LAWRENCE — The special education workforce in the United States has faced a persistent and worsening shortage of qualified professionals in recent years. A University of Kansas researcher has co-edited a first-of-its-kind volume designed to unify workforce recruitment, preparation, retention and leadership in special education to collectively improve outcomes for students with disabilities.
Lisa Dieker, Williamson Family Distinguished Professor in Special Education at KU, is a co-editor of “ Transforming the Special Education Workforce: Research and Complex Systems Perspectives ,” published by the American Educational Research Association. As schools across the country have faced chronic vacancies, high turnover and an increasingly unprepared workforce, the volume shares a collective strategy to address the issue.
“Addressing this crisis is critically important because special education teachers play a central role in ensuring students with disabilities receive access to high-quality instruction, inclusive learning environments and legally mandated services,” Dieker said. “When systems fail to recruit, prepare and retain qualified educators, students with disabilities experience disruptions in services, reduced instructional quality and diminished educational outcomes. This need for highly qualified and prepared teachers is not only an instructional issue but a civil rights issue tied directly to access and opportunity.”
The book was edited by Marcia Rock of the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Bonnie Billingsley of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Melinda Leko of the University of Florida and Dieker. The editors and chapter authors argue that the special education workforce crisis has not been and cannot be solved by disconnected, piecemeal strategies. Instead, it offers an analysis of the crisis and a strategy to fix it.
“Transforming the Special Education Workforce Crisis” aims to reverse the ineffective attempts to address the crisis’ contributing factors separately by pairing whole-systems thinking with implementation science and improvement science. The volume is organized into four sections to address special education workforce development.
While the book is designed for educators, education leaders and policymakers, it maintains a focus on children and youth with disabilities throughout, especially those in rural and urban settings who are most affected by teacher shortages, turnover and inadequate preparation.
“The book is intentionally written to speak to multiple audiences. Teachers will see their experiences validated through the discussion of working conditions, role complexity and burnout, while also gaining insight into how systems shape those experiences,” Dieker said. “Education leaders and policymakers will find frameworks and examples that help them redesign preparation pathways, staffing models and support structures. Importantly, the volume bridges theory and practice by illustrating how research, policy and day-to-day teaching are interconnected rather than separate silos. That dual focus makes it useful across roles.”
Dieker and Rock presented the volume and its supporting research at the AERA annual conference April 9 in Los Angeles.
The special education workforce crisis has often been framed as a problem of scarcity, or too few people entering the field and addressing it with temporary interventions. Dieker said the book shifts the focus to an integrative, full-systems approach that considers how educators are prepared, supported and how they can innovate and collaborate in the field.
“I hope education leaders walk away with two key understandings. First, that the special education workforce crisis is solvable, but only if we move beyond isolated solutions and address root causes embedded in systems, policies and conditions of work. Second, leaders play a pivotal role in creating environments where special educators can thrive,” Dieker said. “The volume offers concrete examples, tools and frameworks leaders can use to rethink staffing models, support preparation partnerships, invest in education and continuous learning and leverage innovation responsibly. The message is not simply to work harder but to work differently and design systems that sustain educators and students over time.”