08.16.05

$780,000 grant to address training and shortage of teachers for students with emotional disturbance

By Mike Frontiero
VCU School of Education
Aug. 16, 2005

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $780,000 grant to the VCU School of Education to address the shortage of teachers for students with emotional disturbance (ED) by encouraging them to pursue an advanced degree.

The four-year grant will help pay tuition for 34 teachers who pursue a master’s degree in emotional disturbance. Qualified teachers must currently teach students with emotional disturbance in Richmond, Chesterfield County, Hanover County, or Henrico County public schools.

“There is a critical shortage of licensed teachers for students with emotional disturbance, which is underscored by the ‘highly qualified’ provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act,” said project director Kevin S. Sutherland, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of VCU’s Problem Behavior Research Center. “It’s a very challenging job, especially for teachers who don’t have special training.”

A 1999 study found nearly half of the teachers of students with emotional disturbance surveyed would leave their current position if another teaching position were offered. These teachers may be more likely to leave because of high stress levels and job dissatisfaction.

Students with emotional disturbance ultimately suffer from these high teacher attrition rates. By failing to attract and retain qualified teachers, school districts are forced to hire unqualified teachers.

Sutherland and the project coordinator, DiAnne Garner, are currently recruiting teachers, especially minorities and people with disabilities, for the four-year program which will ultimately help project trainees provide educational services to about 350 students annually.

Twenty-seven percent of teachers in the Richmond metropolitan area are not licensed to teach students with emotional disorders. And the area is one of two regions in the state that will have the greatest number of teacher shortages in the next five years, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

Students with emotional disturbance struggle academically, often exhibit problem behaviors in the classroom, and have difficulty getting along with others. They have the lowest grade point average and the highest dropout rate, of all students with disabilities. Few who graduate from high school complete any form of postsecondary education, and their rates of employment range from 25 to 52 percent. About five percent of the nation’s student population is considered to have emotional disturbance.

“If teachers are trained to assess students’ progress individually and systematically, they’ll be better able to keep them engaged and limit classroom behavioral problems,” said Sutherland.

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  Mike Frontiero
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  mdfronti@vcu.edu
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