TLDR:

• Special educators need specialized mentoring that is hard to come by in rural areas of our state.
  
  
• Instructional assistants are a vital piece of the special education puzzle, yet their training needs are often overlooked because of capacity and funding constraints.
  
  
• Career and technical education teachers often become teachers mid-career after working in the sector they are teaching about, which means they have current knowledge of the industry but less formal teacher training.

Summer Gann, a special education teacher at Warrenton Grade School, works with Theodore, a kindergartener who is part of her classroom readiness program. Summer helps students with disabilities learn how to share, follow directions and calm themselves down after challenging situations. The goal of the class is to prepare students to join general education classes by third grade. Photos by Tracey Goldner. 

The chocolate milk dripped off the table, and Crosby jumped back. 

But it was too late. The milk covered the front of his blue cargo pants, and he immediately cried out in distress. 

“The chocolate milk is all over my pants,” he said. “I need new pants, Miss Summer.” 

As he got changed with the help of a classroom assistant, Summer flipped a card over for her two other students to read. 

She used a green block to point to the letter c, and another kindergartener named Theodore sounded out the word cat. 

Crosby bounded back to his desk in fresh, gray sweats and asked where his snack had gone. Summer brought him another milk, which he drank carefully and without incident. 

A catchy song by the Singing Walrus came on, and an illustrated dog, pig, bear, cat and chick took turns belting out numbers in groups of 20 until they reached 100. 

“Can we have Jack Hartmann next, Miss Summer?” Crosby asked. 

A man in an orange polo and sunglasses appeared on the screen and invited the students to move their bodies as they counted by ones -- again to 100. 

About halfway through the song, Summer interjected that lunch was coming up in 5 minutes. 

The cue helped the students prepare for the next activity. As the song ended, Summer announced that it was now time to go to lunch. 

The students cleaned up their desks and joined their teacher at the door. 

“Find a pair of feet to stand on as you line up,” Summer called out, and Crosby picked the two green sticker feet. 

The cafeteria was empty when they arrived -- an intentional move by the teacher -- so the students could pick out their hamburgers, carrots, mashed potatoes and dried cranberries in relative calm. 

Theodore gets lunch at Warrenton Grade School before the rush of other students. Eating in a calmer environment helps him eat more of his food. 

Anita Hansen, an instructional coach at Northwest Regional Education Service District, is mentoring three new special education teachers in the Warrenton-Hammond School District this year. She visits the district every Friday and splits her time between the elementary, middle and high schools. She prioritizes training new teachers in person and often observes them in their classrooms so she can offer immediate feedback.  

Special education is a notoriously tough field. One 2019 study found the turnover rate was 46% higher for special educators compared to elementary school teachers.

That means, in a group of 100 elementary teachers with a 10% turnover rate, 10 wouldn’t return the next school year. In a group of 100 special educators, 15 wouldn’t return. 

A more recent report by Oregon’s Educator Advancement Council found special educators switch schools and districts at much higher rates than their general education counterparts. 

“I think there’s a reason you don’t see a lot of elderly special education teachers,” Summer says. “I don’t know if I can do this at 70 or if my body could handle it.” 

She first joined the education field as an instructional assistant but soon realized she had a knack for teaching and was especially drawn to special education.  

“General education I don’t get excited about,” she says. “But behaviors are kinda my thing.” 

She concedes it’s a tough job but one she really loves. After four years as an educational assistant, she earned her teaching license last year and landed this job a few weeks before the school year started. 

In this role, she is simultaneously managing children who experience complex physical and/or cognitive disabilities while also teaching. During a single day, her students can have dozens of explosive and even dangerous behaviors. 

“We physically support children through some of those challenging behaviors,” she says. “We keep them safe until they can get back to their baseline,” meaning calm enough to stop banging their head against a wall, running away or screaming at the top of their lungs. 

Theodore and Crosby on their way to recess where they will join all of the other kindergarteners at their school. The experience gives them the chance to interact with peers. Research shows that including children with disabilities as much as possible in general education classrooms benefits everyone. 

On top of that, she is responsible for tracking her seven students’ progress during every lesson. 

A child with a disability has a special plan for their learning called an Individualized Education Plan, and that is the document that drives everything that happens throughout the day. The goals in that plan are specific and must be measurable. 

So if a child is working toward having fewer outbursts, that means Summer has to be tracking when and where those are happening. 

And the data special educators have to collect is often multi-faceted. To determine whether her interventions are working, she needs to measure the intensity -- how strong or forceful the outburst is -- the frequency -- often how it’s happening -- and the duration -- how long it’s lasting.

Summer helps Crosby participate in recess with his peers. She’s recently staggered her students’ schedules so she has more one-on-one time with them. The students move in and out of her class and their general education classroom throughout the day so they learn with peers while getting specialized behavior instruction from her. 

She says as children are working on improving their skills and getting rid of unwanted behaviors, the duration and intensity will go down, but the frequency will go up. 

“If you have that data, you can look at the trend and know you are on the right track,” she says. 

But data sheets are only useful if you use them, and she says one of her biggest struggles has been creating a system for gathering that data in a usable and efficient way. 

That’s one way Anita has helped her this year. After trying other unsuccessful methods, she tried a tracking sheet that Anita offered and finally found success. 

“I feel confident asking her about behaviors,” she says. “And what I actually do need help with, she delivers to me.” 

Looking back on her first six months, Summer says the classroom routines she has set up and the resulting progress she has made so far feel big. 

Those first few weeks were overwhelming because it was a new program. Her previous classroom -- which drew students from all over Clatsop County who needed a lot of intensive support -- moved to the nearby Knappa School District over the summer. 

So she’s been building the classroom readiness program from the ground up, including the design and layout of the class itself in addition to everything in it.  

Anita visits every Friday for at least an hour to observe her teaching and offers strategies and resources based on what she sees and what Summer tells her she needs. 

Supporting Students As They Approach Graduation

In the afternoons, she meets with Amanda Gebert and Rick Schwegman, who are also new special education teachers at the middle and high schools. 

Rick Schwegman, a special education teacher at Warrenton High School, Anita Hansen, an instructional coach from NWRESD, and Amanda Gebert, a special education teacher at Warrenton middle and high schools. The two co-lead the resource room for students at Warrenton High School. “She gives us resources we can use right away,” Amanda says. 

On this particular Friday, Amanda has her second-ever Individualized Education Plan meeting -- colloquially known as the IEP meeting -- that will for the first time address the student’s transition out of high school. The transition portion of an IEP is added when a student turns 16 and is meant to help them start planning for life after graduation. 

Transition sections include multiple components, and since these are legal documents, she wants to make sure everything is done correctly.  

Anita asks her a series of questions about the student and then explains the materials don’t have to be completely prepped or perfect before the meeting. She walks her through how to ask questions that will help her complete the transition portion of IEP while simultaneously strengthening her relationship with the family.  

After about 10 minutes, Amanda is visibly calmer and more confident. The two make a plan to meet later on to review her meeting agenda and the draft IEP. 

In addition to the mentoring they are receiving, Amanda and Rick also recently attended a training specifically on writing better transition plans. 

Sarah Statham, a transition network facilitator who works for neighboring Multnomah Education Service District, leads workshops like these so special education teachers feel less daunted by the task. 

Anita invited them to participate and helped them navigate the process of securing a substitute and getting reimbursed for the drive to Hillsboro, which NWRESD covered as part of their participation in the mentoring program. 

Naheed Brown, the administrator who launched the mentoring program last school year, says she’s pleased with the progress the new teachers have made so far. The program has three full-time mentors including Anita.

From left: Kelly Thayer, a regional educator pathway navigator, Hibaq Adan, an instructional coach, Naheed Brown, a program administrator, Anita Hansen, an instructional coach, Julie Swanson, the regional educator network coordinator, and Dani Flores-Hayden, an instructional coach. Dani, who mentors general education teachers from kindergarten through twelfth grade, says new teachers often need support preventing burnout, managing stress and learning how to set achievable goals. Many new teachers experience a phase of disillusionment and even question their career choice. “This is totally normal,” Dani says. “Everyone goes through this phase.”  

Naheed says there is a common misconception about what effective mentoring entails. 

It’s not showing someone where the copy machine is, reminding them about when report cards are due or sending them an email once a month asking how it’s going, she says. 

It’s having someone like Anita, Dani or Hibaq who are thought partners, who can troubleshoot situations, who can observe teachers and offer suggestions and who can help teachers set meaningful goals and then rinse, wash and repeat that cycle until those new teachers feel ready and confident. 

So far, their efforts are paying off. Three more districts signed up for mentoring this year for a total of 13 now participating. Every mentee who participated returned to teach again this year. However, about 10% of the new teachers in the program lost their jobs due to budget cuts.    

In addition to new teachers, the program is also supporting instructional assistants at any stage of their career. 

Mentoring Isn’t Just for Teachers

Instructional assistants, also known in paraeducators in some spheres, are a critical piece of the special education puzzle. 

They are the ones helping students with disabilities take notes in class, regain composure after a conflict or think through an essay prompt. And unlike licensed teachers, they are not required to clock a certain number of training hours each year, so despite spending the most one-on-one time with individual students, they are less likely to receive specialized training compared to their licensed peers. 

After receiving requests for more support, NWRESD launched a training program specifically geared toward instructional assistants this year. There are 65 educators in Gaston, Neah-Kah-Nie and Nestucca Valley school districts currently participating. 

Jackie Theoharis is one of those educators. She says for the first time in 7 years, she received professional development specifically focused on her role in the classroom. 

Kelly Thayer, a professional learning coach at NWRESD who worked as an instructional assistant until she earned her teaching license about 11 years ago, comes to Jackie’s classes and observes her as she works. Afterward, she offers suggestions for building rapport with students and teachers and strategies for helping students become more independent.

Jackie says as an instructional assistant, she needs targeted training for her role because it’s very different from what licensed teachers do. It also helps every instructional assistant in her school stay on the same page. 

“Training that is geared towards us and that we are all getting at the same time really focuses our skills in the same direction,” she says. “It helps us do our work in a collaborative way.”

Jackie Theoharis, an instructional assistant at Neah-Kah-Nie High School, works with a student on his math assignment. Her work is very different from teachers, and she says having someone observe her in the classroom and offer feedback has been fabulous. Neah-Kah-Nie also invited NWRESD to host monthly professional development workshops specifically for instructional assistants this year. “I think instructional assistants really need targeted professional development, and this training fits that bill perfectly,” she says. 

Building a System of Support

The New Teacher Center, a nonprofit group that helps disperse evidence-based best practices across the county, suggests that full-time mentors should have a maximum of 15 mentees. And full-time teachers who are also mentoring shouldn’t have more than one. 

For the past 2 years, in addition to staffing full-time mentors, NWRESD has offered annual stipends that range from $1,200-$3,000 to full-time teachers who want to mentor new teachers in their schools or regions. They are always paired up with someone in the same subject area such as career and technical education, music, math or English language arts. There are currently 22 educators participating. 

One of those educators is Brian Vollner, who is also a teacher at Warrenton High School with Amanda and Rick. 

A graphic designer by trade, Brian jumped at the chance to teach students about the world of digital and graphic arts when he was offered the opportunity about a decade ago. He was dismayed to discover students in earlier iterations of the classes he would teach were only learning how to use Microsoft Word or Excel. 

That was the extent of the technical training they were getting before heading out into the world, he says. 

So he got subscriptions for all of the Adobe Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop for photo editing, Illustrator for graphics and After Effects for video editing. 

Brian, standing, talks with his art students about how light reflects and is absorbed differently by various surfaces. Photo by Warrenton High School Principal Bev Scott.

He secured a grant that enabled him to purchase a computer that could handle the higher processing power required for video production so his students could learn how to tell stories through video. 

And most importantly, he brought the local community into his classroom. A recent project with a memory care facility in Warrenton has students painting murals for the plain beige walls. Residents -- many of whom have dementia or Alzheimer’s -- were getting lost in hallways that all looked the same. 

The students were tasked with coming up with a wayfinding system that would help orient the residents. 

Over the past two school years, students have come up with names for various hallways, a color scheme and decal designs. They have also taken photographs of local scenery and completed the first of four murals based on those photos.  

Chloe (right) and Magnolia paint a mural of the Columbia River that will be hung in the Clatsop Care Memory Community in Warrenton as part of a larger wayfinding system meant to help residents orient themselves in the building. Photo by Warrenton High School Principal Bev Scott.

Brian started mentoring other career and technical educators in Clatsop County last year and says he looks at his mentoring work as a professional obligation. 

“I tell my students that good design doesn't occur in a vacuum, that collaboration informs insight and different perspectives inspire new ideas,” he says. “The same is true for education.” 

He now mentors three new teachers in the Rainier, Tigard-Tualatin and Vernonia school districts who teach classes like digital and visual arts, yearbook, film production and drawing.

The group meets in-person about once a month -- typically on Saturday -- and they take turns hosting each other at their schools. 

Brian says they’ve discussed topics such as grading practices and how to adjust the curriculum for students who are learning English or those in special education. He also offers them project ideas and skills they could introduce to students. 

Regionally, there are still very few educators teaching the types of classes Brian is teaching, so for a long time, he didn’t know any other teachers like him, he says. That was both isolating and restricting. 

He says he hopes his mentorship helps teachers avoid the pitfalls and growing pains he experienced. 

Veteran educators say that people like Brian came from the industry -- meaning he previously worked in the field he is now teaching about. There are many benefits of having a teacher like this. He understands what the job entails and what skills are required, so he knows how to prepare students. But doing something isn’t the same as teaching it. 

So at least early on, teachers coming from the field don’t have as much experience or training as traditionally educated teachers.   

“I look at this mentoring as an opportunity to help fill in those gaps,” Brian says.