scholarly journals “Am I Doing Enough?” Special Educators’ Experiences with Emergency Remote Teaching in Spring 2020 [now published in Education Sciences: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/10/11/320/htm]

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Schuck ◽  
Rachel Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Support Needs ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Home Support ◽  
Physical Manipulatives ◽  
Teachers And Parents ◽  
Significant Support

AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS PAPER HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN EDUCATION SCIENCES. PLEASE SEE HERE: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/10/11/320/htm While the COVID-19 pandemic radically changed all aspects of everyone’s life, the closure of schools was one of the most impactful, significantly altering daily life for school personnel, students, and families. The shift to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) presented particular challenges to special educators of students with significant support needs, who often benefit from strong interpersonal connections, modeling, and the use of physical manipulatives. This paper details the experiences of two elementary special education teachers as they navigated the transition to ERT. The teachers reported three distinct stages of ERT: making contact, establishing routines, and transitioning to academics. They also discussed challenges they faced during this period, such as the inequity in resources amongst their students, needing to rely on at-home support in order to meaningfully teach students, and changes in what it meant to be a teacher while having to teach online. While clearly not in favor of online learning, the teachers do present glimmers of hope, for example with regards to increased communication between teachers and parents. The challenges and strategies used to overcome them will be of use to teachers and school administrators in the coming months, as school closures are likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

scholarly journals “Am I Doing Enough?” Special Educators’ Experiences with Emergency Remote Teaching in Spring 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 320
Author(s):  
Rachel K. Schuck ◽  
Rachel Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Support Needs ◽  
Home Support ◽  
Physical Manipulatives ◽  
Teachers And Parents ◽  
Significant Support

While the COVID-19 pandemic radically changed all aspects of everyone’s life, the closure of schools was one of the most impactful, significantly altering daily life for school personnel, students, and families. The shift to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) presented particular challenges to special educators of students with significant support needs who often benefit from strong interpersonal connections, modeling, and the use of physical manipulatives. This paper details the experiences of two elementary special education teachers as they navigated the transition to ERT. The teachers reported three distinct stages of ERT: making contact, establishing routines, and transitioning to academics. They also discussed the challenges they faced during this period, such as the inequity in resources amongst their students, needing to rely on at-home support in order to meaningfully teach students, and changes in what it meant to be a teacher while having to teach online. While clearly not in favor of online learning, the teachers do present glimmers of hope, for example, with regards to increased communication between teachers and parents. The challenges and strategies used to overcome these challenges will be of use to educators in the coming months, with implications for distance learning in this population.

Administrative Pressures to Practice Unethically: Research and Suggested Strategies

2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Helton ◽  
Barbara Ray
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
School Counselors ◽  
School Psychologists ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Reasoning Strategies ◽  
School Based

Research indicates that school psychologists and special education teachers sometimes face pressures from school administrators to practice unethically. It includes quantitative and qualitative data on: School psychologists’ and special education teachers’ predictions of their responses to administrative pressures to practice unethically; personal and situational factors related to their predictions; errors in some respondents’ ethical reasoning; strategies for responding to pressures to practice unethically; and the ethical obligations shared by school psychologists, special educators, and school counselors in responding to these pressures. The purpose of the article is to increase school-based practitioners’ abilities to understand and cope successfully with administrative pressures to practice unethically.

scholarly journals A Survey of School Administrators’ Training and Support Related to Evaluating Special Education Teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle E. Rodl ◽  
Wes Bonifay ◽  
Rebecca A. Cruz ◽  
Sarah Manchanda
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Job Functions ◽  
Training And Support

School administrators are often responsible for observing and evaluating special education teachers. The current study examined the training school administrators received, their needed knowledge and supports, and their confidence in performing job functions related to special education teacher evaluation. A total of 929 school administrators in California completed a 26-item survey in which they reported the training they had received, the usefulness of the training for informing practice, and the confidence they felt in evaluating special educators. Results indicated that most school administrators did not have a background in special education, did not receive training related to evaluating special educators, and felt less confident evaluating special educators than general educators. School administrators, especially those without a background in special education, may need more training and support related to evaluating special education teachers during preparation and in the early years of administration. Training and support should focus on evidence-based practices for teaching- ing students with disabilities.

Attitudes of Educators toward Speech-Language Pathology Services in Rural Schools

1980 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis M. Ruscello ◽  
Norman J. Lass ◽  
Nancy K. Fultz ◽  
Mary J. Hug
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Favorable Attitude ◽  
Speech Pathology ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Rural County ◽  
Language Pathology

The Scale of Educators' Attitudes Toward Speech Pathology (SEASP) was administered to school personnel in two rural county school systems, including: teachers in kindergarten through third grade, teachers in grades four through eight, and special education teachers. Analysis of responses showed that all three groups demonstrated a favorable attitude toward their existing speech-language pathology programs. However, the overall scores of the special educators were higher than those found for the two other groups. In addition, there was a tendency across the groups to express the attitude that the speech clinician's case load was too large and the therapy time employed per case inadequate.

Evaluating Special Educators’ Classroom Performance: Does Rater “Type” Matter?

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle E. Lawson ◽  
Rebecca A. Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Teacher Evaluations ◽  
Classroom Performance ◽  
Generalizability Study ◽  
Rater Characteristics

Classroom observations remain the predominant data source used in teacher evaluations, but little is known about how rater characteristics may affect teachers’ scores. For special educators, whose instructional practice requires specialized knowledge and skills, school administrators (i.e., the raters) without experience in special education teaching may not be able to provide reliable and unbiased scores. This study included three school administrators who viewed and scored the classroom teaching of 19 special educators in California and Idaho; individuals with special education teaching experience also scored a subset of the instructional lessons. Generalizability study analyses revealed that the school administrators were not consistently reliable scorers of the special education teachers’ instruction. The school administrators were also more lenient on average in their ratings than peer teacher raters. Findings from this preliminary investigation suggest that rater background may matter, and future studies should explore how specific rater characteristics such as background and experience affect special educators’ performance ratings.

Variables Affecting the Reintegration Rate of Students with Serious Emotional Disturbance

1994 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elana Esterson Rock ◽  
Michael S. Rosenberg ◽  
Deborah T. Carran
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Emotional Disturbance ◽  
Teacher Attitudes ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Educational Program ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Serious Emotional Disturbance ◽  
K 12

This study examined educational program and teacher variables to identify factors that predict the reintegration of students with serious emotional disturbance (SED) into less restrictive placements. Data on program demographics, reintegration orientation, teacher reintegration training, and teacher attitudes toward reintegration were collected from 162 special education teachers and 31 administrators in restrictive placements for K-12 students with SED. This information was compared to the reintegration rates of students in those schools through the use of a hierarchical set regression analysis. Results indicated that reintegration orientation, demographic characteristics of restrictive SED programs, and particular experiences/training of special educators predict the reintegration of students with SED into less restrictive programs.

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