Education Commons^™

Evaluating Special Education Teachers: Do We Get The Job Done? A Regional Perspective., Robert Edward Widener Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Legislation enacted by federal and state governments has created a transition in the service delivery model of instruction provided to many students identified as having an educational disability. As a result of this transition, more emphasis is being placed on educating these students in the least restrictive environment, which moves these students from a self-contained model into a collaborative or inclusive setting. This transition has also created a situation where building level administrators are now evaluating and observing special education teachers in a variety of instructional settings.

This qualitative study was conducted in order to examine perceptions of a group …

Parental Perceptions Of The Diagnosis Process Of Their Young Child With Special Needs, Sue Stolzer

Dissertations

The diagnosis of a child with a special need can be an emotional and important time for parents. The existing research on the subject is decades old, limited in scope, and does not capture the current context. This is a qualitative interview study done with 24 families of children aged three to five who have been diagnosed as having a moderate to profound special need. The semi-structured interviews asked mothers, and some fathers, to tell the story of their child's diagnosis process. The data revealed that the process is very individual for each family. The results are shared in the …

General Educators Perceptions Of Preparedness To Teach In Mixed-Ability Classrooms, Kristen Sparks Kantor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The increasing populations of students with special academic needs included in general education classrooms in American public schools are providing a growing teacher preparation challenge. The purpose of this study was to analyze both strengths and weaknesses in how general education teachers perceived their pre-service preparation for teaching in mixed-ability classrooms. A constructivist learning theory paradigm was used to interpret shared experiences of general education teachers working in mixed-ability public elementary schools. The research question was centered in how this group of teachers assessed preparation to provide instruction for Autism Spectrum Disorder, English Language Learners (ELL), general education, gifted, and …