Burnout and decreased levels of self-efficacy are contributors to the high attrition rate and increasing demand for highly-qualified special educators nationwide. This has led to a national shortage of special educators, which is a critical reason why current special educators are encountering high stress levels, dissatisfaction, and overall burnout in their careers. The existing literature is consistent with the notion that special education is in a state of need; there is a need for further research to define what school districts need to do to hire and retain highly qualified teachers who feel successful and satisfied working in special education. Burnout and low self-efficacy generally evolve from many contributing factors, and often the combination of these factors over time leads to burnout for special educators. This confluence of factors can result in a downward spiral ending with burnt out teachers, elevated attrition levels and a national shortage of qualified and satisfied special educators. To address the urgent need for research on burnout and self-efficacy among special educators, 105 special educators from four public school districts in Connecticut were surveyed to investigate correlations and predictive relationships between the dependent variables of emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, depersonalization and self-efficacy, and the independent variables of quantitative demands, cognitive demands, emotional demands, role conflict, quality of leadership, administrative support, coworker support, teacher stressors and, demographic/job-specific characteristics. Correlations and hierarchical regression analyses for all dependent variables were conducted. The results of the hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the variables of Teacher Stressors, Emotional Demands, Quality of Leadership and Quantitative Demands were the best set of predictors of Emotional Exhaustion in special educators. Secondly, it was found that Quantitative Demands, Quality of Leadership, Administrative Support and Coworker Support were the best set of predictors of Personal Accomplishment. A final multiple regression analysis indicated that Learning Disability, School Level, Number of Meetings with an Administrator, Emotional Demands, Role Conflict, and Quality of Leadership were the best set of predictors of Self-Efficacy among special educators. There was no hierarchical regression performed for the depersonalization variable due to low scores and low variability in the preliminary analyses. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
