ERIC Number: EJ1471935
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jun
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-8756-8705
EISSN: EISSN-2168-8605
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Supporting Rural Special Educators Working toward Licensure: Creation of Virtual Professional Development
Rural Special Education Quarterly, v44 n2 p66-75 2025
The article describes a promising new, fully virtual, multicomponent professional development intervention to support special education teachers in rural U.S. schools who enter the profession without full state licensure. The intervention seeks to strengthen special educators' self-efficacy in relation to classroom and behavior management, and their desire to stay in the profession, by focusing on three specific special education high-leverage practices. The iterative design and development process was completed over three school years with diverse stakeholders, culminating in a feasibility trial and demonstration of the intervention's promise of effectiveness. The 6-month intervention, which includes virtual coaching and an online community of practice, and is accompanied by a website for resources, is designed to reduce attrition among rural special educators who are not fully licensed, increase their skills, and ultimately result in higher engagement for the students with disabilities who they serve.
Descriptors: Rural Education, Rural Schools, Special Education, Special Education Teachers, Teacher Certification, Electronic Learning, Faculty Development, Coaching (Performance), Online Courses, Communities of Practice, Web Sites, Teaching Skills, Skill Development, Educational Resources, Program Implementation, Program Effectiveness
SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R324A200038
Department of Education Funded: Yes
Author Affiliations: 1University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; 2University of Florida, Gainesville, USA