A National Assessment of Staff Development Needs Related to the Education of Students with Disabilities

Focus on Exceptional Children, Apr 2003 by Meyen, Edward L, Ramp, Eugene, Harrod, Cheryl A, Bui, Yvonne N

Among the many factors that contribute to staff development needs for experienced teachers are IDEA compliance, curriculum standards, faculty turnover, high-stakes testing, and increased expectations among policymakers and school patrons. As teachers pursue personalized staff development plans, they seek opportunities to enhance their skills and expand their knowledge. Typically, if they are engaged in a graduate-degree program, they are likely to depend on their home institution of higher education (IHE) as the source for their professional growth experiences. If they are not pursuing a degree program, they may look to their employer to provide staff development opportunities or, on their own, seek opportunities that best fit their needs and aspirations.

With the emergence of the Internet access to professional development opportunities is increasing at an unprecedented rate. Offerings by IHEs on the Internet are increasing, professional associations are developing web sites to offer staff development, and e-learning in the commercial sector is evolving as a source for staff development. Thus, the Internet has dramatically changed the potential for accessing staff development anytime, anywhere.

The need for staff development among teachers to fully implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is exacerbated by the growing shortage of trained personnel and the tendency for states to allow emergency waivers for noncertified teachers to enter the field when the supply of certified teachers does not meet the demand. In particular, educators trained to work with students with disabilities continue to be in short supply (Brownell & Smith, 1993, Brownell, Smith, McNellis, & Miller, 1997); Lauritzen & Freidman, 1993), a shortage that is expected to become even more acute in coming years, for several reasons.

First, the public school population, ages 5 through 13, rose to approximately 38.5 million in 1998 and continues to increase. Further, the U.S. Department of Education projects the need for an additional 2 million teachers over the next decade as veteran teachers (i.e., the baby boom generation) retire. This critical personnel shortage is particularly significant when considering the chronic shortage of special education teachers over the past decade.For example, the Twentieth Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1998) reports that from 1987-88 to 1995-96, shortages for teaching positions nationally for students aged 6-21 with disabilities have averaged about 27,000 fully certified teachers per year. The training of new teachers is inadequate to meet projected personnel needs. This means that large numbers of teachers will enter the profession with significant staff development needs.

The logic for employing online technologies as a major option for delivering staff development evolves from the context surrounding the national need for staff development by teachers. This need has grown as a consequence of legislation such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Without a systematic approach to staff development nationally, practicing teachers are unlikely to be prepared to meet the emerging expectations for students with exceptional learning needs. Online technologies provide the capacity to enhance the efforts of states and districts in addressing these needs. The staff-development needs of teachers related to improving performance outcomes for students with exceptional learning requires a major investment in creating staff development initiatives that can be taken to scale. Online technologies offer that potential.

FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Features of online staff development that illustrate what makes online staff development available as options are:

* 24/7 access

* National dissemination

* Content experts involved in development

* Rapid response time

* Revision capabilities

* Accountability

Clearly, the ability to go to scale national distribution and 24/7 access are important features, as they help to ensure that teachers will have access to the opportunity for professional development at times that are most convenient to them. Because all content must be in final form when posting to online technologies, especially those of an asynchronous nature, the content can be reviewed, and juried if necessary. This adds a measure of accountability that is not as easily achieved in other forms of staff development. Once revised, the changes can be made available nationally, which quickly adds to the strength of this option for staff development.

Some advantages of online staff development that contribute to this model for delivering staff development warrant special consideration when making decisions regarding the use of online technologies for staff development. Advantages of the self-paced nature of online staff development cannot be overestimated. Teachers maintain busy professional schedules and usually have significant demands on their time. This complicates the probability that their schedules will match a rigid schedule for participating in staff development.