More Special Education Endorsements than Job Openings in Washington: An Untapped Talent Pool?
Schools often face challenges recruiting and retaining special education teachers. But in Washington state, the number of teachers with a special education endorsement regularly exceeds the number of special education teaching positions available each year. One example of the imbalance: less than half of the teachers who earned a special education credential in 2010 were employed in a special education position by 2016. Having a credential doesn’t necessarily guarantee effectiveness as a special education teacher, but this mismatch raises an important question: Amid ongoing shortages, how might school districts better recruit or incentivize credentialed teachers already in the system to take on special education roles?
Source: Theobald, R., Goldhaber, D., Naito, N., & Stein, M. (2021). The special education teacher pipeline: Teacher preparation, workforce entry, and retention. Exceptional Children, 88(1), 65-80.
Notes: Data on special education credentials comes from Washington State's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction's Credential and Enrollment database, which contains a complete history of all teaching credentials and endorsements. The special education position data come from the state's employment database, called the S-275.