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CEC HOPES SURVEY WILL GET SPECIAL ED TEACHERS NEEDED HELP

August 12, 1999

An informal survey of special education teachers early this year has prompted the Council for Exceptional Children to expand it into a full-blown scientific study that will become the basis for future efforts to improve working conditions for teachers. The CEC formed a "President's Commission on Special Education Teaching Conditions" about a year ago to investigate special ed. teachers' needs, and to kick off that effort, CEC public relations manager Lynda Voyles conducted an informal survey of teachers to get their views.

From November 1998 to February 1999, Voyles surveyed teachers via the Internet and gathered information during various CEC forums across the country. Nearly 190 special ed. teachers and a handful of administrators and gifted ed. teachers responded to the informal survey, representing 32 states. Slightly more than half were elementary teachers, with the rest split among preschool, high school and administrative positions. The respondents had an average of 5.5 years of experience teaching students with disabilities. The average caseload was 20 students per educator, and nearly all teach or assist students of various ages and grade levels.

The results, published last month in the CEC's member newsletter, showed the commission it has struck a sensitive chord, Voyles said. Respondents generally reported they are spending more time on paperwork and meetings and less on teaching their students, with 83 percent saying they did not have enough time to spend on each individual student, the CEC report said.

Many said the Individualized Education Plan, which is required for all students with disabilities by the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, should be easier for teachers to read and use. They suggested legalese and other non-practical items could be moved to other documents to make IEPs simpler and faster reading. Not surprisingly, since federal regulations for the implementation of IDEA '97 were not released until March 1999, many teachers blamed unclear or misunderstood IDEA rules for some of their conflicts with administrators.

Use of the school's supplies for special ed. students was also a source of conflict for some teachers and principals, according to the CEC poll. Both general ed. and special ed. teachers said they would like easier access to modified textbooks for students with disabilities, to save the teacher time that is now spent adapting textbook lessons to individual special ed. students. More than half the respondents said they do not have easy access to the instructional materials they need. The respondents said they spend an average of $549 per year of their own money for supplies related to special ed. instruction, another $454 for training, $297 on computer products and $200 on miscellaneous expenses.

Paraeducators assisted 70 percent of the survey's respondents, generally winning praise for their help. However, special ed. teachers stressed that well-trained, appropriately compensated paraeducators make the biggest difference in lightening a teacher's workload.

Based on the preliminary survey results, the CEC is conducting a more official study this fall, Voyles said, mailing nearly 2,000 surveys to teachers and soliciting further information in another form posted on the CEC web site, www.cec.sped.org. Results, expected in January, will include recommendations from teachers, researchers, administrators and others on how to remedy some of the common problems special ed. teachers face. The CEC plans to use the report to help its local branches develop "best practices" for improving special ed. teaching conditions, she said.8