Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development has joined a team of 11 peer colleges and universities collaborating on a project led by the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) that seeks to examine ways of helping school districts address the critical need of recruiting and retaining special education teachers.

The Reducing the Shortage of Special Education Teachers Networked Improvement Community (NIC) program aims to increase recruitment for special education teacher preparation programs, with a focus on recruiting diverse candidates. It also seeks to address teacher turnover through strengthened partnerships with PreK–12 schools and districts and develop new programs to prepare and retain diverse special educators for specific vacancies.

“Special education teacher shortages often have a disproportionate effect on English learners and African Americans who are overrepresented in special education,” said Jacqueline Rodriguez, assistant vice president of programs and professional learning at AACTE. “This initiative is critical for helping to improve access to learning for students with disabilities from all backgrounds and to better equip special education teachers to become more effective in the classroom.”

The project began in 2019 with an original group of ten colleges of education, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cleveland State University, Eastern Michigan State University, Texas State University, University of Central Florida, University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Northern Colorado, University of Oregon, Virginia State University, and Western Kentucky University.

Three teams of BU Wheelock faculty and staff, and staff from Boston Public Schools are involved the Reducing the Shortage of Special Education Teachers NIC. BU Wheelock will be the only private institution in the NIC, as well as the only member located in the northeastern United States. As BU Wheelock’s partner district, Boston Public Schools will be the largest school district involved in the project.

The BU Wheelock team will analyze the recruitment and enrollment of prospective students into the special education teacher preparation program, as well as program coursework and completion, student placements, and longer-term special education teacher retention. The team anticipates that the three-year project will result in an increase in overall enrollment of teacher candidates in special education teacher preparation programs and an increase in the enrollment of teacher candidates with a disability into those programs.