Attending employment fairs wasn't always part of Jada Conner's job, but in recent years it's become routine.
Conner is director of special education for Northwest Allen County Schools. She started attending job fairs at area colleges after noticing that applications for open positions weren't coming in as fast as they used to – especially for school psychologists and speech pathologists.
Even fewer people seem interested in working in intense intervention, which serves students with more severe learning or behavioral needs, she said.
“I never really had to go to teacher job fairs till a couple years ago,” Conner said.
One of the first fairs she attended was in spring 2016 at Ball State University in Muncie, and it was filled with aspiring educators.
“That day, I saw a lot of people, and there were only three who were getting their intense intervention (license),” she said, referring to certification required to work with some special-needs students. “At one point last year, we had nobody applying for a high school position.”
It's a familiar problem for schools in Allen County, statewide and around the country. Amid a teacher shortage that has left administrators scrambling to recruit and retain instructors in specialized areas including math and science, positions in special education are particularly vulnerable, say experts who study education and those within the profession.
Many local schools say they're fully staffed for special education. But when a position comes open, filling it can be a challenge.
“There are not as many people going into that field as there used to be,” Conner said.