U.S. schools have long experienced shortages of special education teachers (SETs), challenging the nation’s capacity to ensure qualified SETs for students eligible for special education services. Addressing SET shortages requires preparation programs supply sufficient numbers of new SETs to meet demand, yet prior research provides few insights into trends in the supply of new SETs. Thus, we examined how the supply of new SETs changed over time in relation to the characteristics of teacher preparation programs. We find decreasing supply of new SETs nationally, primarily driven by reduced supply of new SETs from small colleges. Results suggest the current SET shortage may be connected, in previously undocumented ways, to the broader decline of small- and mid-sized colleges. Finally, findings indicate the nation may be far more dependent on for-profit institutions for supplying new SETs, which has implications for the production of SETs by alternative certification and traditional teacher preparation programs.

中文翻译：

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检查新特殊教育工作者的供应：机构特征和营利性状况的差异


美国学校长期以来一直面临特殊教育教师 (SET) 的短缺，这对国家确保有资格获得特殊教育服务的学生拥有合格的 SET 的能力提出了挑战。解决 SET 短缺问题需要准备计划提供足够数量的新 SET 来满足需求，但先前的研究对新 SET 供应趋势的了解很少。因此，我们研究了新的 SET 的供应量如何随着时间的推移而变化，并与教师培训项目的特征相关。我们发现全国范围内新 SET 的供应量正在减少，这主要是由于小型学院新 SET 供应量的减少所致。结果表明，当前的 SET 短缺可能以以前未记录的方式与中小型大学的更广泛衰退有关。最后，调查结果表明，国家可能更加依赖营利性机构来提供新的 SET，这对通过替代认证和传统教师培训计划生产 SET 产生影响。