Education Commons^™

Clinical Opportunities For Special Education Teacher Candidates: Developing Professional Identities That Endure Beyond Candidacy, Christine M. Davila

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

There is an ongoing shortage of special education teachers, particularly due to early burnout. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were utilized to explore field experience needs for special education teacher candidates that positively affected their ability to maintain self-efficacy toward classroom and behavior management in self-contained settings into their early years of teaching. Findings indicated that special education teacher candidates need opportunities for experiences that allow them to imagine themselves in the role and foster professional identity development that endures beyond candidacy. Embedding opportunities for preservice special education teachers to develop their professional identities within their formal preservice training programs …

Pennsylvania K-8 General Education Teachers’ Perceptions Of Preparedness For The Inclusion Of Students With Autism: A Mixed Methods Study, Erica Tate

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Abstract

This convergent mixed-methods study gathered insights from Pennsylvania kindergarten through eighth-grade general education teachers regarding their perceptions of preparedness for including students with autism. Utilizing Bandura's theory of self-efficacy (1962), which underscores the importance of continual opportunities for individuals to build confidence in their abilities, the study sought to understand teachers' viewpoints on their readiness for inclusion. To achieve educator insight, a combination of surveys and interviews was employed to understand better what preservice and in-service educators learned in their pre-professional and professional experiences. In the survey phase, (n=51) general educators responded to questions covering demographics, teacher education programming, …

The Lived Experience Of Secondary Career And Technical Education Teachers Collaborating With Special Education Teachers: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Padro L. Gould

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological study aims to describe the lived experiences of secondary career and technical education (CTE) teachers in a Michigan public school district who collaborate with special education teachers to meet the instructional needs of students with special needs. The theory guiding this study is Bandura’s self-efficacy theory as it is used to assess CTE teacher confidence levels, and how those levels directly and indirectly affect their capacity to offer adequate instruction to CTE students with special needs through collaborative efforts. This research intended to answer this central research question: What are the experiences of CTE teachers who collaborate …

Impact Of Tier 2 Intervention Program On Student Achievement And Self-Efficacy, Barbara L. Georges

Dissertations

To address the challenges of drop-out rate and achievement gap, high schools have begun to implement intervention programs. Schools bear responsibility in addressing factors such as poor academic performance, lack of course credit, and low motivation to encourage post-secondary success. Intervention programs show promise in mitigating these factors despite variation due to lack of state or federal requirements. The most common frameworks used to address the skill gaps and deficiencies that prevent graduation are Response to Intervention (RtI) or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of academic interventions on student achievement …

Where Do We Come From? A Quantitative Study Of The Backgrounds And Professional Qualities Of Special Education Transition Specialists In Massachusetts, Jennifer Carr Callison

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The position of secondary Special Education Transition Specialist has evolved into a pivotal role in the transition planning process for students with disabilities. Through state level legislative efforts, licensed Special Educators and select others are able earn a Transition Specialist Endorsement through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Yet, there is no requirement that school districts in Massachusetts have a person on staff who solely acts as a Transition Specialist or employ a person who holds a Transition Specialist Endorsement. Further, little is known about those across the Commonwealth working in this unique capacity. Using a self-administered questionnaire, …

The Relationship Between Pre-Service Training And Teaching Self-Efficacy For Inclusive Practices, Jennifer Francois

Educational Considerations

Pre-service programming is instrumental in providing skills to teachers that builds positive teaching self-efficacy. This becomes increasingly important for those teachers who are hired to work in inclusive settings. Directives by the Division for Early Childhood and the Individuals for Disabilities Act have outlined content areas that teachers working in special education settings should have knowledge of and are comfortable in implementing (Division of Early Childhood 2014; United States Department of Education 2017). Many teachers, however, continue to come away from pre-service experiences without these skills (Lewis et al. 1999). Institutions continue to struggle with the integration of course content …

Job Satisfaction And Self-Efficacy Score Differences In General And Special Education Teachers As Measured By The Job Satisfaction Survey And Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Scale, Angela Alford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Teacher turn over has been a concern over the last 30 years in the United States. The implementation of No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 impacted the accountability of teachers. This quantitative, correlation study endeavors to determine the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Within this study, teachers of a Title I school in the largest school district in a southern state were surveyed via hard copy. The Tschannen-Moran instrument, Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (2001), was used to identify three subscales: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. The Job Satisfaction Survey collected participants’ general satisfaction by …

The Role Of Professional Development On Secondary Special Educators Self-Efficacy Regarding The Use Of Evidence-Based Transition Practices, Lauren P. Bruno

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how transition specific professional development influenced secondary special educators’ knowledge and perceived self-efficacy regarding the use of evidence-based transition practices. Past research has suggested that secondary special educators enter the profession with limited knowledge and skills to provide effective evidence-based transition practices to students with disabilities. Based on Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, and Desimone’s framework for effective professional development, this study identified how different variables related to professional development can influence teacher self-efficacy in terms of delivering evidence-based transition practices. Specifically, a correlational research design was used to investigate teacher self-efficacy to …

Reading Comprehension And Self Efficacy, Brittany Conway

All Capstone Projects

This study investigated whether or not there is a correlation between the self-efficacy of high school students and their reading comprehension scores at Smith High School. There were 24 students that participated in this study. Eight of those students were in special education and have an identified reading disability, eight were students in general education, and eight were in honors level reading. There were two instruments used in the study. One instrument used in the study was the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) Assessment (Northwest Evaluation Association, 2017), which was used to measure reading comprehension. The Reader Self-Perception Scale (Henk …

Planning For Transition In Special Education, Esther M. Crockett-Love

All Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate special educators’ perceptions of transition plans for students with disabilities. The research also investigated parents’ perception of transition plans for their students’ with special needs. The researcher examined the barriers that can effect transition planning. Previous research indicates that parents of diverse learners feel unprepared for this time period after post-secondary education. Educators may feel ill-equipped to prepare students for this time. Additionally, previous research indicated that the severity of the disability has a direct correlation to the success or lack thereof of student transition after post-secondary education. Furthermore, research indicated the …

Impact Of Inclusion Teachers' Mathematics Anxiety And Mathematics Self-Efficacy On The Mathematics Achievement Of Learning Disabled Students, Vladimir Sylne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Learning disabled (LD) students are put in inclusion classrooms in order to experience the mainstream environment and to receive the same level of education as their regular education counterparts. Unfortunately, LD students do not always get the mathematics education that they deserve because inclusion mathematics teachers are not required to be highly qualified in mathematics. The focus of this study was on the relationship between mathematics anxiety and self-efficacy of inclusion teachers and the academic achievement of the LD students they serve. The theoretical framework of this study involved the concepts of student achievement, teacher efficacy, mathematics anxiety, and best …

Video Self-Modeling And Improving Oral Reading Fluency, Wanda G. Chandler

Special Education Faculty Publications

Self-modeling can take different forms but is described as a process where one observes one’s own successful behavior and learns from it without dependence on any particular medium. In this study, two separate experiments were conducted to evaluate a video self-modeling (VSM) feedforward intervention. VSM feedforward (independent variable, IV), was applied as an intervention to improve oral-reading fluency (dependent variable, DV). An adapted multiple-probe baseline, single-subject research design with a pre-test and post-test standardized reading assessment was employed for both experiments.

Participants included eight students with disabilities and a history of emotional and behavior problems in middle-school, special education, self-contained …

Examining The Experiences Of A Select Group Of First Year Special Education Teachers: A Multiple Case Study Analysis, Roseanne Kaiser Vallice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The attrition rate of beginning special educators has been a constant and growing concern within the field of education (Boe & Cook, 2006, 2008; Brownell, Hirsch, & Seo, 2004; CEC, 2000; Leko & Smith, 2010; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). Four to five of every ten new special education teachers leave the field within the first five years (CEC, 2000; Olivarez & Arnold, 2006) and beginning special education teachers are more likely than general education teachers to leave the field within the first five years of teaching (Boe & Cook, 2006, Boe, Cook & Sunderland, 2008; Brownell, Hirsch, & Seo, 2004; …