Education Commons^™

Communication: The Key To Collaboration Between Special And General Education Teachers, Alexandra Slatoff

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Teachers often do not communicate with one another when working to meet the needs of their students. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the need, nature and manner by which general and special education teachers communicate and collaborate to address the educational needs of their students.

A review of the educational literature reveals that a burden is placed on the educational community given the often conflicting statutory obligations to: fully include special needs students in the general classroom, comply with State mandated general education curriculum requirements and implement instructional guidelines required by Individual Educational Plans (IEP) …

Incarcerating Exceptional Pupils: Is There A School-To-Prison Pipeline In Eastern Oklahoma?, Brett Alan Fitzgerald

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The school-to-prison pipeline metaphor represents an educational environment that allows public schools to push many at-risk children out of school and into the juvenile justice system or even worse, the adult criminal justice system (Wald and Losen, 2003; Lynn, 2010; Tuzzolo and Hewitt, 2006). The purpose of this study is to examine whether a school-to-prison pipeline exists in eastern Oklahoma, and if so, to better understand the characteristics of the public schools that may be contributing to it. The school-to-prison pipeline metaphor guided three research questions regarding whether certain public schools in eastern Oklahoma referred greater percentages of their students, …

School Principal Leadership And Special Education Knowledge, Rob Schulze

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of special education background and demographic variables on the perceptions of leadership styles by public school principals with and without special education backgrounds in Massachusetts. Utilizing Q-sort methodology, principals sorted 47 statements reflective of transformational, instructional, transactional, and distributed leadership. Analysis found that the participants separated into two factor groups. The special education background of the participants did not influence the formation of the factors, and it was found that prior special education experience was not a predictor of subsequent leadership perceptions of principals. Instead, Factor A was composed of younger, less educated, less experienced …

Increasing The Amount Of Time Ebd Identified Students Spend In The Classroom, Jennifer Gruber

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This action research paper focuses on educating children in their least restrictive
environment. This study was conducted in an elementary school in St. Paul where the
district is pushing towards full inclusion. The data specifically looks at two fifth grade
students, both with Emotional Behavioral Disorders. Data sources included a parent
questionnaire, pre and post student questionnaire, teacher journal and observations, an
excel spreadsheet behavior checklist, and a check-in log for the school’s behavior room.
Results showed that both students were able to increase their amount of time spent in the general education classroom setting. Data also supported that both …

Use Of An Interdependent Group Contingency To Improve Homework Completion, Homework Accuracy, And Achievement Of High School Students With Disabilities, Maria Carrino Kennedy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Homework is a frequently utilized teaching strategy in elementary and secondary classrooms. The completion of homework has been shown to have a strong positive effect on students' academic achievement across content and ability levels. Moreover, research suggests a stronger positive relationship between homework and achievement at the upper grade levels. Numerous interventions, both at home and at school, have been employed to increase students' level of homework completion and/or accuracy. The present investigation employed a single-subject reversal design to examine the effectiveness of an interdependent group contingency, with randomized components, on the homework completion, homework accuracy, and the academic achievement …

An Analysis Of Pre-Service Versus Experienced Special-Education Teachers’ Perceptions Of Attrition, Derek M. Kreider

Master of Education Research Theses

In this quantitative study, I assessed the presence of factors related to attrition in pre-service special educators. I surveyed 23 pre-service special educators regarding various attrition factors identified in the research literature and then compared their responses to the perceptions of 32 seasoned special educators to test for statistical significance. Participants were located at a large, public university in the southeast United States and the largest public-school system in proximity to the university. The results of the study indicated that attrition factors may be evidenced in pre-service educators and therefore detectable prior to entering the teaching field. The study also …

Evaluating Factors That Influence Treatment Integrity During Peer Consultation, Jennifer Ann Arms

Theses and Dissertations

Many schools are using consultation in order to provide students with disabilities adequate services mandated by IDEA (2004). However, consultation is only effective if consultee's implement treatment plans with high levels of treatment integrity (Noell et al., 2005 & Sanetti & Kratochwill, 2008). There are many factors that influence consultee's treatment integrity. The current study examines teacher respondent's answers to the Evaluating Factors that Influence Treatment Integrity During Consultation Survey. Results indicate the teacher consultee's believe peer educational consultants to have more knowledge in the area of behavior. Further results indicate that there are up to 19 factors that teacher's …

Disability And Power: A Charter School Case Study Investigating Grade-Level Retention Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Esther Lorraine Perez

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Students attending charter schools, including those with learning disabilities, are subject to policies set by individual charter management organizations. One practice used within some charter schools is grade-level retention, or having students repeat a grade level. Literature overwhelmingly indicates that retention is associated with negative outcomes, yet the practice continues to be used. One particular charter school that uses a strict retention policy and retains students with learning disabilities was studied to understand how the process unfolds. Using the conceptual frameworks of critical disability theory and critical pedagogy, the study draws inferences regarding how this phenomenon blends with ableism and …

Factors That Influence Special Education Teacher Retention, Samantha Lou Henderson

Dissertations

In this study, the factors that influence special education teachers to remain in their profession for at least five years were identified and analyzed. The study involved a mixed-methods design including a survey and interviews with experienced special educators. The survey items and their categorizations as relational support or organizational factors were based upon Billingsley’s (2004) landmark research. The population consisted of special educators who remained in their current teaching positions for at least five years. The sample group for the survey included 35 veteran special educators from eight school districts in Missouri, and the stratified interview sample of five …

Inclusive Education For Students With Emotional Impairments: Factors For Success, Jessica Cohen

Wayne State University Dissertations

Special education policy and practice are ever evolving to best meet the needs of all students in an inclusive environment. Since the implementation the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) thirty years ago, students with special needs have moved from restrictive, exclusionary placements to being educated alongside their same aged non-disabled peers. As we have moved towards viewing special education as a service, not a place, including more students with disabilities in the general education setting and curriculum has become the expected practice in the majority of public schools in the United States. Despite this progress, students with emotional impairments …

Barriers In Meeting The Needs Of Special Education Students: A Qualitative Case Study, Zoee Bartholomew

Education | Faculty Authored Dissertations and Theses

Special education students’ needs are not consistently being met in special education programs. This qualitative single case study explored special education programs based on a county education program serving multiple school districts in Northern California. The qualitative approach was selected to explore and identify potential themes in special education programs affecting special education students’ needs not being met consistently. There were 14 themes found in this study, which appeared to be potential barriers impacting students’ needs from being met consistently. The study utilized both a theoretical and conceptual framework for the study. There were 8 recommendations provided to help this …

Perspectives Of Parents Of Students With Disabilities Toward Public And Homeschool Learning Environments, Angie Marie Delaney

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homeschool delivery to students is on the rise, particularly in regards to the education of students with disabilities. At this time, there is a lack of research on homeschooled students with disabilities. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how parents choose a model of education for their children with disabilities. A purposeful sample of 3 distinct groups comprising 13 parents of children with disabilities was assembled: (a) parents who are homeschooling their child with a disability, (b) parents who have decided to enroll their child in the public school system after previously homeschooling, and (c) parents who …

Educators' Perceptions About African American Student Referrals To Special Education, Ydeaira Erica Ely

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The overrepresentation of African American (AA) students in special education is a problem in the United States, with concerns about the lack of uniformity in AA students' referrals to special education, and whether the referral process is applied consistently for all students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions of teachers, school counselors, and school administrators concerning the special education referral process, and whether the process was applied consistently for all students. The 2 theories providing the theoretical foundation were critical race theory and zone of proximal development. Criterion sampling was used to select 6 …

Teachers Adapting Common Core Informational-Text Writing Instruction For Students With Mild To Moderate Disabilities, Diana Hawley

Doctoral Dissertations

With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, students must now become skilled at using different types of writing to help them critique text and process information. They also are required to write informational text. Informational-text writing is challenging for students with mild to moderate disabilities, including students with language-learning disabilities, who often struggle with aspects of language necessary for learning to read and write. These students show striking challenges with productivity, grammatical and spelling accuracy, and sentence complexity, with differences in performance by genre (Koutsoftas & Gray, 2012; Scott & Windsor, 2000; Troia, Lin, Cohen, & Monroe, 2011). …

General And Special Education Teachers' Perspectives Of Full Membership For Students With Disabilities, Pamela S. Morgan

Doctoral Dissertations

The idea of full membership (FM) for students with disabilities (SWD) originated with the 1975 Education for all Handicapped Children Act which required equal educational access for these students. Full membership has evolved from mainstreaming to focusing on acceptance and belonging in a school community where all stakeholders have a voice and the culture is reflective of these values and beliefs. Despite American public education policy, there appears to be minimal progress for SWD in gaining FM. This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to gain insight into the perceptions and lived experiences of teachers. Comparing two high schools in the …

Referral Decisions Of Teachers And School Psychologists For Twice-Exceptional Students, Jennifer Marie Hoffman

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The accurate and timely referral and identification of twice-exceptional students remains a challenge. In a statewide study, the referral decisions for both special education and gifted programming evaluations made by four participant groups (i.e., general education teachers, special education teachers, gifted education teachers, and school psychologists) were compared. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of three identically described students in a vignette that differed only in the presence of a diagnostic label—autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specific learning disability (SLD), or no diagnostic label. In all, special education teachers made the most special education referrals, while gifted education teachers made …

Identification Of Specific Learning Disabilities: Georgia School Psychologists' Perceptions, Marie T. Underwood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An on-line survey was conducted to investigate the assessment practices and perceptions of 366 practicing school psychologist in the state of Georgia concerning various operational components, and the use of RTI when determining SLD eligibility. Results were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression to determine if psychologists’ perceptions could be predicted based on various explanatory variables. Results revealed that a little over half of the respondents preferred assessment of cognitive processing deficits evidenced through patterns of strengths and weaknesses for establishing SLD classification; while well over two-thirds continue to also value analysis of cognitive ability (IQ) scores. Psychologists’ assessment practices were …

The Screen Speaks: Disability, Media & Schooling, Alicia S. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As society becomes more technological on a daily basis, we are heavily influenced by the steady influx of information we receive from various types of media. This dissertation will investigate the relationship between our investments with popular media, particularly film, and with teachers’ perceptions of students with disabilities in secondary schools. I will first look at how disability is viewed in society, discussing both the more traditional models that are moral, medical and rehabilitative in nature and the more contemporary social model. I will explore the history of disability in society, schooling, and film and uncover patterns that illustrate the …

Classworks As A Means To Gaining Equity In The General Education Math Classroom: Perceptions Of Students Receiving Special Education Services, Diane Marshall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the importance of math steadily increasing, researchers in the field of special education have made efforts to increase the performance of students with disabilities (Fuchs et al., 2008; Gersten, Jordan, & Flojo, 2005). Despite the deficits these students face, the trend has been for many years that most students with disabilities in math receive their instruction in the general education classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions that students receiving special education services have regarding the effectiveness of Classworks, a computer-assisted instructional program, in helping them gain equity in the general education math classroom. Critical …