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Using positive behavior supports in EBD settings.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This paper highlights a collaborative partnership to build the capacity of special education classroom teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) to use positive behavioral supports (PBS). This yearlong effort consisted of teacher training, classroom observations, and on-site support. For university faculty, specific gaps in the provision of PBS to students with EBD were identified. For classroom educators, knowledge of best practice in the design and implementation of behavior supports with the most challenging of students was enhanced.

Introduction

The shortage of highly qualified teachers in special education has reached crisis proportions (Conroy, 2003; SPeNSE, 2002; U.S. Department of Education, 1991-2001). With special education administrators consistently citing the shortage of qualified applicants as the largest obstacle to filling special education vacancies (SPeNSE), appropriate service delivery for children with special needs has become a major concern. One group likely to be negatively impacted by the shortage of qualified special education teachers are those students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education (2002) reported that in comparison to other special education categories, "positions for teachers of students with emotional disturbance seem particularly difficult to fill, and the teachers in those positions, as a group, are less well prepared than their colleagues" (p. 12). Furthermore, SPeNSE cited teachers in programs predominately serving these students as reporting the lowest levels of intent to stay_ in their current classroom settings compared to all other special education personnel. Thus, efforts to both recruit and retain highly qualified special education personnel are especially critical to providing appropriate services to students with EBD.

Adding to the problem of adequately serving students with emotional disturbance is the fact that many states have adopted non-categorical teacher certification in the area of special education. An outcome of this approach is that special education teachers may receive generic training in their preparation programs in order to work with the most likely populations of students with special needs, that is, students with learning disabilities. Thus, in states where certification specific to disability category is not required, service to students with EBD may be delivered by teachers who have little to no specific preparation in areas critical to serving this unique population (Katsiyannis, Landrum, Bullock, & Vinton, 1997). Therefore, even when qualified applicants are hired to fill vacancies, local districts are left to assume the responsibility of providing in-service training to adequately prepare their special education personnel in areas not sufficiently covered within teacher preparation programs.

One avenue to address issues of insufficient teacher preparation and teacher retention in special education has been to provide targeted training through the use of ongoing professional development. Gersten, Keating,...

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