Black Students With Disabilities Deserve Qualified Teachers 

Research continues to show that majority-Black school districts struggle to recruit and retain qualified special education teachers.It seemed to be an outrageous case of a teacher abusing a student, captured on videotape. In September 2022, surveillance cameras captured Amber Hall, then a teacher at Tipps Elementary School in Houston, dragging a young special needs student by his ankle. According to court documents, Hall allegedly dragged the student approximately 143 feet on tiled and carpeted floors before reaching the Life Skills Classroom, where the kindergartener was handed off to another teacher.Hall said she was untrained in handling unruly students with special needs, and she was merely trying to find a qualified teacher to deal with the boy, who is Black. The teacher, who was fired, pleaded guilty to injuring a child and is awaiting sentencing.But the incident also underscored twin problems schools are facing: a drastic shortage of qualified special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and aides who can help in the classroom, and a growing number of Black special needs students.And, as study after study shows Black students make greater gains with teachers who look like them, it’s even more difficult to find Black special education teachers.Educators who work with students with...