Administrators’ Roles - Providing Special Educators with Opportunities to Learn and Enact Effective Reading Practices for Students With EBD

Oct 15, 2026

Special educators must deliver high-quality reading instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), yet they often face obstacles, particularly in dedicated self-contained settings. Administrators can strengthen outcomes by shaping educators’ working conditions so that effective reading practices can be learned and enacted consistently. The article focuses on how administrative support, including attention to constraints and resources, can improve reading instruction quality and student gains in self-contained environments.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Key Elements of High-Quality Reading Instruction for Students With EBD

Working Conditions and Instructional Practice

Administrator Recommendations

Administrators’ Roles: Providing Special Educators with Opportunities to Learn and Enact Effective Reading Practices for Students With EBD Beyond Behavior 2020, Vol. 29(1) 52–61 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2020 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/1074295620904024](DOI: 10.1177/1074295620904024)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/1074295620904024)[journals.sagepub.com/home/bbx](journals.sagepub.com/home/bbx) Elizabeth Bettini, PhD 1, Michelle M. Cumming, PhD2, Nelson C. Brunsting, PhD3, John William McKenna, PhD4, Caitlin Cooper Schneider, MEd 1,*, Rebecca Muller, MEd 1,*, and David Peyton, PhD5 Abstract Special educators are responsible for providing quality reading instruction to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), but they often experience difficulties fulfilling this responsibility, especially for students with EBD who areplaced in dedicated settings, including self-contained classes. Administrators can help by ensuring special educators have what they need to provide effective reading instruction. We highlight how administrators can leverage special educators’working conditions to improve the reading instruction that students with EBD receive in self-contained settings. Keywords reading instruction, self-contained settings, working conditions, students with emotional and behavioral disorders Lincoln Elementary1 is home to a dedicated program for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Led by a special educator, Ms. Stevens, the program is intended to support students with EBD in their home district. Program goals include ensuring students’safety, developing the requisite academic and behavioral skills, and, when applicable, transitioning students back into general education classroom settings. At present, however, Ms. Moretta, Lincoln Elementary’s principal, is worried that students, in her words, “aren’t making the gains in literacy that we’d like The reading levels aren’t where we want them to be.” Ms. Moretta knows that reading proficiency is crucial for the present and future success of the school’s students, but isnot quite sure what to do address their lack of reading progress. She knows Ms. Stevens has a very challenging job—“probably the hardest job in the school.” Ms. Stevens has recently announced that she will resign her position at the end of this year. Ms. Moretta wants to understand how she could have better supported Ms. Stevens and increase the likelihood that the incoming teacher, Ms. Jones, will provide high-quality reading instruction, that students will achieve appropriate reading gains, and that Ms. Jones will be less likely to leave her new position at the end of her first year. Dedicated classes, such as self-contained classes or schools for students with EBD, exist to provide effective, intensive, and individualized instruction in social–emotional and academic skills to students with significant behavioral challenges (Rozalski et al., 2010) . These classrooms or schools are part of a continuum of placements available through the least restrictive environment provision of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA, 2004), and approximately 35% of students with EBD nationally learn in self-contained settings (Office of Special Education Programs, 2017), including separate classes within typical neighborhood schools and separate schools such as therapeutic day schools (Rozalski et al., 2010) . Effective reading instruction is especially important for students with EBD (Kostewicz & Kubina, 2008) . Although some students with EBD have strong reading skills, on average, the majority demonstrate significant deficits (Wanzeket al., 2014) . Consistent with what Mrs. Moretta has noticed in Ms. Stevens’s class, researchers have found that students 1 Boston University, MA, USA 2Florida International University, Miami, USA

FAQs

Why do special educators in self-contained EBD settings have difficulties providing effective reading instruction?

They face challenges fulfilling their responsibility, and dedicated settings can limit the conditions that support effective, evidence-based instruction. As a result, reading instruction quality can be low and student reading growth can be slower.

How can administrators improve reading instruction for students with EBD?

Administrators can leverage special educators’ working conditions, adjusting demands and resources that either support or constrain opportunities to learn and enact effective practices. This can raise the quality of reading instruction in self-contained settings.

What does the article propose as the purpose of administrator support?

To provide recommendations enabling administrators to help special educators deliver high-quality reading instruction to students with EBD in dedicated settings. It also connects working conditions to instructional performance and reading outcomes.

Oct 15, 2026

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