Special Education Teachers Serving Students with Extensive Support Needs: An Exploratory Job Analysis

Since the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, 1975 (PL 94-142), curricular frameworks for students with extensive support needs (ESN) have evolved considerably. Students with ESN may be classified with disabilities including autism, intellectual disability, or multiple disabilities, and are often eligible for a state’s alternate assessment. Conceptions of what constitutes good and meaningful education for students with ESN have been shaped by legal mandates, personcentered approaches to curriculum planning, and evidenced-based practices, including a shift from developmental approaches to an ecological and standardsbased model that have implications for students’ quality of life and emancipation (Hunt et al., 2012). The 2004 amendment to the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act further requires students with disabilities be educated in the Least Restrictive Environment and participate in the general education curriculum and standards-based assessment. As a result, ESN teachers serving students with ESN are expected to deliver evidence-based, standards-aligned instruction for literacy, math, and science (e.g., Browder & Spooner, 2014) alongside intensive social and behavior supports (McDonnell et al., 2015).

As expectations expand, ESN teachers’ responsibilities have grown accordingly—yet the supports necessary to enact such reforms have not kept pace.