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Background

Tashnuva Shaheen began her career as a middle school special education teacher in Brooklyn, NY, where she spent four years supporting students’ literacy development. Her classroom experiences sparked questions about how schools recruit, support, and sustain special educators. She pursued a doctorate in special education at Boston University and later completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida, where she examined how working conditions shape teachers’ engagement. Her research centers on the special education teacher workforce, particularly the factors shaping its composition, distribution, and effectiveness. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative methods—including large-scale administrative data analyses and in-depth qualitative inquiry—she investigates how preparation pathways, certification policies, and workplace conditions shape recruitment, support, and retention.

Education

• • BA, University of Connecticut
  • MS, Bank Street College
  • PhD, Boston University

Research Interests

• Special education teacher workforce, particularly the factors shaping its composition, distribution, and effectiveness

• Focus on the ways in which preparation pathways, certification policies, and workplace conditions influence teacher recruitment, support, and retention, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative methods, including large-scale administrative data analysis and in-depth qualitative inquiry.