Education Research
Center

Introducing ERC Explains — a new series that breaks down the bills and policies shaping education in Texas, one topic at a time, in plain language. Our first installment covers Senate Bill 2 and the Texas Education Freedom Account (TEFA) program it created: how the $1 billion program is funded, who gets priority, what families receive, and what it changes for special education. This guide comes with a companion infographic.

Approximately 7.2 million students are identified with a disability in K-12 schools across the United States, representing 15% of total public school enrollment. Most of these students are educated alongside peers without disabilities, with 95% spending at least part of the school day in general education, inclusive settings. However, many teachers report feeling unprepared for this responsibility.

This brief summarizes a research study in The New Educator that investigates how education leaders believe teachers should be prepared to educate students with disabilities. The qualitative study interviewed 12 education leaders from multiple school divisions, all of whom had experience supporting students with disabilities. Their responses converged on a clear set of priorities for both what teachers should learn and how they should practice it.

Classrooms in the United States serve students from a broader range of backgrounds than in past decades, and teachers are increasingly expected to provide instruction that is fair and responsive to all students, yet little evidence exists on whether new teachers are prepared to do so. This brief summarizes a study, published in The Urban Review, of how beginning teachers describe accounting for students' cultural, racial, and linguistic backgrounds. Researchers analyzed nearly 1,900 survey responses from new teachers in one of California's largest induction programs. Only 3.8% described their teaching in clearly equity-oriented terms, but those who did outlined a progression from including diverse voices to directly addressing systemic inequities, pointing to specific practices that preparation and induction programs can use to support more new teachers.