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Demand for �special ed� teachers grows Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Monika Katchka is enthusiastic when teaching special education students, including Lindsay King, 17, a junior at Grants Pass High School. Katchka and King are working on basic math problems on a Macintosh computer. Challenging field means helping kids deal with disabilities By Sara Murphy Thinking back 20 years, Monika Katchka never thought she�d be standing in front of a blackboard teaching special education students about solar energy. Now, after a 22-year career in retail, the classroom is exactly where Katchka wants to be � and she is exactly what special education is looking for. Faced with a growing demand for qualified teachers, groups that specialize in services for students with disabilities are actively recruiting people to the "special ed" profession. The focus is on "midcareer adults" �people who, like 42-year-old Katchka, are looking for a change. "It�s so rewarding and exciting to be with the kids," says Katchka, a Southern Oregon University education student and student teacher in Grants Pass. "The ones who need it most, that�s where I want to be the most," Katchka says. Education experts say special ed teachers are needed almost everywhere. According to the Bureau of Labor, national employment opportunities in special education teaching are expected to grow at least 35 percent � or by about 126,000 positions � between 1996 and 2008. That type of statistic has groups like the National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education and the Oregon Special Education Recruitment and Retention Project searching for folks who wouldn�t mind going back to school to start a new career. "You get training in special ed, you�ve got a job," says Gregg Gassman, an SOU education professor. "Especially if you�re willing to move. "The jobs are out there," he says. "We�ve just got to find the students (to be teachers)." In six states, including Oregon, recruiters are issuing television public service announcements that encourage viewers to become teachers and specialists in special education. The TV spots feature people of a variety of age groups, with an emphasis on minorities and middle-aged adults, who might be looking for a second career. Gassman says he�s sent the announcements to seven local stations, from Roseburg to Redding. He�s seen a Spanish-language version play on Univision, and adds that SOU is the only Oregon university actively recruiting Hispanic or Spanish-speaking teachers. "It�s a need," Gassman says. "If we have people who know a second language, particularly Spanish, and have a special ed background, they�re worth their weight in gold." The SOU education program, Gassman says, gets "raided" regularly by school districts offering jobs to students who have received their teaching license but haven�t quite wrapped up a master�s degree. "I get calls pretty much weekly from districts looking to fill positions," Gassman says. Hiring practices are becoming more competitive, says Paul Rickerson, director of special education services for the Jackson Education Service District in Medford. Some school districts, including Oregon�s Salem-Keizer district, now offer signing bonuses to special ed teachers. "Don�t get me wrong, these are not signing bonuses like the baseball player just got," says Rickerson, explaining that most are about $2,000 to $4,000. "It has raised the stakes, though. It�s another example of the supply-demand curve," he says. "It makes Southern Oregon less competitive." Field experts say the growing need for special education professionals is due, in part, to a growing student enrollment in the federal program. Nationwide, more than 11 percent of students ages 6 to 17 received special education services during the 1998-99 school year, according to an annual congressional report on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The number of students ages 6 to 21 served by the program has grown by about 30 percent in the past decade. But greater student numbers aren�t the only reason for the teacher shortage, according to special educators. They say the job itself is becoming more demanding, particularly in terms of paperwork. "Special ed is a very challenging field, in that you work with children with disabilities, but it�s also very paperwork-intensive," says Rickerson. "You�re working with rules, regulations and possible legal involvement." Personalized education plans and the detailed record-keeping required of special ed teachers limits time spent with students and leads to a higher-than-usual turnover rate, Rickerson says. The paperwork is important and necessary, he says, "but it�s not touching kids." And working with students, after all, is the reason most special educators choose their careers, Gassman says. "I think special ed teachers have a high degree of empathy and compassion," he says. "I think that�s what drives them." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Sara Murphy at 482-4655, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.