Are There Career Opportunities for Ph.D.’s in
Special Education?
YES!
Education
Faculty Positions Are Usually Available Each Year.
Teacher education programs across the country have substantial difficulty
filling faculty vacancies due to increased student enrollment and faculty
retirement. Twombly et al. (2006) found that approximately 35 percent of
all teacher education positions remain consistently unfilled. In addition,
the total number of unfilled positions in teacher education continues to
grow from 25 percent in 1998 to 36 percent in 2006 (Twombly). Of the 6,124
doctorate degrees granted in the field of education in 2006, only a third
directly concentrated on education research or teacher education (i.e.,
higher education), whereas the majority concentrated on educational
administration (National Opinion Research Center; NORC, 2006).
Special Education Faculty Are Especially in Demand. Special
education programs are in even greater need of new faculty, as the
proportion of special education positions among the available teacher
education jobs is even higher (Twombly et al., 2006). More specifically,
Reyes, 2002 found that up to 50 percent of searches in special education
were unable to fill faculty positions. Eighty-four percent of all IHE
teacher education positions require an earned doctorate; however, according
to the Survey of Earned Doctorates the pool of individuals with earned
doctorates in special education is simply not large enough to fill the
vacancies (NORC, 2006). For example, in 2006, 257 special education
positions were advertised. Although 259 doctorates in special education
were granted that year, only 105 were seeking higher education faculty
positions, which left more than half the available positions unfilled (NORC,
2006). In addition to the overall need for individuals with earned
doctorates to fill special education faculty positions, there is a
particular need to increase the number of minority doctoral students to fill
faculty positions. The majority of special education faculty members are
Caucasian. (i.e., over 70 percent, Wolf-Wendel et al., 2006). This is
unlikely to change as 83 percent of special education doctoral recipients in
2005 were also Caucasian (Washburn-Moses, 2007).
The Need for More Teachers Creates the Need for More Faculty.
Rising numbers of
students in need of special education services leads directly to the need
for more special educators to teach these students. Cook and Boe (2007)
found that the demand for special education teachers has steadily grown at a
higher rate than general education teachers over a 12 year period
(1988-2000). General education positions grew at a 26% rate while special
education positions grew at a 38% rate. In addition, Cook and Boe also
found that the majority of special education teacher positions are filled by
newly-graduated first-time teachers (i.e., from undergraduate teacher
education programs) and that there has been higher enrollment in special
education teacher education programs in the last 12 years. The need for
more special education teachers leads directly to the need for more teacher
educators.
Not only is there a need for sheer numbers of special educators to fill
PK-12 positions, there is perhaps an even greater need for high quality
teacher preparation. Despite rising numbers of special education positions,
Cook and Boe’s data suggest that the supply of first-time special educators
will meet the demand. However, there is still a marked need for
improvements in the quality of teacher preparation. Specifically, Cook and Boe (2007) found that only 46% of first year special education teachers had
completed “extensive teacher preparation specifically with degree majors in
special education” (p. 227). These data suggest that nearly half of all
first-year special education teachers may be unprepared to structure
instruction in a way that works for students with disabilities. It is
likely the 46% of special education teachers without degree majors are
individuals who were hired to fill critical needs positions although their
undergraduate training did not directly relate to special education. In
order to keep a teaching position, individuals who transfer from other
fields will need to fulfill special education licensure requirements offered
through university programs. More special education faculty are
clearly needed to provide high quality teacher education to fill PK-12
teacher vacancies with highly qualified individuals.
UNC Charlotte’s Response to the Need for More Doctoral Graduates to Fill
Faculty Positions. UNC Charlotte has established a relatively
large program and plans to continue to maintain this in order to fill the
urgent and increasing need for more doctoral graduates to fill faculty and
school leadership vacancies. At the program’s inception, the proposed
capacity was 20-26 students with the goal of graduating at least 5 students
per year. We have met and exceeded this goal for the past decade. At UNC
Charlotte, doctoral students learn how to prepare highly qualified teachers
through applications of evidence-based practice. UNC Charlotte has become a
nationally recognized institution of higher education. Since the inception
of the Special Education Ph.D. program in 2000, UNC Charlotte has been
designated a Doctoral/Research Intensive University by the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This classification is the
foundation’s second highest classification. In addition, UNC Charlotte’s
College of Education programs are nationally recognized and accredited. In
particular, the university’s special education graduate programs have been
nationally recognized for high quality graduate level education. In 2007,
UNC Charlotte’s special education graduate programs were ranked 8th
in a report of the best graduate programs for special education in the
country by U.S. News and World Report. Our alumni are now special
education faculty in universities in several states and across North
Carolina.
For full references or permission to reproduce the above material, contact
dbrowder@uncc.edu.
Career
Opportunities
