Jahsha Tabron, the 2022 Delaware teacher of the year, taught special education for more than two decades and cherished what she called the “winning moments” of growth in her students.
“[Where] you have a nonverbal student who is now able to speak in simple sentences … that’s why you stay,” she recently told ABC News.
But Tabron, now Brandywine High School’s dean of students in Wilmington, Delaware, said her field can be a tough sell for future candidates.
“When we’re talking about why we don’t have a lot of people joining the profession, we’re looking at the immense workload that comes along with being a special education teacher,” she said.
Tabron’s concern about a staffing shortage is widely shared. A nationwide survey conducted by ABC News this school year found that much of the country doesn’t have enough educators – and that in many cases, districts suffer from a lack of subject matter experts, too.
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