The Loss of Special Education Teachers
Where did all the special education teachers go? Special education teachers who study and address the unique differences in students are really a part of the whole learning puzzle—necessary to a student’s future success. But alas, special education teachers are falling by the wayside.
In Hawaii they have special education teacher shortages that mirror the rest of the country. Parents like Jay Handlin rightly bemoan the difficulty students have in general classrooms when they don’t get the special assistance they need from a support teacher.
Handlin’s daughter has Down syndrome, and upon moving to Hawaii and entering a middle school, she struggled due to a lacking support system. She went on to study photography at the California Institute of the Arts, but she is lucky she had help from home. Her school sure didn’t come through for her at a critical point in time.
Many parents find themselves in the same situation as Handlin. They have students The Loss of Special Education Teachers:
