Creating Optimal Conditions For Teaching Students With Exceptionalities

Creating Optimal Conditions For Teaching
Students With Exceptionalities
The findings from a new survey indicate that teacher perspectives are similar for
both general and special educators and that administrators' views are also
parallel. The similarities across special and general education groups combined
with the significant differences between all teacher and all administrator points of
view was interesting. The viewpoint taken by teachers regarding the conditions
they work under while teaching students with exceptionalities is harsher than the
view offered by the administrators. This pattern was pervasive on all the areas of
contrast (materials available, physical facilities for teaching, collegiality and
professionalism, pre-service preparation, professional development
opportunities, and planning time). These differences also were reflected in the
literature on teaching conditions. One of the most frequently cited reasons for
special educators leaving the field is the lack of administrators' support, and the
lack of administrators' understanding of what teachers are doing. The feelings
that administrators are "out of touch" with what teachers have to do, and do not
understand the problems that teachers face, undermine teacher motivation and
morale. This failure to connect between teacher and administrator continues to
be an area of concern.

The respondents mirrored the current demographics of educators being
predominately white females age 30 to 50 years. The elementary teacher
respondents were the youngest and the administrators were the oldest groups.
The responses, by and large, followed a pattern by groups. There were no
significant differences found in the special education vs. general education
contrasts. The major differences across groups were found in the contrast of
administrators with teachers. The administrators, on the whole, took a more
positive view of the conditions for teaching students with exceptionalities than
the teachers did. The areas where these differences were most extreme included
availability of materials to work with students (especially textbooks), preservice
preparation to meet the needs of exceptional students, professional development
opportunities, sense of physical safety when working with students with
exceptionalities, communication regarding student's needs, and amount of
planning time.
Personnel Preparation
General education teachers report that they have students with exceptional
learning needs in their classes. While they report that they have had, or currently
have, responsibilities for students in all areas of exceptionalities, they indicated
that the largest group they work with is students with learning disabilities. The
area where the greatest number of general classroom teachers reported having
an additional license was in learning disabilities. These numbers, while impressive,
do not alleviate the concern that general education teachers feel under-prepared
to meet the needs of exceptional learners.
The problems with teacher preparation to meet the needs of students with
exceptionalities are not limited to issues related to general education. The special
educators report few additional licenses in content areas, and limited additional
support for their role as collaborative teachers. The increased emphasis on
curriculum access and success for students with exceptionalities means that
special educators will have to strengthen their content knowledge to support
appropriate differentiation strategies. The growing trend toward inclusion means
that special education teachers also need new and different skills to work
collegially with general education teachers. Special education teachers also
report being dissatisfied with professional development opportunities in which to
learn the new skills needed to fulfill changing role expectations.

In spite of the clear need to improve personnel preparation, this was ranked ninth
out of 10 areas of concern by all of the groups. Yet, if the conditions for teaching
students with exceptional learning needs are to improve these issues must be
addressed. The role of state, higher education, and federal leadership is critical to
improving preservice and inservice personnel preparation for both general and
special educators. The better prepared that teachers feel to meet the needs of
students with exceptionalities, the more likely it is that they will continue to
teach.
While our teacher sample by and large reported that they are satisfied with their
work, they identified numerous problems with the overall conditions for teaching
students with exceptionalities, which undermine morale.
Again, the leadership to tackle these issues must come from the state and
national levels. Issues related to how special education teachers are licensed
across states, how teacher preparation programs recruit preservice special
education teachers, and how new teachers are supported on the job must be
addressed with innovative solutions.
Changes and Challenges
- General education teachers report working with students with exceptionalities
in their classrooms, yet time for collaboration and planning between general and
special educators is almost non-existent
- Teachers report feeling inadequately prepared to meet the needs of students
with exceptionalities, yet personnel preparation opportunities are limited and
teacher preparation institutions continue to produce new teachers who are not
prepared.
- Paperwork is overwhelming special education teachers, yet they are the last
ones to receive computer software for record keeping.
- Special education teachers are expected to work with general educators
collaboratively, yet their pre-service programs are not preparing them for these
new roles.
- Students with exceptionalities are expected to master more of the general
education curriculum - at higher levels - than ever before, yet most special
educators report little content area preparation to support their students
- The range and intensity of students' needs has increased in both general and
special education classrooms, yet little has been done to increase support to meet
student needs.

Access to Appropriate Materials
The respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement (1 = strongly
disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree) with several items related to
the availability of materials to work with students. All the groups reported that
materials to work with students with exceptionalities were available; however,
the intensity of their agreement differed by groups.
The contrasts for the groups revealed two significant differences. The combined
administrators (principals with special education administrators) in contrast to the
combined teachers (both special and general education teachers) was the first
significant contrast. The combined elementary and secondary teachers in contrast
to elementary and secondary principals was the second significant contrast. In
both these cases the administrators were significantly more favorable as to the
availability of materials than the teachers were. The teachers indicated moderate
agreement and administrators reported stronger agreement. There were no
significant differences in the contrast between special and general educators on
the materials available to meet the needs of exceptional students.
Two individual items on this scale were pulled out for a separate analysis because
they were of particular interest: the availability of computer software for record
keeping, a major concern for coping with paperwork demands, and access to the
district's general education curriculum guidelines to work with students with
exceptionalities. On the first item, availability of software for record keeping, the
contrasts mirrored those of the total scale with the significant differences being
between administrators and teachers. This was true for both all administrators
contrasted with all teachers and for the general education principals contrasted
with general education teachers. Again, the administrators were significantly
more positive than the teachers in their agreement that record-keeping software
is available. Special education teachers were the only group that fell in the
"disagree" range on the availability of software. No significant difference was
found on the contrast for general with special educators. All groups agreed that
they have access to curriculum guidelines and there were no significant difference
between the groups.
Appropriateness of Physical Facilities
The physical facilities section asked respondents to rate on an "agree-disagree"
likert scale the appropriateness of physical facilities for students with

exceptionalities. This allowed us to cluster the items to look at an overall
response by groups. The respondents indicate that the physical facilities are
appropriate for students with exceptionalities with a moderate agreement from
each group. The only contrast that showed a significant difference was for
secondary teachers contrasted with secondary principals. The principals gave a
more favorable rating than the teachers. There were no differences in the
contrasts between all administrators and all teachers or between special and
general educators' views. No individual items were pulled out of this scale for
separate analysis.
Collegiality and Professionalism
The section on collegiality and professionalism asked respondents to rate their
general satisfaction on items using a five point likert scale (1 = Unsatisfactory, 2 =
Needs Improvement, 3 = Satisfactory, 4 = Very Satisfactory, 5 = Excellent). The
internal consistency allowed us to cluster the items to look at an overall response
by group. The groups indicated that they were basically satisfied with the
collegiality and professionalism. The only differences in the groups were
differences in the intensity of their reported satisfaction levels. The significant
contrasts were those between all administrators and all teachers and between
the general education administrators and classroom teachers. In both cases, the
administrators reported higher levels of satisfaction than the teachers did. Again,
although these contrasts reached significance, the difference is in the intensity of
satisfaction level, not in whether the groups are satisfied.
Three individual items were analyzed separately: pre-service preparation to meet
exceptional students' needs; professional development opportunities; and sense
of physical safety in working with students with exceptionalities. The secondary
and elementary teachers indicated the lowest satisfaction levels with their pre-
service preparation to meet the needs of students with exceptionalities. These
ratings both fell in the "needs improvement" range. The contrasts that were
significant between groups were the all administrators in contrast with all
teachers and the general education teachers in contrast with the principals. In
both cases the administrators were more satisfied with pre-service preparation to
meet the needs of students with exceptionalities than the teachers were.
Professional development opportunities to learn about meeting the needs of
students with exceptionalities were rated as "needs improvement" by all the
teachers (both general and special education). The administrators, however, all

indicated satisfaction with the opportunities available. The significant contrasts
were those between all administrators and all teachers, and between general
education administrators and teachers. In this case the differences between
administrators and teachers was more dramatic as it was across the "needs
improvement" and the "satisfied" ranges, with teachers indicating "needs
improvement" and administrators indicating satisfaction.
The third individual item analyzed in this section was a sense of physical safety in
working with students with exceptionalities. While all groups reported basic
satisfaction with their sense of physical safety, there were significant differences
by group. The secondary teachers indicated the lowest satisfaction level with the
elementary principals giving the highest. The contrasts of all administrators with
all teachers was significant with the administrators reporting higher levels of
satisfaction than the teachers.
Teaching is a complex, demanding job and there are many variables that impact a
teacher's ability to be successful. The conditions of teaching children with
exceptionalities are influenced by several major themes: a sense of collegiality
and professionalism; an environment of open and frequent
communication/collaboration; a climate of support; the availability of resources;
and clarity of roles, responsibilities, and expectations for "doing the job
successfully." These themes frame the context in which teachers work and impact
directly both their ability to do the job well and their sense of job satisfaction.
In addition to the context in which a teacher works, a discussion of conditions
must include specific aspects of the work itself. Issues related to caseload; class
size and composition; paperwork; and time required for both teaching and non-
instructional duties. All of this taken together helps us understand what teachers
of exceptional children face on a daily basis as they work to meet the needs of
their students. When taken together the messages are loud and clear: teaching
has gotten harder and the teachers who teach our children with exceptionalities
are struggling to do their jobs well.
Collegiality and Professionalism
This is a difficult combination for any teacher, but it is particularly detrimental
when we recognize the intensity of student needs that special educators face.
Because many of their students have persistent problems with learning,
motivation, and behavior, special education teachers often begin to feel

ineffective. Given all of this, is it surprising that the morale of many special
education teachers seems to have hit an all time low as they struggle to meet the
ever-increasing demands of their students?
Communication and Collaboration
Logic would have it that the students with the most intense needs would receive
the most intense forms of "team" planning, communication, and collaboration to
meet these needs. For students with exceptionalities, however, this does not
seem to be the case. Teachers in both general and special education report having
little or no time to talk and plan collaboratively for their students with special
needs. Lack of time to plan was rated as the second most important concern for
special educators on a national survey.
With an increasing number of students with special needs being served in the
regular classroom with "consultative support" the demand for time to plan for
student needs has grown. What other profession requires consultation, yet
allocates little or not time for meetings. Over a third (35%) report that they spend
less than one hour per week in collaboration. An additional 12% report that they
spend only between 1 and 2 hours in collaboration.
When this is combined with the 24% who reported they do not spend any time in
collaboration we can see that very little collaborative instruction time is reported.
If consultation with the classroom teacher is to be used effectively, then there
must be time built into the day for conferences. The special educators also
reported their time spent in planning with general education teachers. This shows
that well over half (65%) of the teachers report they spend between 10 and 20
percent of their time in collaborative planning. An additional 14% reported that
they spend no time.
Administrative Support
District and building level support has been identified as a key component of
teacher retention and job satisfaction. What do teachers say?
He is one of the most informed administrators I have had the pleasure to work
with. He not only attends meetings, but makes it his job to know each student,
their strengths and weaknesses, what classes they attend within regular and
special settings, understands their needs, as well as the program's needs, knows

their attendance, discipline and extra curricular accomplishments, participates
fully within meetings, and makes sure that the program gets all the moneys
needed to be successful.
However, when administrators lack the knowledge, time, or interest in children
with special needs the impact is profound. Administrative support was ranked
fifth (out of 10 items) as a major concern of special education teachers. Licensing
for administrators rarely addresses adequate knowledge and skills to develop,
supervise, and evaluate the delivery of special education and related services.
This omission handicaps administrators faced with increasing numbers of
students with exceptionalities.
Resources and Materials
No one can do their best if they are not given appropriate resources and
materials. Special education teachers report that they often do not have what
they need. In many schools, the special education program is the last on the list
for textbooks, instructional materials, classroom space, and equipment.
To make up for some of these deficits, teachers regularly spend their own money
on classroom supplies and materials. While special education teachers do report
that they have access to state and district curriculum guidelines, they indicate
that they rarely have access to appropriate materials for each of their students,
who are often well below grade level.
Caseload, Class Size, and Composition
Does it make sense when general education class sizes are smaller than special
education caseloads? Can one teacher, even with a paraprofessional, be expected
to teach multiple subjects, grade levels, and exceptionalities? Sixty-three percent
of special education teachers reported that their class sizes often gave them a
ratio of 15 or more students to one teacher. The paraprofessional-to-student
ratios are a little better than the teacher-to-student ratios, with over a third of
the teachers reporting a para:student ratio of one para to 10 or more students.
The number one concern of special education teachers responding in a national
survey was "caseload"! Teachers say that they are continually being asked to do
more for more students with more diverse and intense needs, with less time,
materials, and support. What we do know is that special educators across the

country are leaving in record high numbers and that those overwhelming
caseloads is one of the top reasons given for this exodus. The majority reported
that they spend between 10 and 30 percent of their week (this is between 4 and
12 hours) working on identification and related meetings.
Paperwork
The overwhelming requirements of paperwork were ranked as the third most
important concern (out of a list of 10 issues) coming in just behind caseload and
time for planning. While special educators understand the need for the IEP
(Individualized Education Program), both as an educational guide and a legal
document, they struggle with all the time the process requires. The average
length of typical IEPs was reported as being between 1 and 20 pages, with an
estimated 4 hours of meeting/planning time going into each IEP parent
conference. In addition to meetings, they report that a large percentage of their
time is spent on completing paperwork. Over a third of the teachers reported
spending 20 to 40% of their time on paperwork with 22% reporting 40 to 50% of
their time devoted to paperwork.
The IEP requirements must also be combined with other paperwork duties which
frequently include forms for the central office; minutes of the collaborative team
meetings; reports and evaluations of students referred but not placed; medical
assistance billing forms; telephone logs; child abuse reports; due process
documentation; quarterly progress reports; daily/weekly notes to parents
concerning the child's progress; curriculum data reports; grade reports; discipline
records; and other state, district, and school accountability requirements. What
makes it worse is the sense that much of the paperwork is designed to "keep the
school system out of a lawsuit" rather than to improve the quality of the students'
education (in the extensive list of paperwork, lesson plans, curriculum adaptation,
and teacher-to-teacher notes on classroom practices were not included, yet all
teachers complete these as well).
- "When is there time for IEPs and paperwork? I find myself up until 10:00 and
11:00 at night doing IEPs."
- "I often stay after work until 7 or 8 to complete paperwork and barely keep on
top of it all with all that extra time."
- "I don't know what the answer is, but the students are the ones who suffer from
all the mandated paperwork."

- "I wish that within my 26 years, one auditor would have asked if my program
was successful rather then looking at the paperwork."
- "Most of us got into special education because we wanted to teach, to work
with kids, and it seems like that aspect of the job is taking a back seat to the
administrative duties."
- "I thought special education was special because children receive special
attention."
- "There are many things wrong with the system but we teachers are doing our
best to provide appropriate services to our students."
- "Our lawmakers should spend a day in the life of a special educator."
We are, in fact, facing a crisis. Our country's proud claim that we educate all our
children rings hollow when we hear the chorus of voices describing the current
conditions under which our children with the most intense needs are served.
Special educators labor under difficult conditions in part because the field is
changing rapidly. For many veteran teachers, the roles and responsibilities they
were prepared to fill, and which they had been successful with in the past, have
changed dramatically. New teachers are finding that their teacher preparation
institutions "prepared" them for a job that no longer exists and left them ill-
equipped for the job they actually face. Combine this with multiple expectations
and conflicting responsibilities and the job gets tougher.
A reasonable response to the changing demands placed on teachers would be to
provide intense and ongoing personnel preparation inservice to help teachers
learn new knowledge and skills. Teachers report that this is not happening. They
indicate that belonging to professional organizations is important, but that more
is still needed in light of the current expectations.
Just as little has been done in the way of inservice, our preservice programs for
education, where the next generation of teachers will come from, have not kept
up. Frequently, special education programs operate outside of professional
accreditation standards, and the programs face little in the way of consequences.
When a program operates without professional accreditation, students do not
have assurance they are receiving the validated knowledge and skills of the
profession.

Creating optimal conditions for teaching students with exceptionalities - the
conditions under which students with exceptionalities will be most successful -
will take a concerted and coordinated effort across all stakeholders.
Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer, Certified Master of Web
Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com. Jeff is a prolific writer,
Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having written many eBooks, articles
and special reports.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/creating-optimal-conditions-for-teaching-
students-with-exceptionalities/

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