Abstract

The poor retention of special education teachers negatively impacts student academic outcomes. Special education teachers commonly cite burnout as a primary reason for leaving the field; however, there is a deficit of literature available to validate claims concerning special educators and their level of burnout. This study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators' Survey using a sample of 349 special education teachers from schools across the nation (201 resource room special education teachers and 148 self-contained special education teachers). The Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators' Survey measures three factors (e.g. subscales) emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. A confirmatory factor analysis, an exploratory factor analysis, and a multi-group measurement invariance confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. The results showed measurement invariance between the two groups of teachers. During the exploratory factor analysis, a significant fourth factor, collaborative stress, emerged. These findings suggest the current factor structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators' Inventory needs to be modified when measuring burnout among special education teachers. This includes the need to further explore how collaboration stress relates to special education teachers and how to implement formative collaboration practices to retain special education teachers.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Educational Inquiry, Measurement, and Evaluation

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/