Teacher Qualifications
Teacher qualifications have received less attention in the special
education attrition literature than any other area. Most of
the special education attrition studies include relatively easyto-obtain
measures that are sometimes assumed to be basic
indices of quality (e.g., certification status, degrees earned,
performance on tests, experience). Because it is difficult to find
consensus on what teacher “quality” means (Blanton et al.,
2002), the selection of any measure will likely be controversial.
Variables such as the nature of preservice experiences, student
teaching, and teacher skill or efficacy have rarely been addressed
in special education attrition reports.