Three Buckets and Eight Strategies: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining a Racially Diverse Special Education Teacher Workforce

Abstract

Cultivating a racially diverse special education teacher workforce is critical to the success of students with disabilities, particularly students of color with disabilities. We examine the literature and provide suggestions for recruiting, supporting, and retaining special education teacher candidates of color. Specifically, we present a vignette that highlights the decision-making process of a Black male on a journey to become a special education teacher. We propose recruitment strategies (e.g., anti-racist mission and vision statements), support strategies (e.g., racial affinity groups), and retention strategies (e.g., adopting anti-racist curriculum) that Institutions of Higher Education must consider to promote efforts to diversify the special education teacher workforce.