key Words: beginning teachers • teacher shortage • alternative teacher certification • teacher recruitment • special education teachers

Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, Vol. 32, No. 3, 257-269 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0888406409339472


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