The Current “State” of Special Education Is Not Sustainable…

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The Current “State” of Special Education Is Not Sustainable ~ Period, Full Stop Abstract: Special education teachers face significant challenges, both within their districts and in their daily work. Fewer educators are entering the field, and those already in it are leaving at historically high rates. This article explores the hurdles special educators encounter and highlights how Boom Learning is working to support them. One of the greatest struggles spe- cial educators face is accessing and implementing appropriate instructional materials. They need content that is differentiated, accessible, and supported by effective data collection tools—yet many districts provide limited support in these areas. Boom Learning, the creator of Boom Passport, addresses these challenges by equipping teachers with the tools they need. Boom Pass- port offers access to over 80,000 standards-based lessons spanning Pre-K through grade 22. The platform covers a wide range of subjects, including reading, writing, math, science, social studies, transition skills, and related service topics, ensuring educators have the resources to meet diverse student needs.

The issue is easy to state, easy to see, easy to speak of, but VERY hard to solve. The United States currently does not have enough qualified, well trained, and certified special education teachers. The funnel of new special educators entering the pro- fession has been on the decline since the early 2000s. As sus- pected, all available data support these facts. Solutions however vary from school to school, district to district, and state to state. What works in one area often does not apply to another—and vice versa. Let’s first examine the data and the key issues—and then explore how edtech companies like Boom Learning are working to support the special education community. KEY FACTS: We don’t have enough special education teachers enter- ing college programs or pursuing these studies. According to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and Title II Higher Education Act (HEA) reports: • The total number of college students completing special

education teacher preparation programs dropped by near- ly 20% between 2008 and 2020. • In 2008, approximately 18,000–20,000 candidates complet- ed special education prep programs. By 2020, that number had dropped to around 15,000–16,000. • Since 2012, the number of teacher preparation programs in special education has dropped significantly, contributing to ongoing national shortages (edresearchforaction.org). • Typically, around 17% of education students pursue special education licensure programs but many opting for dual licensure often end up in general education placements (1disabilityscoop.com). • In California, only about one-third of new special education hires are fully certified. Approximately two out of three en- ter the classroom with provisional credentials, underpre- pared to teach (learningpolicyinstitute.org).

JOHN STANDAL, MS/CCC-SLP, ATP brings over 30 years of experience helping organizations solve complex challenges and drive meaningful outcomes within the special education space. During these years John has consulted, presented and trained nationally and internationally on topics ranging from AAC best practices to content creation and universal design for learning. John has worked for companies throughout the years including Tobii, n2y, Presence Learning and is currently the Vice President of Growth for Boom Learning.

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PROPORTION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION DEGREES • In the early 2000s, special education degrees accounted for about 11–13% of all education-related degrees. • By 2020, that figure had fallen to around 8–10%, according to data from the NCES Digest of Special Education. Teachers are not only not entering the profession - but they are also leaving it at a historic rate. • Special Education Teacher turnover is roughly twice that of general education. Studies show that special educators leave the profession at nearly double the rate of general education teachers. In 2012, annual attrition was ~15% for special educators compared to much lower for general edu- cation teachers (edresearchforaction.org). • Special education teacher attrition is high: Multiple sources, including NCES and academic studies, report that approxi- mately 50% of special education teachers leave the profes- sion within their first five years (educationnext.org). • The annual departure rate is approximately 8.5%, with an additional 9.2% switching schools. One NCES report (2020– 21) showed 8.5% of public school teachers left the profes- sion entirely, while 9.2% transferred to different schools—a significant turnover burden for schools and districts (educa- tionnext.org). Given that fewer teachers are entering the profession - and staying in, we must ask a simple but difficult question: “Why?” • Why don’t we have enough qualified teachers in our class- rooms? • Why aren’t more students pursuing special education pro- grams in college or university? • Why aren’t we supporting and compensating special edu- cation teachers adequately, so they stay in the profession? Once in the classroom, special education teachers face nu- merous hurdles and are often not adequately prepared by the time they graduate. They are underpaid, have unhealthy levels of stress, not enough in-classroom personnel support, and often their administrators are not trained well on how to support them and their students. There are currently no college classes on “how to hire and/or manage qualified paraprofessionals” or “how to get more administrative support in my classroom.” Many classroom management skills are learned in the classroom during their first few years, leading to stress and a higher level of job dissatisfac- tion. LET’S DISCUSS THESE HURDLES IN MORE DETAIL. POOR PAY, STRESS, LACK OF SUPPORT The special education industry faces a critical teacher shortage due to high stress, insufficient pay, low prestige, and inadequate preparation and support. Current data shows that at the start of the 23-24 school year, 21% of public schools reported an inability

to be fully staffed in their special education department (edweek. org). According to the Department of Education about 8 percent of teachers who work with children, who qualify for services un- der the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), are not fully certified for their job placements (ed.gov). In the 2022-2023 school year, there were approximately 531,600 special education teachers employed in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These teachers work with students from pre- school through high school, providing specialized instruction and support. Of these, there are ~42,000 special educators work- ing that are not certified for their current placement in the United States. Special education teachers must juggle case management, multi-grade and/or multi-level student/curricula issues, increas- ing paperwork and documentation loads, family meetings and knowledge of local, state and federal compliance laws. These added job responsibilities, lack of support and low pay lead to the “burnout” numbers and stress discussed above. LACK OF TIME, LACK OF RESPECT Special education teachers find themselves dealing with time constraints (limited prep time, not enough“in classroom”support/ guidance) and having to learn many skills during their first few years in the classroom. They are also asked to teach with little or no formal or district-adopted instructional materials. Often, they are creating or modifying their materials on nights and weekends to meet the needs of their students. The lack of materials and lack of time put special education teachers into a vicious circle. Besides the lack of time, special education teachers often must deal with social and perceptual stigmas that can include that they have an “easier job”, lighter workloads, more classroom support and less oversight by building and/or district administrators. These perceptions are often false, and in fact, often the opposite is true. Often special education teachers find themselves with very limited time to complete their work while in their school building and find themselves working extra hours on nights and weekends. “Nearly 9 in 10 teachers said they work more than the standard 40 hours each week, compared with less than half of all working adults.” (Edweek Publication). Therefore, from a pure financial and instructional support standpoint these teachers often find themselves struggling with time management and professional isolation, and their adminis- trators’ hands are often tied due to diminishing budgets or a pure lack of supplementing additional educators or paraprofessionals. Some simple solutions to address the lack of time and lack of re- spect are; Improving Lack of Time Reduce Administrative Burden (Boom Learning is a great solu- tion and will be discussed later in this article • Streamline IEP paperwork with better digital tools and tem- plates

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• Consider IEP writing days built into the calendar (already implemented in some districts). Smarter Scheduling • Allocate protected time during the school day for case management duties. • Ensure reasonable caseloads aligned with state and federal guidelines. • Coordinate with general ed teachers to reduce overlapping responsibilities. Use or acquisition of Paraprofessionals • Assign and train paraeducators to handle routine or non-in- structional tasks. • Empower paraeducators to provide academic support un- der the teacher's guidance. Technology Integration (Boom Learning is a great solution and will be discussed later in this article). • Use apps or software to track progress and share updates with parents and staff efficiently. • Automate data collection with tools that reduce redundan- cy. Improving Lack of Professional Respect Professional Development (PD) for All Staff (Boom Training Academy can support districts with PD as we will discuss later in this article) • Require schoolwide PD on inclusion, equity, and the role of special educators. • Train general ed teachers on collaborative teaching mod- els (co-teaching, push-in support). Cultural Change in Schools • Recognize and celebrate special ed achievements publicly. • Include special ed teachers in decision-making bodies, leadership teams, and committees. • Use peer mentoring programs to build relationships be- tween general and special ed staff. Administrative Support (Boom Training Academy can support districts with PD) • Train administrators to advocate for and support special ed staff explicitly. • Encourage principals to defend teacher planning time and set norms for interdepartmental respect. Visibility and Advocacy • Create opportunities for special ed teachers to present at staff meetings, parent nights, or PD days. • Encourage community engagement to raise awareness about the scope and impact of special education work. LACK OF STANDARD-BASED MATERIALS OR CURRICULUM Special education teachers face several challenges in finding and using appropriate content and lessons for their students, in- cluding adapting materials to different learning styles and needs, ensuring accessibility, and staying current with best practices.

Educators face specific challenges that also include time con- straints, limited resources (including data tools), lack of multidis- ciplinary support for implementation and training, and navigat- ing complex Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and laws. These teachers have a constant need to adapt their content to meet their students’ diverse needs, addressing accessibility requirements, inclusion barriers, limited resources, evolving best practices, curriculum implementation challenges, and ongoing social and professional stigmas. Special education teachers are constantly having to mod- ify current content to meet the needs of the students in their classrooms. To accomplish this, they often take general educa- tion content and make modifications to these materials to help their students learn. Very often accessibility in the form of visual, auditory and motor access are not addressed, and skill and/or age-appropriate considerations are not applied either. Often the materials lack accessibility and are just not age respectful, forc- ing teachers to use immature content for older students. Teach- ers are not adhering to best practices, which again adds to their stress and can increase negative student behaviors. It has been noted that often special education teachers are us- ing old, outdated and uninspiring content purely because there is nothing available, and current publishers are not updating their content. Special Education Publishers have been trying to address the lack of K-12 content for students with special needs, but because these students often need their content modified or accommodations put in place many of these available solutions still fall short. LACK OF FUNDING = “DO MORE WITH LESS MONEY” Every State and Local Education Agency (LEA) is expected to identify more students with special needs and support them with less money. While the prevailing view is that increased fund- ing generally improves student outcomes, schools can imple- ment strategies to "do more with less" by focusing on targeted interventions, leveraging technology and optimizing resource allocation. These strategies aim to enhance efficiency and effec- tiveness within existing budgets, rather than relying solely on in- creased funding (www.aft.org). • IDEA funding remains below requirement: The federal gov- ernment still funds only about 15% of special education costs, far short of the 40% IDEA target, forcing states and districts to cover the rest (forbes.com). • Rising local burden: Districts now shell out up to 25% of their general budgets on special education due to growing student numbers and costly services. • Special education enrollment is increasing at an accelerat- ed rate: nearly 8 million students, with upwards of 1 million new enrollees expected between 2021 and 2025 (k12dive. com). • Per-pupil special education costs are roughly double those of general education, straining local budgets. Districts of-

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ten absorb the excess, sometimes up to 25% of total local K–12 spending (forbes.com). The fact that there has been an increase in student identifica- tion increase while a continued decrease in funding is paradoxi- cal. In short – do more with less. This is not a formula for success in the special education community – this is the polar opposite and sets up students and teachers for frustration and failure. LET’S LOOK AT A SOLUTION ~ BOOM PASSPORT BOOM LEARNING – NOT ONLY AN ACADEMIC SOLUTION BUT A TRUE EDUCATIONAL PARTNER Mary and Eric Oemig invented Boom Cards to help students who needed extra support or were behind with some skills. Little did they know when they founded the company in 2012 that by 2025, they would have more than 1 million educators utilizing their platform and 12 million students that have interacted with Boom Cards more than 3 billion times. Boom Cards have turned out to be exceptional for all learners, especially those needing extra supports and powerful for educators and therapists. From the start of Boom Learning through COVID, Boom Learn- ing’s focus was to support individual teachers and their class- rooms through Boom Cards, and they have demonstrated amaz- ing results with over 1.2 million teachers relying on the platform. In 2023 Mary and Eric wanted to support entire schools and school districts and thus developed Boom Passport, a collection

of curated content that provides special education teachers with access to tens of thousands of standard-based, differentiated and data driven lessons and activities. “Boom Learning truly understands the hurdles that individual teachers and school districts are struggling with right now. Our mission is to support our district partners with quality content and industry leading technology and training tools”, said John Standal, Vice President of Growth. “Start Teaching, Stop Searching” - Boom Passport was de- veloped to support the needs of special education classroom teachers and address many of these instructional, school and/ or district level issues. Boom Passport teachers can access over 80,000 standard-based lessons covering Pre-K-Transition exten- sion activities addressing: reading, writing, math, science, social studies, transitional and related service topics. Passport also of- fers teachers the ability to simply modify or differentiate lessons and assign them to individual students, small groups or entire classrooms to build student agency. Boom Passport gives the ed- ucator tools to collect benchmark and ongoing student data to check/modify their instructional trajectory and/or track student growth or regression. Often teachers find themselves recreating or searching for les- sons or activities that are already available. They find themselves spending their time and money to create individualized lessons for their students. This is not an effective use of their time, and this is why Boom Learning created Boom Passport. Boom Pass- port includes; • 80,000+ lessons and resources for self-contained through re- source level students • Pre-K – Transition extension activities that are age and grade-level specific • Ability to differentiate lessons to meet students at their cog- nitive level • Age respectful – age-appropriate graphics or reading levels for secondary students • Ability to assign lessons to individual, small group or classes with data collection • Ability to export data for IEP goals • Device agnostic – use Boom Passport with ANY web-based device • Print based lessons – ALL lessons can be printed off for in- struction • Classroom based licensing for $299 per teacher

Image 1: Boom Passport offers over 80,000 lessons/activities

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Image 2: Boom Passport Library – search and teach!

BOOM STUDIO With Boom Passport all educators have access to Boom Studio, a creation tool that allows educators to build their own instruc- tional content for their classroom or district needs. Boom Studio lets educators create custom, interactive materials, and then they can be filed in the school district library for other teachers to use. • Create your vision. Boom Learning has been a leader in providing educators the ability to create individualized les- sons and materials since its inception. Lessons can be creat- ed, and usually the only limitation is the lack of the educa- tor’s creativity. With Boom Studio an educator is free to build and modify their lessons to meet each student’s individual needs. • Share content. Often teachers build powerful and useful content or lessons and use them in isolation in their class- rooms, but other teachers within their school or district can- not access them or are unaware of them. With the ability to “share content” any Boom Passport subscriber within that district’s account can be given access to other teachers’ con- tent.

• Personalize your instruction . With Boom Studio a teacher can upload any image for their class or individual student to truly customize or differentiate their instruction. Very often our students need very concrete representations of their world. With the ability to upload symbols, images or graph- ics, an educator can customize a student’s lessons to meet their specific student’s objectives. • Learning is for ALL. Students often need their content to be accessible to address their motor, auditory or visual needs. Making lessons (decks) accessible is easy with Boom Studio: imagine your students’ needs, use the Boom Studio tools to build the content and apply the accessibility frameworks you need to meet that student needs. Educators can prede- termine alt-text and then upload their own images, sounds and fonts. • Collaborate with colleagues! With Studio every educator has the ability to add another colleague within the Boom Passport licenses to utilize lessons or decks they have built. This allows for a true multidisciplinary approach for educa- tors, support and/or related services staff.

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Image 3: Boom Learning’s Creation Tool – Boom Studio

Image 3A: Creating with Boom Studio is easy!

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DATA DRIVEN INSTRUCTION As discussed previously, meaningful instructional data that provides educators with actionable outcomes has been an issue within the special education industry. With Boom Passport, stu- dent data can be automatically or manually input to capture stu- dent growth or regression. The data tools within Boom Passport simplify the educator’s job of collecting meaningful and useable IEP data. Reports come with visualizations, and the data can be easily exported to support a multidisciplinary team’s decision making and student placement. An educator can view not only longitudinal data sets but also response times and patterning to capture error patterning and response time. An educator can see every student, group or classroom data set to see; • at a glance who has completed a lesson • how often a student has played a deck • if a student's accuracy percentage improved across all plays • if a student improved on subsequent attempts • how quickly students answer and how they are spending their time • how many of the cards in a deck have been mastered (gems earned

BOOM TRAINING ACADEMY (BTA)

Assimilating new materials in the classroom is often daunting, and without support from the publishers many schools or dis- tricts struggle during the first year of implementation. The hurdles special educators have with lack of quality con- tent are not the only hurdles they face with their daily instruction. They also deal with lack of implementation support from the dis- trict and publishing company. Districts often ask these teachers

Image 4: Boom Passport allows teacher to track longitudinal data

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to explore, learn and implement these materials with little to no support. Curriculum implementation often fails without admin- istrative guidance and support. In a report from ED Reports and RAND (2021-2023) it was found that over 60% of US school districts reported challenges with professional development and support when implement- ing new materials (https://edreports.org). With this high percent- age of challenge, it is not surprising to see offerings fail or just be abandon early in the adoption process. That’s why Boom Learning is in the process of developing Boom Training Academy, a comprehensive training program de- signed to fully support current and new teachers adopting Boom Cards and Boom Passport with online and in person training modules. Stefanie Claros, the Boom Training Academy Manager, says, “No matter where an educator or district is in the adoption process, our goal is to provide targeted, practical support. Prod- uct training is only the beginning. Our goal is to partner with educators to build confidence and consistency because true suc- cess comes from shared investment and ongoing. BOOM LEARNING SUPPORTS COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS Waiting to address the issue that new teachers do not get enough exposure or training with quality content, Boom Learn- ing works closely with university programs across the US. Boom Learning believes in supporting students studying to become special education teachers by offering their professors the abil- ity to provide them free access to a Boom Cards account during their university training. This offering is designed to allow special educator candidates to learn and explore curricula designed to meet the needs of K-Transition level students and their cognitive, social and/or academic needs. To get more information about this offering, follow this link (Boom Learning University Sign Up). This free program allows professors and students to explore grade-level, differentiated and age-appropriate content offered in Boom Passport to give students exposure and instructional training. IN SUMMARY As stated from the start of this article,“the issue is easy to state, easy to see, easy to speak of, but VERY hard to solve”. The solution to this academic crisis is not easy. The United States educational community is educating/training fewer special education teach- ers, there is an increase in identification of students with special needs, lack of federal and LEA funding, lack of educator pay, lack of quality administrative support and a lack of quality and in- structional tools within the schools and classrooms. Boom Learn- ing is attempting to support educators, administrators and relat- ed service professionals with quality content, data tools, training and implementation support, but in isolation it is an uphill climb. In an effort to bring these deficits to light, below are possible solutions that could be (or should be) addressed and/or imple-

mented at the Federal or LEA level, but as stated previously there is not a“one size fits all solution”to this educational crisis. Districts need to analyze where and what their hurdles are and to work on minimizing their impact to support their educators and students. SYSTEMIC FUNDING REFORMS Increased Federal IDEA Funding o Fully fund the federal commitment to cover 40% of spe- cial education costs (currently closer to ~13%). State-Level Investment Incentives o tates must create funding formulas that adjust for rising student needs, including mental health and neurodiver- gent profiles. Outcome-Based Grant Programs o Tie funding to measurable improvements in inclusion, outcomes, and staffing retention. Predictable, Multi-Year Funding o Schools need predictable funding cycles for long-term planning, staffing, and programs. TEACHER WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Teacher Recruitment Incentives o Scholarships, loan forgiveness, and housing assistance for special education teachers. Retention Programs o Mentorship, support staff (e.g., aides, paraprofessionals), and mental health resources for special educators. Alternative Certification Paths o Fast-track, high-quality licensure programs for career changers and paraprofessionals. SERVICE DELIVERY MODERNIZATION Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) o Implement strong general education interventions to re- duce over-identification. Expanded Early Intervention Services o Invest in birth-to-5 services to address learning needs early and reduce later cost-intensive placements. Teletherapy and Hybrid Support Models o Leverage online services to reach underserved and rural populations.. DATA & ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS Unified State-Level Data Systems o Track student needs, identification trends, and funding gaps across districts. Root Cause Analysis Tools o Identify why identification is increasing: academic gaps, trauma, language barriers, etc. Transparent Budget Reporting o Ensure clarity on how much is spent on special education and where gaps persist.

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LEGAL & EQUITY FRAMEWORKS Reevaluate Eligibility and Classification Criteria o Ensure culturally and linguistically fair assessments that avoid over-identifying marginalized students. Equitable Access to General Education Curricula o Fund supports that allow more inclusive education and reduce costly segregated placements. Advocate for Legal Reform and Flexibility o Update IDEA and related laws to reflect modern service models, especially for students with overlapping needs (e.g., trauma, EL status).

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