From Para-Educators to Veteran Master Teachers: Evaluation of Special Educators' Perceived Experiences of School District and University Partnership Programs

The increasing demands for special education teachers (SETs) are often greater than the supply of qualified SETs who are willing and able to accept teaching positions. Partnership programs that recruit non-traditional teacher candidates, provide extensive training and mentoring, and facilitate supportive working conditions often provide a cost-effective strategy for recruiting, preparing, and retaining special educators committed to the field. This study builds on previous research by investigating what partnership program features, mentoring and induction activities, and district procedures are more predictive of special educators’ career intentions across career phases. The study used a mixed-methods research design to quantify and analyze relationships between participants’ perspectives of program features and their career intentions. Participants completed a partnership preparation program that trained para-educators using a cohort model while completing their Master’s degrees in special education. Results suggest that the program’s location and length helped to recruit them, coursework and field experiences contributed to their preparation, and school administrators’ support helped to retain them for an average of nine years. The paper concludes by discussing recommendations for future special education teacher preparation programs and next steps for teacher preparation research