Predictors of Special Education Teachers’ Performance in the General Professional Licensure Exam

The purposes of this study were: (1) to examine the relationship between special education teachers’ performance in the general professional licensure exam (GPLE) and the following predictors: Cumulative Grade-Point Average (CGPA), General Aptitude Test (GAT) score, Standard Achievement Admission Test (SAAT) score, years since graduation, gender, and age and (2) to compare the performance differences in the GPLE of special education teachers. The study participants contained 13,091 preservice and inservice special education teachers, who took the professional general licensure exam. A multiple regression analysis was used to examine the correlation CGPA, GAT score, SAAT score, graduation date, gender, and age and performance of special education teachers in the professional general licensure exam. Th findings indicated that there is a significant moderate relationship (R = .527) between the combination of predictors (age, gender, years since graduation, CGPA, GAT, and SAAT) and the professional general teacher licensure exam at p < .001. A further one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to compare teachers’ professional general licensure exam scores across seven special education specializations. The results indicated a statistically significant difference between the group means, F(6, 13084) = 9.337, p < .001. Implications and recommendations for policy, research, and practice are mentioned and explained.