Dear TED community,
Welcoming a new chapter in life offers a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come—and to imagine what lies ahead. As I prepare to deliver the opening keynote at our annual TED conference and transition into retirement, I’m deeply grateful to TED leadership for the opportunity to consider the evolution of teacher education, take stock of our progress, and envision the future of our field.
When I graduated from the University of Kansas in 1990 and began my career at the University of Florida, the landscape of teacher education—especially in special education—was sparse. Research on effective teacher preparation was limited, and the challenges of teacher shortages and retention were only beginning to be understood. By 2000, when the Office of Special Education Programs awarded the first research center on special education teacher preparation to the University of Florida, our team had little empirical foundation to build upon. Despite promising efforts in alternative routes and inclusive programs, we lacked robust data on pedagogy, program design, certification, and assessment.
Fast forward to 2025, and the research base has grown significantly. We now understand that teacher shortages are highly contextual—urban and rural districts are disproportionately affected. Enrollment trends show we’re not preparing enough teachers, and retention remains a major hurdle. Factors like salary, preparation quality, working conditions, and systemic inequities—especially affecting educators of color—play critical roles. A recent study confirms that high turnover among general and special education teachers negatively impacts outcomes for students with disabilities. Much of this research, driven by scholars at The Special Educator Workforce: A Research Collaborative (SPARC Center), offers actionable strategies for states and districts, though we still face a long road ahead in recruiting and retaining a diverse, effective teaching workforce.
On the preparation front, our knowledge base has expanded dramatically since 2001. We now have compelling evidence—particularly in math and reading—that teacher knowledge and instructional skill are key to student success. Research also shows that teachers’ self-efficacy influences their interactions with students with disabilities. Innovations in pedagogy, such as coaching, performance feedback, and mixed reality simulations, have proven effective in enhancing instructional and classroom management skills. These practices not only improve teaching but also boost self-efficacy. Still, we must continue to refine how we measure teacher knowledge, practice, and beliefs—and invest in training doctoral students to advance this research.
Thanks to Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and Teacher Education Division of CEC (TED), our field has coalesced around a more cohesive, research-informed vision of effective teaching. The IRIS Center’s instructional modules and the CEEDAR Center’s work on high-leverage practices (HLPs, https://highleveragepractices.org/)—developed in collaboration with TED, CEC, and Michael Kennedy and team at the University of Virginia—have become foundational in teacher education programs nationwide. States like Georgia, Virginia, and Arizona are leading systemic efforts to embed HLPs in both preservice and in-service training (https://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/), with many TED members at the forefront. Further, the HLPs, under the leadership of CEC and TED, have informed our professional standards (https://exceptionalchildren.org/standards/initial-practice-based-professional-preparation-standards-special-educators).
Our community can be proud of the progress we have made in our collective efforts to reduce teacher shortages and improve teaching, yet we still have more to learn if we are to ensure a highly effective teacher for every student, regardless of their disability, language, ethnic background, and/or poverty status. We have too many students in too many schools that are not doing well academically or emotionally. Further, as we continue to generate research that points to the fact that a stable, skilled teaching workforce is one important solution to this challenge, schools are faced with chronic teacher shortages and the prospect that generative artificial intelligence will change the face of public education and affect the teaching workforce in substantive ways. Already, schools exist that are using generative AI to teach students the concepts and skills needed to master foundational academic content, and adults are serving as facilitators of learning in those schools.
Generative AI will undoubtedly reshape public education. As teacher educators, we face a choice: lead the integration of AI into teaching, or risk being sidelined. Used wisely, AI can enhance efficiency, personalize learning, support skill development, and enable strategic staffing. Technology and generative AI can already make teachers’ jobs more efficient, allow them to personalize learning, allow teachers to practice learning new skills, analyze their learning attempts, and provide feedback. In doing so, it may provide opportunities for more strategic staffing in schools. At the same time, schools and districts concerned about helping students achieve and staff shortages may use AI in ways that are inappropriate and even harmful, and just as is the case with curriculum, some commercial vendors will be right around the corner waiting to sell them the “supposed” latest and greatest invention. Further, we already know that suburban schools are more advantaged than their rural and urban counterparts, as they are ahead in terms of teachers being supported to use generative AI.
So, how do we move forward as a community of committed teacher educators? How do we balance the urgent need for more teachers with the imperative that they be highly skilled? How do we prepare educators to use AI responsibly, ethically, and effectively? What unique contributions can we offer? How can we collaborate with policymakers and practitioners to ensure our research addresses their most pressing concerns? And how can we position ourselves to advocate successfully for policies that improve the use of AI to develop highly effective teams of teachers in schools?
These are the questions we must answer—perhaps without the strong leadership once provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Now more than ever, TED must be our anchor. It must be the space where we craft a national vision for teacher education practices and policies, develop the research agenda to support it, translate findings into teacher education practice, and provide the evidence and advocacy policymakers need to build a talented, effective workforce for every student with a disability.
I look forward to gathering in Kansas City to spark a conversation about the future of teacher education and the role TED might play, and to wish all of you well as I step into my role as a retired faculty member.
Wishing us a bright future,
Mary T. Brownell