Should I stay or should I go?

It seems very common practice in special education for nobody to attend the meetings even though they are required to do so by law. You'll probably find that at most places you go, it occurs daily in my building. Self contained classrooms are difficult if you have no prior experience, but if you don't enjoy it then definitely move on. Is there any other schools within the district you can try to transfer to?

You will definitely get better with him if you stick with the self contained classroom. Can you move to inclusion?

What other stuff do you have added? What are the science portfolios?

It pretty much sounds like a normal special ed job. You may find districts that are more supportive with the IEP process though.

Frankly, I would try to stick around another year. It will look better on a resume.

I'm sorry this has been your experience. I am also a first year teacher but interrelated. It's not like that at every school. I once had a gen Ed teacher tell me that sped schedules come first and they will schedule around what I need. I do not have issues getting people to come to meetings, except the occasional parent.

First thing, kudos for being mindful as you are your first year.

Take a non-bias look at your job- your teachers for your masters program should be able to help.

Sometimes in SPED you'll have a rough year caseload-wise, or great coworkers but awful admin, great admin and awful coworkers- you get the point. SPED is a tear to year great job that can get rough due to unforeseen situations.

BUT there is another issue I feel like no one in SPED ever talks about - are you in the "dump" room? As in, the teacher is always new and the position is always revolving? Broken furniture and old materials given to you? Do you feel like no one has your back because the classroom always fails?

I feel like sometimes SPED is more "sink or swim" the first year than most other teaching fields, leading to that self fulfilling idea that new teachers can't hack it.

Rant aside: Go to your admin now and talk about what things will look like planning and caseload wise, if the issues from this year are systematic and are not going to change - Go! If you feel comfortable enough to advocate for some changes, do it!

Either way, good luck :)

I would definitely give it at least one more year. One year to get your feet wet and learn the ropes of the school and one year to really know what you're looking for and what you need.

I agree with others who have posted that IEP attendance is abysmal in most places. I've had that issue in every district I've worked in. It's even harder for self-contained if your kids aren't doing much mainstreaming. In our district we allow general education teachers to leave once they've reported on the student, although technically I don't think that's legal but it makes it doable for general education teachers to attend within their contract day.

Do you like self-contained? What I liked about self-contained is I had more control over the curriculum and being able to gather data and report on goals. In my position now where most kids are mainstreamed, I have no curriculum, struggle to gather data, and students rarely if ever make progress on goals because the focus is on graduation instead (granted I work in high school, so that is its own beast).

Building relationships with staff is important, so hopefully you can chat with the teachers who work with your students and just let them know you're a friendly staff member who genuinely appreciates the work they do to help your students. Sometimes I butter them up with treats at my IEP meetings. I always thank them after an IEP meeting and acknowledge how busy they are and their struggle, too. It seems to help.

Unfortunately some assignments seem like a "sink or swim" nature, for gen. ed. and especially for SDC SPED. Often it's not intentional - part is that you're a newbie without prior experience to draw on, AND not getting the support that you need, and part is also that SDC/SPED varies year to year. Although another district might be better, it could also be worse. I'd do my best to stick it out.

There is an enormous amount of paperwork, and it takes a while for your workload to smooth out. The more you do, the better you get kind of thing. First couple years are difficult for sure.

As far as attendance at IEPs, that's a huge compliance issue and your district can get dinged big-time for this when audited. I send out e-mail meeting invites asking for a response, after checking IEP dates, our school calendar, prep-times etc. very early to give everyone a chance to plan. I also send out the Notice of Meeting to parents early, then a reminder as the date gets closer, and often even a phone call. Every support provider involved must attend, it's not really optional, including a gen ed teacher (unless parent waives this).

I greatly appreciate all of the responses on this post.