Situating Special Educators’ Instructional Quality and Their Students’ Outcomes within the Conditions Shaping Their Work

This investigation examined relationships among special education teachers’ working conditions (e.g., classroom characteristics, administrative support), personal characteristics (e.g., experience, certification status, self-efficacy), instructional quality, and students with disabilities’ reading achievement and behavioral outcomes. Data from the 2004–2005 administration of the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study were used. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the fit of models for five latent factors. Hybrid structural models were applied to test the hypothesis that working conditions would be positively associated with special education teachers’ self-efficacy and their instructional quality, which would, in turn, be positively associated with their students’ reading achievement and behavioral outcomes. Although the initial structural equation model tested failed to support the hypotheses, several significant relationships with theoretical and practical significance were discovered. Directions for future research and practical implications are discussed.