Oregon Special Education Recruitment and Retention Project

The Recruitment & Retention Project is a collaborative effort between the Oregon Department of Education, Office of Student Learning and Partnerships and the Teaching Research Institute at Western Oregon University. The project is funded through the Oregon Special Education Improvement Grant.

The project goals include:
1. Recruiting and retaining highly qualified Special Education and related service personnel in Oregon.
2. Increasing the amount of time Special Education personnel stay in the field in Oregon.

The JOBS Clearinghouse connects special education professionals with employers. Using this free, online service:
ESDs and School Districts can post positions and receive information about applicants.
Job seekers can search for openings based on location and position. They can also access links to ESD and school district webpages in addition to links to other on-line job sites.

Project staff are available to provide information and referral to Oregon educators via e-mail and phone.

The Recruitment and Retention Project has developed training materials on a range of topics including supervisor support, mentoring and professional development. The following are offered as a resource to Oregon educators.

Providing Supervisor Support

The purpose of this web-based tutorial is to acquaint readers with recent research and information regarding the state of special education and attrition and to present strategies and techniques that special education and building administrators can utilize to support beginning and experienced special education teachers. The tutorial is accompanied by a Study Guide in PDF format which can be downloaded.

Teaching Research Inservice Model

The purpose of this web-based tutorial is to acquaint readers with recent research and information regarding the state of special education and attrition and to present strategies and techniques that special education and building administrators can utilize to support beginning and experienced special education teachers.

The tutorial is accompanied by a Study Guide in PDF format which can be downloaded.

The Recruitment and Retention Project and the Department of Education, Office of Student Learning and Partnerships provides funding for special education rookie camp programs through competitive grants. This competition is funded through the Oregon Special Education State Improvement Grant (SIG) from the U.S. Department of Education.

The intent is to:
Provide funding for ESDs to develop support programs for teachers who are new to special education, with 0-2 years experience, or teachers who are new to Oregon, and their mentors.

During 2006, the R & R project will facilitate a scholarship opportunity that is aimed specifically at assisting school districts and agencies in Oregon to develop and retain Speech-Language Pathologists.

The Oregon Department of Education's Office of Student Learning and Partnerships is dedicating scholarship monies through the State Improvement Grant to the support of ten graduate students who are currently employed in Oregon schools and are interested in obtaining a master's degree in the profession and working for their school as an SLP.

The Oregon Department of Education, Office of Student Learning and Partnerships (OSL&P), has been working to increase the number of licensed special education personnel in Oregon schools. Through the Recruitment and Retention Project, the OSL&P is offering competitive grants to education agencies to provide scholarships to assist individuals in completing special education endorsements.

These grants are available to those education agencies which identified Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Personnel as a priority for personnel development. This activity may have been included in their annual Comprehensive System of Personnel Development survey and/or in their System Performance Improvement Plan.

The Oregon Special Education Recruitment & Retention website focuses on providing information and support to special educators in Oregon.

The website includes sections for administrators, teachers, related servers and paraprofessionals. For each, content is available related to Oregon preparation programs, certification/licensure requirements and procedures, professional development opportunities, links to R & R and district/ESD jobs pages, links to topical interest sites as well as a searchable annotated resource database.

In addition, there are extensive sections on recruitment and retention strategies, including results from Oregon studies related to the recruitment and retention focusing on the experiences of special education professionals in their first or second year with a school district or Education Service District. Specifically, questions addressed:

How individuals found their current position.
Factors related to accepting the employment.
Positive and negative experiences in the application, interview and hiring process.
The incidence and helpfulness of induction activities.
The incidence and helpfulness of initial support (transition) activities.
The incidence and importance of ongoing support activities.
Factors associated with leaving previous employment.
Factors related to leaving current employment, Oregon, and the profession.

A number of resources can be downloaded from the R & R Website or ordered from the project. These include the results of a recruitment and retention survey conducted in Oregon, a Rookie Tool Kit containing extensive resources to develop and implement an effective induction program for special educators, and a self-needs assessment designed to assess current recruitment and retention policies and practices.


Services R & R JOBS Clearinghouse The JOBS Clearinghouse connects special education professionals with employers. Using this free, online service: ESDs and School Districts can post positions and receive information about applicants. Job seekers can search for openings based on location and position. They can also access links to ESD and school district webpages in addition to links to other on-line job sites. Information and Referral Project staff are available to provide information and referral to Oregon educators via e-mail and phone. Computer and Web-based Tutorials The Recruitment and Retention Project has developed training materials on a range of topics including supervisor support, mentoring and professional development. The following are offered as a resource to Oregon educators. Providing Supervisor Support The purpose of this web-based tutorial is to acquaint readers with recent research and information regarding the state of special education and attrition and to present strategies and techniques that special education and building administrators can utilize to support beginning and experienced special education teachers. The tutorial is accompanied by a Study Guide in PDF format which can be downloaded. Teaching Research Inservice Model The purpose of this web-based tutorial is to acquaint readers with recent research and information regarding the state of special education and attrition and to present strategies and techniques that special education and building administrators can utilize to support beginning and experienced special education teachers. The tutorial is accompanied by a Study Guide in PDF format which can be downloaded. Mentor Training The goal of this computer based training is to enable mentors to effectively support mentees both instructionally and emotionally. The unit will cover: The roles and responsibilities and the characteristics of effective mentoring relationships. The needs of beginning special educators and characteristics of adult learners. Effective mentoring skills and strategies. Skills and knowledge to implement the mentoring program. For information on obtaining the training materials, contact: Roxanna Marvin.	Grants and Scholarships Rookie Camp grants The Recruitment and Retention Project and the Department of Education, Office of Student Learning and Partnerships provides funding for special education rookie camp programs through competitive grants. This competition is funded through the Oregon Special Education State Improvement Grant (SIG) from the U.S. Department of Education. The intent is to: Provide funding for ESDs to develop support programs for teachers who are new to special education, with 0-2 years experience, or teachers who are new to Oregon, and their mentors. Speech-Language Pathologist Scholarships During 2006, the R & R project will facilitate a scholarship opportunity that is aimed specifically at assisting school districts and agencies in Oregon to develop and retain Speech-Language Pathologists. The Oregon Department of Education's Office of Student Learning and Partnerships is dedicating scholarship monies through the State Improvement Grant to the support of ten graduate students who are currently employed in Oregon schools and are interested in obtaining a master's degree in the profession and working for their school as an SLP. Special Educator Scholarships The Oregon Department of Education, Office of Student Learning and Partnerships (OSL&P), has been working to increase the number of licensed special education personnel in Oregon schools. Through the Recruitment and Retention Project, the OSL&P is offering competitive grants to education agencies to provide scholarships to assist individuals in completing special education endorsements. These grants are available to those education agencies which identified Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Personnel as a priority for personnel development. This activity may have been included in their annual Comprehensive System of Personnel Development survey and/or in their System Performance Improvement Plan.	Resources R & R Website The Oregon Special Education Recruitment & Retention website focuses on providing information and support to special educators in Oregon. The website includes sections for administrators, teachers, related servers and paraprofessionals. For each, content is available related to Oregon preparation programs, certification/licensure requirements and procedures, professional development opportunities, links to R & R and district/ESD jobs pages, links to topical interest sites as well as a searchable annotated resource database. In addition, there are extensive sections on recruitment and retention strategies, including results from Oregon studies related to the recruitment and retention focusing on the experiences of special education professionals in their first or second year with a school district or Education Service District. Specifically, questions addressed: How individuals found their current position. Factors related to accepting the employment. Positive and negative experiences in the application, interview and hiring process. The incidence and helpfulness of induction activities. The incidence and helpfulness of initial support (transition) activities. The incidence and importance of ongoing support activities. Factors associated with leaving previous employment. Factors related to leaving current employment, Oregon, and the profession. For complete results of the survey, go to http://www.tr.wou.edu/rrp/survey.htm. Print Resources A number of resources can be downloaded from the R & R Website or ordered from the project. These include the results of a recruitment and retention survey conducted in Oregon, a Rookie Tool Kit containing extensive resources to develop and implement an effective induction program for special educators, and a self-needs assessment designed to assess current recruitment and retention policies and practices.
For more information about workshop opportunities, grants and scholarships, or ordering resource materials, contact: The Recruitment & Retention Project