‘We Did the Best We Could’: Special Education Teachers' COVID Successes and Setbacks
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Presenter : Josh Tolbert, Ed.D.
Abstract
The recent pandemic arguably exacerbated existing concerns in K-12 education, including adequate service provision for students with individualized education programs (IEP) and the work performed by special education teachers. Brunsting et al. (2021) asserted that special education teachers (SETs) may be at higher risk for burnout, partly due to role-specific job demands that include extensive paperwork and greater planning or collaboration expectations than general education teachers. The frustration from special education teachers who were not able to provide support in the typical fashion during COVID has been palpable, and Pressley (2021) claimed that the pandemic heightened the existing risk of burnout for SETs.
The current study employed one-on-one interviews with SETs and broadly sought to document their experiences through questions focused on the shape of special education’s guiding principles of Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the context of COVID. Initial findings have indicated there was greater priority given to day-to-day responsibilities and procedural compliance, with far less reflection on how COVID affected larger policies and practices in the field. As SETs understandably worked to endure the pandemic and meet immediate needs of students, their perceptions of FAPE and LRE, and their larger vision of the field appear to have changed very little during this unprecedented crisis. Implications for engaging SETs and educational leaders with pathways to prepare for future challenges specific to the field, and to meet the social and academic needs of students with disabilities, will be discussed in light of these findings.
Biographical Statement
Josh Tolbert is an Associate Professor of Special Education at Indiana University East, having served since 2015. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses covering special education methods, assessment, education in a social context, and the characteristics of specific learning disabilities. Notable service activities have included contributing to LGBTQ+ programs at Indiana University East, serving as Treasurer of the Indiana chapter of the Learning Disabilities Association, and contributing to the Advanced Standards Workgroup of the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Tolbert’s prior research focused primarily on Spanish vocabulary acquisition strategies for students with specific learning disabilities and on examining the multicultural perspectives of pre-service teachers. More recent research projects have been directly related to COVID-19, including efforts to better understand educator burnout and to directly document the experiences of special education teachers in the context of the pandemic.