Early-career EBD Teacher Knowledge, Ratings of Competency Importance, and Observed Use of Instruction and Management Competencies

The empirical, conceptual, and theoretical knowledge of early-career EBD teachers was assessed two years after student teaching and compared to their ratings of the importance of specific instruction and classroom management competencies as well as to their application of those competencies. Twelve teachers, six elementary and six secondary, with master's degrees in special education were assessed and three explicit instruction lessons observed across a 4-month period. A significant positive correlation was found between teacher knowledge and teacher classroom use of individualized support strategies; no correlations were found between knowledge, teacher ratings, and teacher use of three other competency clusters. Thirteen competencies were applied universally and the overall quality of explicit instruction was satisfactory to excellent. Although very dissatisfied with education law and administrative issues, eleven intended to teach in special education for the foreseeable future; one planned to switch to general education after two more years. Implications for teacher education and future research are discussed.