In response to teacher shortages around the country, the number of virtual personnel preparation programs has grown dramatically over the past few years. Many of these programs have been created in order to assist in the preparation of special education professionals in a variety of specializations, including high incidence disabilities (e.g.,…

Recruitment and retention of qualified education personnel remains an ongoing challenge and all 50 states have reported teacher shortages for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years. Although there was some variation from state to state in terms of which types of personnel were most difficult to recruit and retain, a shortage of qualified special…

Recent research demonstrates that teacher quality has a greater impact on student achievement than any other educational factor. Yet there is concern that overall teacher quality is variable, and hard-to-staff schools (i.e., high poverty and minority schools) have an even more difficult time recruiting and retaining quality teachers. The No Child…