Education Commons^™

Professional Development For Special Education Paraeducators: How To Effectively Train Classroom Staff To Support Students With Complex Instructional And Behavioral Needs, Cara Olson-Sawyer

Dissertations and Theses

According to data from U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics in 2018, it is estimated that there are 1,308,100 paraeducators employed in public schools in the United States. Despite the prevalence of paraeducators, these employees receive limited opportunity for training. In addition, there is little guidance from the Department of Education or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for effective professional development and there are no standardized job qualifications or job descriptions across states and school districts. This lack of uniformity, combined with vague job descriptions often result in paraeducators entering the education field with no formal education and training, …

Perspectives Of Students With Intellectual And/Or Developmental Disability In College Inclusion Programs On Their Preparation For Working In Competitive Integrated Employment, Eva R. Blixseth

Dissertations and Theses

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a history of being isolated, marginalized, and excluded from employment that is competitive and integrated. Policy makers, disability advocates, and self-advocates have made efforts to center inclusive education and employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual disability. Employment is a valuable outcome for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities exiting college inclusion programs (Lee & Colleagues, 2022). However, from 2017 through 2021, not all students with intellectual and/or intellectual disability exiting college inclusion programs were employed. This is concerning as O'Brien et al. (2019) pointed out students' primary goal for completing college inclusion programs …

An Examination Of Educator Perspectives On Career And College Pathways For Black, Indigenous, And Students Of Color With Disabilities, Rachel Anne Herrick

Dissertations and Theses

Black, Indigenous, and students of color (BIPOC students) in high school, who are dually experiencing the socially constructed labels of race and disability (BIPOC-SWD), are not provided with equitable access to Career and College Pathway (CCP) programs, which contributes to a lack of preparedness and success within postsecondary settings. Despite school reform policy efforts that incorporate Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) and Career and College Readiness frameworks, BIPOC-SWD perpetually have lower achievement rates, poorer postsecondary outcomes, and are less prepared for careers or college.

Utilizing a Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) lens, this comparative case study was used to examine educator …

The Impact Of Using Pow+ Tree With High School Students With Adhd: Story Writing And Perceptions, Katie Page Kroeze

Dissertations and Theses

Only limited research has been completed that examines the impact of teaching outlining on improving ADHD students’ writing skills and perceptions about writing. An abundance of research demonstrates high school students with ADHD struggle with writing and organization skills. This study investigated the impact of using the POW + TREE outlining strategy on high school students with ADHD preparing a composition and how using this strategy impacted a high school student with ADHD’s perception of writing. To answer the first research question, high school students with ADHD were given the task to write an Opinion Story without the use of …

Computer Assisted Delivery Of Discrete Trials To Teach Early Literacy Skills To Students With Significant Intellectual Disabilities, Tammi Waltjer-Haverly

Dissertations and Theses

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of a computer assisted instruction to deliver discrete trial training of academic skills to students with significant intellectual disabilities. Based upon the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis, discrete trial training was identified as an evidence-based practice in teaching skills to students with disabilities. The criteria for single-subject case research within a multiple baseline design across behaviors and participants was implemented for this study. The individual subject and the repeated measures across skills served as the experimental control to verify results. The multiple baseline design evaluated the effect of the intervention computer assisted …