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Introduction
While many areas in education are experiencing teacher shortages (McKnab, 1995; Merrow, 1999), the retention of special education teachers in particular is a critical concern in many schools across the nation. Even prior to the developing national teacher shortage, educators were voicing concerns about higher burnout and/or teacher attrition rates in special education as compared to general education (National Association of State Directors of Special Education, 1990). Many anticipate that the national teacher shortage may only exacerbate this growing need for special educators. McKnab (1995), for example, estimated the annual attrition rate for special education teachers as between 9% and 10%, as compared to 6% among educators in other areas. More recently, a national survey of over 1,000 special educators conducted by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) concluded: "Poor teacher working conditions contribute to the high rate of special educators leaving the field, teacher burnout, and substandard quality of education for students with special needs" (CEC, 1998). Clearly, hidden within the growing national teacher shortage in all certification areas, the ongoing burnout of special education teachers has become an important liability in the provision of appropriate educational services to students with disabilities.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the burnout/teacher retention problem in the field of special education, within the context of today's classrooms. Further we will synthesize the available information in order to suggest steps that may be undertaken to ameliorate this problem. First, a synthesis of research on teacher burnout within special education is presented. Next, several specific and malleable factors are explored more completely-teacher stress and mentoring for new teachers. Finally, suggestions for increasing retention of teachers in special education are presented.
Research has both documented higher turnover among special education teachers, and suggested a number of reasons for this phenomenon (Boe, Bobbit, Cook, Whitener, & Weber, 1997; Brownell, Smith, McNellis, & Miller, 1997; McKnab, 1995; Singh & Billingsley, 1996). Table 1 presents a synopsis of the research that has been published since 1995. Many of these studies are recent enough to reflect the evolving nature of special education instruction, such as the recent expectations for inclusive instruction, the changes in disciplinary tactics as reflected in the recently mandated behavioral intervention plans, and the ever-increasing paperwork load on...