What supports can school leaders provide to develop effective and committed special education teachers?
Page 9: Ongoing Professional Development
No two new special educators will enter the classroom with exactly the same knowledge, experience, or level of preparation. Professional development (PD) creates opportunities for these teachers to keep learning. New special education teachers need the same PD available to all teachers, such as content-based instructional strategies. However, new special education teachers also need PD specific to their responsibilities, such as strategies that address working with students with particular needs (e.g., learning disabilities, hearing loss), implementing behavior intervention plans, or coordinating support staff (e.g., paraprofessionals).
New special education teachers are likely to need professional development in a wide range of areas.
| Area | Examples |
| Content areas |
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| Disability specific topics |
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| Co-teaching and collaboration |
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| Teaching strategies |
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| Use of technology |
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| Paperwork |
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| Paraprofessionals |
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| Parents |
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| Behavior management |
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No one PD plan can meet all the varying needs of new special education teachers. For instance, a new special education teacher who attended a four-year traditional preparation program is likely to have different needs than will a new special education teacher who attended an abbreviated alternate-route program. By creating an individual professional development plan, school leaders can meet the needs of each new teacher. School leaders can begin this process by conducting a needs assessment with new teachers to identify their PD needs. Various types of professional development are outlined below.
Group Courses
This series of lessons is typically taught over time to new teachers with similar needs. For example, all new special education teachers will likely need information about procedures, such as how to write and implement IEPs. Many new teachers may need information about providing instruction for a diverse student body.
Example: In the Special School District of St. Louis County, new teachers attend a series of courses that are developed and implemented by full-time mentors. New teachers attend several courses across their first year. During the first few months of school, mentors assess the needs of new teachers related to their caseload. Using this information, all mentors in the district meet and decide on common topics for a professional development series (e.g., self-advocacy, instructional strategies for secondary mathematics, co-teaching, pre-emergent literacy). Following professional development, new teachers meet with their assigned mentor for assistance in integrating new knowledge into their classroom practice.
Group Meetings
These meetings are typically a time when all the new teachers in a district can meet to discuss or learn about one particular topic. Groups meetings are usually scheduled on a regular basis, and leaders and mentors must be sure to create an opportunity for follow-up for new special education teachers.
Example: In one school district, special education teachers attend group meetings on a specific topic once a month for two hours. At the beginning of the year, these meetings focus on procedural issues, such as writing IEPs or evaluating students. Later, the focus changes to topics such as instructional content strategies or co-teaching strategies and roles. The mentor and principal provide opportunities for follow-up activities. For instance, after attending a session on IEPs, mentors and new teachers write and conduct an IEP meeting together.
Online
In this emerging practice, a teacher participates in either a formal online format (e.g., an online course) or in a more informal one (e.g., a Webinar).
Example: In West Virginia, new special education teachers participate in monthly Webinars provided through a state and university collaboration and also follow-up with a mentor. These Webinars focus on topics relevant to all new special education teachers.
No matter the PD’s format, structure, or content, research suggests that if it is to influence teacher knowledge, attitudes, and practice, it should:
- Align with the overall goals of induction and contain clear outcome measures
- Be implemented in a planned and organized manner
- Follow best practices:
- Occur over time (i.e., not a one-time workshop)
- Provide active opportunities to learn with feedback
- Align with the larger district or state context
- Focus on student data
- Provide a reasonable number of evidence-based strategies
- Include follow-up with a mentor
Follow-up with her mentor after PD allowed Mary Kate McGinn to better incorporate what she had learned.
Mary Kate McGinn
Special Education Teacher
Special School District of St. Louis County
St. Louis, Missouri
(time: 0:38)
Margaret Kamman discusses a few best practices related to providing PD for new special education teachers.
Margaret Kamman, PhD
Project Coordinator, CEEDAR and NCIPP
University of Florida
(time: 2:13)
Transcript: Mary Kate McGinnis
My mentor teacher helps me with continuous classroom improvement, which was one of the things that I was pretty worried about. When I went to the training, I felt really overwhelmed. And I felt like that was going to be something that was going to be pretty difficult for me to incorporate along with all the other things that come with being a first-year teacher. But she definitely made that a lot easier by laying it out for me, and working me through that if I went to a professional development and I had questions or something didn’t make sense, when I met with Kristin we would talk that out. She would help me with that or get the information that I felt like I still needed.
Transcript: Margaret Kamman, PhD
No matter what type of structure the administrator or the district chooses for professional development, there are some best practices that should be adhered to so that the new special education teacher can really maximize their learning during this time period. One of those is that the learning needs to occur over time. And what I mean by that is sending a new teacher to a one-time workshop and expecting them to be able to take whatever they’ve learned in that workshop and implement that in their classroom is not realistic. Instead, what needs to happen is the professional development should occur over time. Some learning might happen one time, and then there’s additional follow-up for that professional development. Moreover, we want to be able to help the new special education teacher get some kind of opportunity for feedback. So not only do they learn about the practice but then they can get some feedback on how it’s going in their classroom and how they can change things based on their own context.
You also need to be able to provide a reasonable amount of evidence-based strategies in a workshop. It’s not going to be any good to go into a professional development session and try to give a new teacher every piece of evidence around a particular content area, because it’s just not possible for that new teacher to take in all of that. Instead, it’s really choosing a more focused amount of learning for them so they can then go and follow that up with practice and implement it in their classrooms. Another place that is helpful for new teachers is to have some kind of follow-up with their mentor. Being able to provide the mentor with some knowledge about the professional development that the beginning teacher has attended will help that mentor then be able to follow-up with the new teacher in the classroom to make sure that what they’re doing actually aligns with what they learn. And by implementing all of these best practices and PD, you’re really setting up your beginning teachers for success, and you’re setting them up for a year to be making some personal growth in their instructional strategies.
For Your Information
One challenge for new special education teachers is the time demands of the professional development they are expected to attend. School leaders must pay attention to the quantity of professional development new teachers are scheduled to attend with an eye towards maintaining a reasonable amount.
Activity
Using the induction goals you developed for Jamal in the activity on Page 3, create a matrix listing a) the type of ongoing PD you think Jamal should receive, b) the format of the PD, and c) the justification for your selections.
| Jamal’s learning goals: | Professional development activities | Format of PD | Justification |
| Objective: Learning content for the middle grades | Develop knowledge of Common Core State Standards and assessments
Share interdisciplinary units and teaching ideas with other content teachers |
State workshops on the Common Core State Standards
School study groups on each content area Assistance from mentor on content area reading |
These are areas where Jamal’s training is weak. |
| Objective: Learn evidence-based practices (EBP) | Develop knowledge of a variety of evidence-based practices, particularly those found to be effective with students with emotional disorders | State workshops
School study groups on EBP Assistance from mentor on implementing EBP |
These are areas where Jamal’s training is weak. |
| Objective: Develop skills in addressing disruptive and non-compliant behavior | Web-based Modules
Weekly assistance from mentor and behavior specialist |
Jamal completes two Modules on addressing student behavior and applies his knowledge to students in his classroom.
Weekly meetings with mentor or behavioral specialist are used to refine behavior plans based on student behavior data. |
These are areas where Jamal’s training is weak. |
