As districts kick off the school year, many leaders are facing a familiar but urgent challenge: staffing shortages in special education. Whether it’s a lack of certified special educators, speech-language pathologists, or paraprofessionals, these shortages directly impact students with disabilities and the teams that support them. In this environment, traditional staffing models may no longer suffice. School and district leaders must adopt creative solutions that maintain compliance, support existing staff, and prioritize student access to services.

Team-Based Approaches to Maintain Continuity

One promising approach is the Service Coordination Model, a structured framework that ensures services outlined in a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) are effectively planned, delivered, monitored, and communicated. Rather than placing responsibility on a single provider, this model distributes tasks across team members—including general and special educators, related service providers, and administrators—to ensure no student falls through the cracks.

This team-based approach emphasizes collaboration and shared ownership, allowing districts to maintain service continuity even amid staffing challenges. It also helps reduce burnout by avoiding over-reliance on any one role.

Flexible Service Delivery Options

In addition to coordination models, districts may consider teletherapy, shared service models across schools, and push-in supports in place of pull-out services, where appropriate. These strategies can help maximize available personnel while minimizing disruptions to students’ learning environments.

Building leaders should work closely with special education staff to:

• Review IEPs and prioritize essential services,
• Communicate openly with families about any interim plans, and
• Maintain documentation and progress monitoring practices to uphold accountability.

Regular IEP team check-ins and clear communication will be key to navigating the year responsibly.

How General and Special Educators Can Work Together to Support Inclusive Practices

Supporting students with disabilities isn’t the sole responsibility of special educators. General education teachers are central to creating inclusive classrooms and ensuring access to high-quality instruction. With the right support and collaboration, general educators can implement accommodations, differentiate instruction, and build environments where all students thrive.
Special educators, in turn, can serve as coaches and collaborators, offering strategies, planning support, and coordination to make inclusion successful. Together, these educators form the foundation of a team-based model that distributes responsibilities and reduces the burden on any single staff member.

After all, who better to deliver rigorous, grade-level content than the general education teacher?
Here are practical ways general and special educators can support one another:

How General Educators Can Help

• Collaborate on accommodations and modifications: Implement IEP accommodations within classroom instruction and share feedback on what’s working.
• Maintain communication logs: Track and share student progress to support IEP monitoring.
• Participate in IEP meetings: Offer input on performance, needs, and classroom strategies.
• Support inclusive practices: Use co-teaching, small groups, and differentiated materials to meet diverse learning needs.

How Special Educators Can Help

• Serve as service coordinators or facilitators: Schedule, prioritize, and track delivery of services.
• Support general educators: Share strategies for accommodations, behavior plans, or sensory supports.
• Coordinate with related service providers: Ensure therapy services are delivered and documented as required.
• Communicate with families: Maintain ongoing two-way communication to build trust and transparency.

Looking Ahead: Sustainable Solutions Start with Better Data

While these immediate strategies are essential, districts also need long-term solutions to address systemic staffing challenges. At PCG, we support districts through Staffing Analysis Services rooted in our Balanced Staffing approach. This approach goes beyond simple caseload counts to examine the full range of responsibilities staff take on, such as instruction, evaluations, documentation, and collaboration.

By analyzing the time, intensity, and complexity of tasks across roles, we help districts:

• Identify areas of strain
• Align staffing with student needs
• Reallocate resources more strategically
• Build sustainable staffing models that support both compliance and educator wellbeing

A clearer understanding of actual workload can empower leaders to make smarter staffing decisions and create more resilient systems.

Read Optimizing Staffing in Special Education: Caseload vs. Workload Analysis to learn more.