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Four years of study by the organization found that job prospects and job security for special education doctorates remain high and stable. But despite the economy and the outlook for jobs in other fields, the demand for special education faculty continues to outstrip the supply. Aside from training new special education teachers, special education faculty conduct the kind of research that informs instruction, so the lack of faculty is a double whammy, the study found. in addition, the training of special education teachers is becoming more complex. Some programs now include instruction about multitiered interventions, such as response to intervention; differentiated instruction; and universal design for learning.

One theme that resonated with me was discussing the knowledge and skill sets needed for teachers beginning to explore their leadership potential. While many schools and districts offer new teacher mentoring programs, there is a lack of formal programs or supports for emerging teacher leaders.

Effective teachers develop a range of knowledge and skills from managing a classroom community and helping students learn. But beyond the competence of subject matter knowledge, teachers may also develop skillsets in pedagogy and other areas.

teacher leaders need to work collaboratively with administration in order for teacher leadership to be the norm throughout a school.

A new analysis of federal data suggests that minority teacher shortages are caused not by a lack of minority candidates entering the profession but by unsatisfactory working conditions in schools.

minority teachers, who are more likely to work in hard-to-staff urban schools, tend to leave their jobs at a much higher rate than their white counterparts, creating a "revolving door" effect.

ngersoll and May find that minority teachers' decisions to leave a school are most often related to dissatisfaction with their working conditions—particularly with "the level of collective faculty decision-making influence in the school and the degree of instructional autonomy held by teachers in their classroom." In other words, these teachers often feel a lack of professional control and independence.