The impact of certification status on the administrative support needs of novice special education teachers

There is a severe and longstanding shortage of special education teachers in the nation. A survey study of novice special educators was implemented to look at certain variables that emerged in the literature as relevant to the special educator shortage: teacher certification, years of experience, and administrative support.; The Administrative Support Survey was developed by consulting with professionals, reading the literature, and conducting focus groups. The final version included demographic items, closed-ended survey items, and open-ended queries. Primary analyses were conducted to answer research questions having to do with the impact of certification status on perceptions about administrative support. Another question was answered by comparing respondents' ratings about their administrative support expectations with their ratings of the support they felt they received. Ancillary analyses were conducted to determine if external or demographic variables would have any bearing on perceptions about administrative support.; Four mailings of the survey resulted in a response rate of at least 39%. Score comparisons around certification did not reveal significant effects. It was found, however, that the support the teachers expected from their administrators exceeded the support that they perceived they received from them. Ancillary analyses showed that the teachers' perceptions about administrative support were not impacted by teaching status, teaching assignment, career status, delivery model, type of school, community, or title of administrator. A significant outcome resulted from the career plan query, in that teachers who planned to return to their positions perceived their administrators as providing more support than teachers who either were planning not to return or who had not decided about returning. Most of the respondents completing the survey answered at least one of the open-ended questions. A qualitative analysis of their comments resulted in themes consistent with the support areas addressed by the survey with emotional support and management of the workplace environment emerging as the two most appreciated types of administrative support.