A study of the relationship between perceived administrative support and the self-reported work engagement of special education teachers

Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only.The relationship between administrative support and special education teacher work engagement is the focus of this study. Special education teachers experience burnout at alarming rates, and the effects of burnout cause significant hardship for education leaders. This study identifies specific school organizational health indicators within the building principal’s locus of control to increase work engagement and prevent burnout. This study is a secondary analysis of a data set from the Longitudinal Natural Course of Burnout Survey (LNCBS) administered to teachers throughout the United States. A grant funded the LNCBS through The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the U.S. Department of Education. The data set used for this secondary analysis is a subsidy within a more extensive intervention study to adapt and test a special education burnout intervention. The Supportive Leadership Sum from the School Organizational Health questionnaire and an abridged version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) are analyzed through hierarchical regression analysis. Results indicate a statistically significant, positive relationship between supportive leadership and special education teacher work engagement. In addition, findings indicate that a teacher’s perception of supportive leadership explains 21% of the variance in work engagement while controlling for the teacher’s years of experience, gender, race, ethnicity, and grade level taught. Survey details, limitations, discussion of prior research, policy recommendations, and implications for further research are also included.Thesis (D. Ed.