Scenario Martha Coleman, the principal of Faulkner County High School (FCHS), has just hired two new special education teachers, Roberta and Eli.

Scenario Martha Coleman, the principal of Faulkner County High School (FCHS), has just hired two new special education teachers, Roberta and Eli. Roberta is well prepared for her special education position. She graduated with honors from a prestigious special education program and completed a year-long internship in an elementary school during the second year of her master’s program. Martha is impressed with Roberta’s enthusiasm for her new job and her commitment to being a special education teacher. Roberta will work as a consulting special education teacher for three periods each day in English and math, and she also will provide instruction to selected students during scheduled resource periods each afternoon. Eli Hartz is also a new special educator who will work primarily as a co-teacher of science and social studies in special education classrooms in the 9th and 10th grades. Eli has a strong liberal-arts background, and he worked for two years after college in a wilderness program for adolescent boys with emotional and behavioral problems. He just completed his first semester of his master’s program in special education and is currently enrolled in a three-hour course titled “Methods of Teaching Students With Mild Disabilities.” Martha is concerned about the high attrition among new special education teachers in the district and wonders what she might have done to retain the two teachers who left last year. Although Roberta is well prepared and Eli has experience with adolescent boys, Martha wonders about how she and others in the school might support Roberta and Eli during their first years as teachers. Martha has two major goals: She first wants to better understand the support needs of Roberta and Eli, and she also wants to plan supports for these two teachers based on their needs and concerns.