Do Dual-Certified Teachers Increase Access for Students with Disabilities?: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Dual certification, when a teacher is certified in special education and another area, is a potential way for states to ensure teachers have both general education content area knowledge and special education pedagogical skills and knowledge. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine if dual certification improved student or teacher outcomes.
AIR’s research team identified 27 studies related to dual certification that addressed four topics:
- Dual-certified teachers’ perceptions or beliefs about instruction, preparedness, and students;
- Student sorting;
- Effectiveness; and
- Workforce decisions and intentions.
For most outcomes, there were either too few studies examining the same outcome, or the statistical models used in the studies varied too widely to be combined using meta-analyses.
Overall, the results of the included studies suggest policymakers should be cautious of dual certification, as little evidence suggested that dual-certified teachers were more effective than teachers without dual certification, and growing evidence suggested that dual-certified teachers had higher attrition than other teachers.
The research reported in the resources was made possible by a grant from the Spencer Foundation (#202400040).
