The Special-Education Teacher Shortage

Bridging the gap between students' needs and qualified educators Students with special needs had a particularly challenging time over the past year. Yet, the unfortunate reality is that special education already was in a crisis before COVID-19 hit. An estimated 100,000 full-time licensed teachers were needed to properly staff schools prior to the pandemic. That figure is likely higher now. Student achievement suffers when schools rely on people who are not trained in special education to fill in those gaps.