Education Commons^™

An Examination Of Non-Core Teacher Training In Special Education, Courtney Farber

Culminating Experience Projects

Research has shown that many non-core educators such as art, music, and physical education educators may lack the training needed to properly service students with special needs in their classrooms. The undergraduate programs researched were found to only require one course about special education. This lack of training leaves educators unprepared and always wondering how to best teach students with special needs in their classrooms. The lack of educator training also means that students with special needs are not able to participate to their full ability within these classes. This project looks at the training received by educators, the different …

Dordt Adds Master In Special Education, Bethany Van Voorst

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Review Of I Talk Like A River By Jordan Scott, Katie E. Gosman

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Teaching The Sun As Simile: Bringing Nature Into Language Arts Middle School Classrooms, Stormy Kage

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Teaching the Sun as Simile is an essay that explores an interdisciplinary approach to teaching middle school English Language Arts (ELA) by infusing nature and environmental studies. This essay defines emerging concepts of new literacy studies and eco-criticism, literacy, and composition as it relates to ELA pedagogy. Also, it provides an explanation for the importance and relevance of using nature to develop an ecosystem of better readers, writers and communicators in middle school general ed and special ed classrooms.

Ten Commandments Of Teaching: A Culminating Education Project, Charlene Martin

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education

During a senior capstone course in instructional methods, teacher candidates participated in a discussion regarding what the essentials are for good teaching in light of biblical principles—a discussion integrating biblical principles and content knowledge acquired as they progressed through the College of Education. Genesis 1:26-28 indicates that mankind was created to rule over God’s earth in His name. Arguably, this mandate is the basis for all civilizations and cultures. From this perspective, one purpose of school could be to give students power tools for exercising dominion; school prepares students for work and their work declares the Glory of God. As …

"One Book" Brings Dordt And Sioux County Together, Lauren Kleyer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Beyond Accessibility: How Media Literacy Education Addresses Issues Of Disabilities, Yonty Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This special issue on media literacy and disability provides a variety of examples and case studies to showcase the importance of addressing issues of disability in the media literacy community. The literature on the intersection of media literacy and disability is slender but suggests four distinct uses of media for students with disabilities. However, none include applying a critical lens to the use of media for students with disabilities. By connecting the practice of critical media literacy with disability theory, this paper offers a theoretical and practical framework for media literacy educators, extending NAMLE’s principles of media literacy education to …

Beyond Laggards And Morons: The Complicated World Of Special Education, Robert L. Osgood

Education's Histories

Robert L. Osgood responds to Benjamin Kelsey Kearl's biographical approach to special education in "Of Laggards and Morons."

The Effects Of Text-To-Speech On Reading Comprehension Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Mary Cece Young

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I implemented the use of technology to investigate the effectiveness of text-to-speech (TTS) on the reading comprehension of students with learning disabilities (LD). In a freshman self-contained classroom, I used the classroom-based text and TTS on four participants during a 48-min English class period for 16 weeks. An A-B-A-B withdrawal design evaluated the effectiveness of TTS on reading comprehension, the dependent variable, measured through accuracy of participants’ responses to reading comprehension questions from curriculum-based measures (CBMs). Following intervention, I assessed maintenance of the effect of TTS on reading comprehension for 4 weeks. Additionally, I measured participants’ perspectives …

Teachers' And Parents' Perceptions Of Special Education Referral For African American Students, Darlene Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patterns of representation of African Americans in K-12 special education programs vary across the United States. A school district in Arizona has a 13% African American population, yet the African American special education representation is 17%. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to generate an understanding of the processes related to special education referral and assignment of African American elementary students as perceived by 7 teachers and 6 parents in the school district. Inductive analysis including open, axial, and selective coding led to the categorization of three themes: complexity in the referral process, inadequate teacher-parent communication and lack …

Of Laggards And Morons: Definitional Fluidity, Borderlinity, And The Theory Of Progressive Era Special Education, Benjamin Kelsey Kearl

Education's Histories

Indiana University's Benjamin Kelsey Kearl uses a life history approach to study the history of special education through "the laggard" (Part 1) and "the moron" (Part 2).

Special Education As A Moral Mandate In Catholic Schools, Mary E. Carlson

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study summarizes the level of services offered to students with special educational needs in Catholic schools and finds that children with disabilities are underserved and that research regarding the extent and types of services offered is insufficient. More importantly, the author examines the practice of Catholic schools’ non-admission of students with special needs using: traditional Catholic Social Teaching, especially the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas; virtue ethics; the hermeneutic of real, lived experience; and liberation theologies and related liberatory disciplines. Viewed through each of these lenses, current Catholic school practice, in the majority of cases, is unjust. To remain …

Using Fine Arts To Implement Inclusive Education: Inspiring The School Through A Schoolwide Art Project, Desiree Valentino

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper chronicles the development and completion of a schoolwide living mural project created through the cooperation of every student in an elementary school in Northwest Montana as a way to facilitate inclusive education. The project was fashioned to allow students who are educated in a self-contained classroom the chance to interact with their peers through a schoolwide art project. This involved creating two murals to experience the benefits of the arts; to educate the student body on how to interact with students with disabilities; to demonstrate to general educators how to facilitate the inclusion of all students; and to …

The Effects Of Expository Text Structure Instruction On The Reading Outcomes Of 4th And 5th Graders Experiencing Reading Difficulties, Janet J. Bohaty

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a standard protocol supplemental expository text structure intervention (i.e., Structures) on 45 4^th and 5^th graders experiencing reading difficulties. Students were enrolled in six K-8 parochial schools located in a Midwestern suburban city. Within classrooms, students were randomly assigned to Structures intervention or a business-as-usual control condition. Students in the Structures condition were taught to identify and discriminate among the five text structures used by authors of expository text (Meyer, 1975, 1985): description, sequence, cause/effect, compare/contrast, and problem/solution. Students in the business-as-usual control condition participated in the …

Stories From Nejapa, Kathleen Vantol

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"A word picture of what inclusion looks like at the Nicaragua Christian Academy – Nejapa."

Posting about one teacher’s work with inclusive education in Nicaragua from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/stories-from-nejapa/

Education For All, Kathleen Vantol

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"In Nicaragua, teachers do not have the option of sending their students to the special education classroom to work on a particular skill or activity. Just as there are no educational assistants, there are no special education classrooms and no special education teachers."

Posting about one teacher’s goal to bring inclusive education available to all schools in Nicaragua from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/education-for-all/

Effective Reading Interventions For Spanish-Speaking English Learners With Reading Disabilities, English Learners Who Struggle With Reading, Or Both: A Meta-Analysis Of Second Through Fifth Grades, David Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis synthesized research on effective instructional practices and strategies in second through fifth grade for Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) who have reading disabilities and English Learners who struggle with reading. The central research problem is the dearth of research addressing literacy instruction for ELs with reading disabilities, making identification of effective reading interventions difficult. The inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis resulted in 15 quasi-experimental or single-subject empirical research studies that used reading interventions to improve the reading comprehension performance of ELs. The overall average effect size for the meta-analysis, not based on homogenous studies, was 1.15. When outliers were …

The Status Of Students With Special Needs In The Instrumental Musical Ensemble And The Effect Of Selected Educator And Institutional Variables On Rates Of Inclusion, Edward C. Hoffman Iii

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The purpose of this study was to describe the current status of students with special needs in the instrumental musical ensemble and to examine the effect of selected educator and institutional variables on rates of inclusion. An online survey was designed by the researcher and distributed electronically to 600 practicing K-12 instrumental music educators in the states of Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. While 13.6% of the total school-aged population nationwide received special education services, demographic data provided by respondents revealed that students with special needs accounted for 6.8% of all students participating in bands, orchestras, …

The Development Of The Personal Strengths Intervention (Psi) To Improve Self-Determination And Social-Emotional Levels In Postsecondary Students With Learning Disabilities And/Or Adhd: A Multiple Baseline Study, Jennie L. Farmer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience decreased academic and social-emotional outcomes when compared to their peers without disabilities. Self-determination, positive psychology, and cognitive theories of learning offer suggestions for improving these outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop The Personal Strengths Intervention (PSI) and investigate its impact on levels of self-determination and the social-emotional functioning of postsecondary students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD. PSI integrates key elements of self-determination, positive psychology, and cognitive theories. ADHDA multiple baseline design with seven participants was used to examine the intervention effects over time. Results indicate PSI …

Prediction Of Things To Come For Exceptional Children And Adults As Seen Through The Eyes Of Science Fiction Writers, Claud Barrett

All Graduate Projects

The problem is that education has not, to any degree, looked at science fiction as a source of information related to future problems in the lives of exceptional children and adults.

By looking at science fiction that has won the Hugo and Nebula awards, it will be the purpose of this paper to examine a number of problems.

1, It will be the task of the author to show that science fiction has both in intent and by accident been a reliable predictor of future events.

2. The author will look at science fiction and identify the ways science fiction …