Research on Personnel Supply and Demand and Effective Strategies for Recruitment, Preparation Partnerships and Retention

Featured literature reviews written by the Personnel Improvement Center:

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National Resources:

Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education (COPSSE)
This project was a cooperative agreement between the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, and the University of Florida. Teams of COPSSE scholars prepared nine research syntheses on special education personnel, including one related to: (a) the supply and demand of special education teachers, (b) the character and effectiveness of teacher education and (c) recruitment and retention practices. They are available on line at www.copsse.org.

Educator Supply and Demand in the United States (ten year trend data)
American Association for Employment in Education has been conducting research study on educator supply and demand for 25 years. www.aaee.org

National/state Data on Special Education Personnel
The website www.ideadata.org presents the most recent state-reported data available. It is collected annually by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs as required under Section 618 of IDEA, and reported to Congress. This information includes numbers of high qualified and non-highly qualified special education teachers and paraprofessionals, as well as fully qualified and non-fully qualified related service providers, by state.

National Center for Education Statistics
The website http://nces.ed.gov contains data related to education in the United States and in other nations. Two databases, SASS and IPEDS, have information related to working conditions and retention rates in schools, along with university programs’ production rates of special education-related personnel.

National Center for Education Information
Profile of Alternative Route Teachers is published by National Center for Education Information annually and available at www.teach-now.org.

Survey of Personnel Needs in Special Education (SPeNSE)
The website www.spense.org provides information on the quality of the workforce nationally, within each geographic region, and within and across personnel categories. In addition, researchers are using this information to explain the quality of the workforce based on state and local policies, preservice education, continuing professional development, and working conditions.

Title 2 Reporting – Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA)
The website http://title2.ed.gov contains all of the teacher preparation reports from each state for the past five years, including the number of person who completed programs and passed the state teacher examination in teaching special populations, per preparation program and including alternative route programs.

State Surveys of Special Education Personnel:

Oregon Special Education Recruitment and Retention Project, 2002
Survey Results: Findings Related to Recruiting Special Education Personnel

California’s Teaching Force: Issues and Trends, 2008
This report provides the latest available data and analysis of California's teaching workforce and examines the preparation, induction and professional development of teachers, including special education teachers.