This year, the Georgia Department of Education’s Human Capital team launched a statewide survey to better understand the experiences of special education teachers across Georgia. More than 2,600 educators took the time to share their perspectives, and their feedback is helping shape how we think about educator recruitment, support, and retention moving forward.
Here at the Georgia Department of Education, we believe the people closest to the work often have the most valuable insights. That’s why this effort began not with solutions, but with listening.
Why We Asked
The Georgia Department of Education’s 2026-2030 Strategic Plan identifies educator recruitment and retention as a key priority. While the state has invested in numerous initiatives to strengthen the educator workforce, we recognized an important opportunity: before deciding what additional actions to take, we needed to better understand the experiences behind the data.
The Human Capital team brought together representatives from across the agency and our partner organizations to explore a simple but important question: What can we learn directly from educators that numbers alone cannot tell us?
That question led to a statewide survey focused on special education teachers, an area where workforce needs remain especially significant.
What We Heard
The survey responses painted a picture of educators who remain deeply committed to students and passionate about their profession.
Educators noted meaningful relationships, student growth, and supportive colleagues as reasons they continue choosing this work every day. They also provided valuable insights into the realities of teaching and the factors that influence their professional experiences, with workload, paperwork requirements, and student needs emerging as important themes that deserve further exploration.
While some findings aligned with what we expected, others challenged assumptions and revealed areas where we need to learn more. That is exactly why stakeholder feedback matters. Listening helps us move beyond assumptions and better understand the experiences behind the trends we see in our data.
What We’re Learning Next
The survey was not the end of the process. It was the beginning.
The Human Capital team is continuing to analyze responses and plans to conduct follow-up conversations with educators to better understand the experiences reflected in the survey data. These additional conversations will help us explore not only what educators are experiencing, but why.
By combining survey results, existing data, and direct educator perspectives, we can develop a more complete understanding of the factors that influence recruitment and retention and make better-informed decisions about future work.
Turning Learning Into Action
One of the most valuable outcomes of this work has been stronger collaboration across teams and partners that share responsibility for supporting Georgia’s educator workforce. Through this process, agency offices, along with district, national, and university partners, have worked together to align existing efforts, identify opportunities for collaboration, and ensure that future initiatives are informed by educator voice.
That collaboration is already influencing ongoing work, including efforts connected to Teach in the Peach, educator preparation pathways, apprenticeship programs, and support for special education teachers. The goal is not simply to create more initiatives, but to make sure future actions are informed by evidence and grounded in the experiences of educators themselves.
Thank You for Sharing Your Voice
To every educator who completed the survey: thank you.
Your willingness to share your experiences is helping shape Georgia’s understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our educator workforce. Your feedback is informing ongoing research, strengthening cross-agency collaboration, and helping ensure that future decisions are rooted in the realities of the classroom.
Because the best solutions begin with listening.