Special education doctoral students and graduates: Demographic and career choice changes over the past decade

Participants in this study included 2,421 special education doctoral students across the nation, responding to the Survey of Doctoral Students in Special Education in 1999 and 2009 as well as 813 special education graduates across the nation, responding to the Survey of Earned Doctorates through the National Opinion Research Center during the years of 2001, 2004, and 2007. This study examined the demographic characteristics of doctoral students from the original 2001 Faculty Shortage Study with the 2009 Special Education Faculty Needs Assessment (SEFNA) study. Results of a One-Way ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences in student age between the studies. Descriptive statistics revealed a 120% increase in the number of doctoral students under the age of the 30 between the original study in 2001 and the 2009 study. This study also examined the career plans of doctoral students from the 2001 Faculty Shortage Study and the 2009 SEFNA study and found a 25% increase in the number of students with career plans in academe. Along with students, this study also examined the changes in demographic characteristics and career plans of graduates with results from the 2001, 2004, and 2007 Survey of Earned Doctorates. Descriptive statistics revealed relatively stable demographic characteristics and time to completion rates. Results of a One-Way ANOVA were insignificant in the time to completion mean comparison by year. While controlling for the covariates of age and number of dependents, results of the ANCOVA revealed both age and number of dependents were significantly related to the time to completion; however, neither were significantly related to the year of graduation. The career plans of graduates were analyzed through discriminant function analysis. Results revealed moderately high structured coefficients of the discriminant and significant classification results. The shortage of special education faculty directly impacts students with disabilities because a shortage of faculty results in a shortage of teachers, and restricted educational opportunities for these students. These shortages will persist if a majority of graduates choose to enter into positions outside of academe.