Beyond Behavior

Special educators serving students with significant behavioral needs consistently report having unmanageable workloads, which are linked with stress, burnout, lower quality instruction, and worse student outcomes. The purpose of this article is to share a range of feasible, research-based supports and alterations to responsibilities to make special educators’ workloads manageable. We provide examples and recommendations both for administrators to proactively ensure supports are available and for special educators to effectively share their needs and advocate for them.

Principals play a pivotal role in addressing school-level conditions that contribute to special educator attrition, especially for teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Drawing from the Lead IDEA Center and the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center’s Principal Navigator: Special Educator Retention, this article offers practical strategies and real-world examples to help school leaders improve working conditions, boost teacher retention, and help students with EBD thrive.

Special education teachers (SETs) of color are underrepresented in the workforce and face higher burnout and attrition. School principals play a key role in disrupting these issues. This paper describes a mentoring program designed to support the personal and professional needs of SETs of color, especially those serving students with significant behavioral support needs. Implications for reducing burnout among SETs of color serving students with behavioral support needs and advancing equity-focused leadership are described.

Students with disabilities often experience exclusionary and punitive responses to their classroom behaviors. In this article, we highlight the important role of teachers’ own emotions in shaping their responses to challenging student behavior. We explore how teachers’ beliefs, emotions, and behaviors intersect. We assert that educators’ own emotional regulation strategies play a crucial role in both educator and student success and provide ideas for how we as educators can foster emotional regulation within ourselves.

Special education teachers (SETs) working with students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often experience high stress and feel underprepared to meet the complex needs of their students. Research shows that strong student–teacher relationships are critical for both SETs and students, yet preservice programs rarely provide explicit instruction in relational skills. Drawing on Torey Hayden’s autobiographical narratives, along with related research, this article presents a vision for reconceptualizing preservice training to prioritize relationship-centered, process-oriented teaching.

Undergraduate special education teacher preparation is only effective if graduates persist in the profession, yet many face early career burnout, especially when working with children with challenging behavior. In this article, we discuss how higher education faculty can embed high-impact practices that help develop autonomy and relatedness and inoculate preservice candidates against early burnout. We highlight protective measures and offer resources for higher education faculty and preservice teachers considering ways to prevent burnout along the preparation pathway.