Education Commons^™

Predictors Of Special Education Inequity In Rural Rocky Mountain West Schools, Jac'lyn Bera

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Current research focusing on disproportionality and equity in schools focuses on the urban environment, resulting in a significant gap in our understanding of the challenges of rural schools. For rural, racially and ethnically minoritized (R/EM) students who have disabilities, this research is largely unavailable or minimal, and negatively affects our understanding of rural needs, barriers, and successes for this historically underserved population. There is even less research focused specifically on rural students in the Rocky Mountain West (RMW) region of the United States. Understanding these factors serves as a critical area of research, and is the focus of this study. …

National Survey Of Professional Development On Writing Compliant Transition Individualized Education Programs, M. Faith Thomas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A national survey of special education administrators was conducted on current special education teacher trainings, the internal monitoring processes on transition IEPs, and the effect training has on compliance with federal law. In addition, this student researcher examined training and internal monitoring systems to determine if there were any similarities or differences between rural, suburban, and metropolitan school districts. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design gathered survey data from 147 special education administrators from across the U.S. and conducted interviews with 14 participants representing rural, suburban, and metropolitan school districts. When combining survey and interviews data, the results showed that …

Teacher Questions In The Classroom: The Effects Of Using A Low- To High-Level Questioning Sequence On The Text-Based Reading Comprehension Outcomes Of Low-Performing Students, Shannon Harris Brown

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Teacher questioning may be an effective instructional procedure for building students’ reading comprehension. Strategically asking questions at two different levels, low-level (text explicit) and high-level (text implicit), may be needed to assist students to engage in higher order thinking skills.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a low- to high-level questioning sequence without or with linking prompts on the text-based reading comprehension outcomes of fifth-grade students who evidenced poor reading comprehension. A secondary analysis was used to determine whether the questioning sequence was effective regardless of students’ interest in the narrative …

Effects Of Parent Training On Increased Knowledge And Changes In Perceptions Regarding Transition To Adulthood For Middle School Youth With Disabilities, Lauren E. Wright

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parents of children with severe/moderate disabilities experience uncertainty and a lack of knowledge as their children go through the transition to adulthood. Research has shown parents play a key role in their child's postschool outcome success and that parent training and beginning transition preparation early are key predictors. This study examined the effects of parent training on parents' knowledge, expectations, and action towards their child's transition to adulthood. Participants consisted of parents of middle school youth with severe/moderate disabilities. The study measured parent knowledge, expectations, and actions. Procedures involved (a) a pretest administered to parents on their transition knowledge, (b) …

Perceptions By High School Teachers Of Mathematical Readiness Of Students With Disabilities Transitioning To College, Adam Dwight King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

More and more students with mild disabilities enroll in and attend college. However, test scores and other achievement measures show that they are well behind
their regular education peers in math achievement, and thus unprepared for the rigors of college. While much has been done to revise laws and policy involving students with disabilities and academic core standards to increase preparedness, it is still what happens in the classroom that has the greatest effect on student preparation. Due to
the nature of pullout/resource classes where pacing is typically slower and less content is covered, special education teachers make a myriad …

From Intervention To Friendship, Stephanie Scholes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utah State University student Stephanie Scholes studied the effects of a peermediated social skills intervention on the formation of friendship for preschool children with disabilities. The children were two 4-year-old boys with developmental delays. Both children attended preschool in Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start classrooms. Children were nominated for the intervention by their teachers who believed them to have no friends. Sociometric analysis conducted with classmates and friendship observations confirmed this assertion. Peer buddies, classmates to the children mentioned previously, were nominated by their teachers based on their good social skills. Friendship observations with peer buddies confirmed their …

The Effect Of Direct Instruction In Teaching Addition And Subtraction Of Decimals And Decimal Word Problems On Students At Risk For Academic Failure, Heather Hoopes Small

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the effects of a direct instruction program on the ability of elementary school students identified as at risk for math failure to add and subtract numbers with decimals, and complete addition and subtraction word problems with decimals. Direct instruction has previously been shown to increase the math skills of special education and general education students. This study examined the extent to which these students could master these skills in six hours of instruction, with carefully designed sequences of examples and strategy instruction in word problems. The study took place in two elementary schools. The participants were fifth …

The Evaluation Of Synchronous Online Tutoring For Students At-Risk Of Reading Failure, Eleazar Vasquez Iii

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Both legislative mandates such as those of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and developments in the provision of reading instruction such as Response to Intervention (RTI), increase the demand for high quality tutoring services. However, the U.S. Department of Education and state officials report that access to intensive supplemental tutoring may be limited in rural and urban areas due to limited availability of qualified providers. Online tutoring may be one way to provide supplemental reading instruction to students identified as at-risk of reading failure.

Researchers have focused on distance education since the 1920s. The authors of recent meta-analyses report near …

An Expert System To Train Secondary Special Education Teachers In Language Arts Instruction, Elizabeth Shafer Martindale

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Writing, a complex organizational process that makes excessive attentional demands, can be frustrating for handicapped students. These students seldom complete a finished written product because t he y are usually trying to master the mechanical aspects of writing . Teaching the secondary-aged student with learning problems to use and unify writing skills into a finished product may be an initial step in helping them acomplish more difficult writing tasks.

The purpose of this Research and Development (R & D) study was (a) to develop and validate an expert system which suggests teaching and management strategies for special education teachers and …