Study Overview
Overall Goals
Develop, revise, and document the feasibility and usability.
Test the promise of a multicomponent professional development (PD) intervention for early-career special educators in rural settings, including those on emergency licenses.
Project ACRES is based on prior theory and research on
- Special education evidence-based practices (EBPs) and high-leverage practices (HLPs) pertaining to behavior management, and
- Critical elements of PD that result in more effective teachers and better student outcomes.
The project aligns PD best practices to ensure early-career special educators in rural settings master and adopt behavior-management special education EBPs and HLPs. Increased, effective use of EBPs and HLPs will improve student educational outcomes and increase retention of special education teachers in rural schools.
Teacher Shortages in Special Education
Vacant teaching positions cause substantial numbers of students with disabilities (at a 16:1 student/teacher ratio) to be underserved (McLeskey et al., 2004). Some of the most pressing shortages of special education teachers are in rural, geographically remote areas where vacancies are difficult to fill (Rude, 2002). Project ACRES aims to address the shortage of special educators in rural communities by developing, revising, documenting the feasibility and usability of, and testing the promise of a multicomponent PD program for early-career special educators.
PD that includes multiple opportunities to learn, practice, and receive individualized performance feedback is time-intensive and expensive, prompting experts to call for PD research that can be delivered and sustained more cost-effectively. Project ACRES responds to this call as a fully online intervention to support rural early-career special educators’ access to PD. Our development work and feasibility trial show that our fully online PD gives participants greater flexibility, including removing barriers associated with traveling long distances for professional learning opportunities.
Support for Behavior Management
The ACRES PD consists of individualized coaching sessions focused on student behavior and a community of practice. Special education EBPs and HLPs focused on behavior and classroom management span grade levels, content, and service delivery models, thereby being useful and immediately applicable to a large population of early career special educators who may have a wide array of teaching assignments and instructional support roles.
The effective and sustained use of special education EBPs and HLPs gives early career special education teachers multiple practices to use in their direct work with students. These features are particularly important for geographically isolated special educators within rural school districts who are more likely to lack access to or support for implementing these practices. Project ACRES is designed to investigate the effect of the intervention on (a) special educators’ intent to stay in the profession, (b) special educators’ self-efficacy, and (c) K-12 learner engagement.
In Years 1–3 of Project ACRES, our team used mixed-methods and design-based research to collect data and input to develop, revise, and refine the intervention components and accompanying measures of usability, feasibility, fidelity and anticipated teacher and student outcomes. In Year 3 of our project, we also conducted a feasibility study of the ACRES PD. This included recruiting special educators to participate in the trial; recruiting, training, and onboarding experienced special education teachers to work as Project ACRES coaches; developing and delivering training and orientation for Project ACRES coaches; and finalizing and professionalizing content for our coaching protocols and community of practice processes and procedures.
We are currently in Year 4 of our research and are conducting a pilot study to examine the impact of the ACRES PD for teachers assigned to our intervention, or “treatment” group, on outcomes compared to our comparison-group teachers. Teachers assigned to the comparison group will have access to elements of the PD in the 2024-25 academic year.
Project ACRES includes two integrated components designed specifically for early career special educators in rural settings:
Ongoing individualized virtual coaching
We provide individualized coaching for teachers that is focused on teaching and supporting the use of EBPs and HLPs. This will be accompanied by ongoing assessment and coaching in areas of need. Coaching includes cycles of teaching and reflection in which teachers learn a new tool, implement it, and reflect on the implementation with their coach.
Virtual community of practice
Facilitated by project staff, our community of practice brings together Project ACRES teacher participants and coaches to engage in group problem-solving practices, share knowledge and experiences, and build connections to a professional community.
Publications
- Wilkerson, K. W., Olsen, R.S, Yang, Y. R., Clark, J. M., Leko, M. M., Ruppar, A. L. (2026). Early career rural special educators: Motivation to enter the profession. Rural Special Education Quarterly.
- Wilkerson, K. L., Olsen, R., Leko, M. M., Ruppar, A. R., & Dai, R. (2025). Supporting rural special educators working toward licensure: Creation of virtual professional development. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 44(2), 66-75.
Project ACRES is a Development and Innovation project supported by a 4-year grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) within the topic area of Professional Development for Educators and School-Based Service Providers.
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R324A200038 to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.