Disability and Equity in Education Commons^™

A Study Of High School Students' Perceptions Of Mentoring Students With Disabilities, Ashley N. Davis

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed as a phenomenological qualitative study grounded in Contact Theory to investigate Early College high school students’ perceptions of a multi-year mentoring program. The Early College students were paired with elementary students with varying special needs in a self-contained classroom throughout 3 years in various settings, including community-based therapeutic horseback riding and a school-based sensory program. The study attempted to garner how the mentoring experience affected the Early College high school students personally, as well as their attitudes, feelings, and beliefs in relationship to their tolerance toward people with disabilities as reported by the participants through individual …

A Study Of The Social And Emotional Growth And Development Of Students With Disabilities In An Inclusive Setting In An Inner-City Middle School, Heather Rachelle Lemmons

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this retrospective, explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was to determine the impact of an inclusive educational setting on the behavioral, social, and emotional growth and development of students with various disabilities. Many aspects of a student’s educational experiences can be affected by a proper placement in an inclusive setting with non-disabled peers including discipline rates and referrals, need for behavioral goals and plans, and perceptions concerning personal social growth and development.

The setting for this research study was an inner-city middle school serving Grades 7 and 8 in western North Carolina. Eighth-grade middle school students identified as students …

Welcome, Patricia R. Renick

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Welcome to the Winter Spring edition of The Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education. The conversations concerning inclusion continue with research from international perspectives.

Characters On The Autism Spectrum In Young Adult Inclusion Literature, Courtney A. Tsumoto, Rhonda S. Black

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The purpose of this study was to analyze disability portrayals in 14 young adult literature (YAL) novels featuring characters with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) according to the elements of characterization, plot, and theme. Results revealed that characters were frequently portrayed as competent, multidimensional, and neither as a hero nor a victim. Characters with ASD commonly spoke for themselves through a first-person perspective and were generally portrayed in an accurate manner facing conflicts similar to same-age peers. Plots focused on what the character could do, however, some plot events seemed contrived rather than realistic, with the climax and resolution often focusing …

Resilience: A Framework For Inclusive Pedagogy In A South African Context, T. M. Makoelle, M. Malindi

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The social ecology of resilience perspective sees resilience as the capacity of individuals to negotiate and navigate their pathways towards the resources that sustain well-being, the capacity of the individual’s physical and social ecologies to provide resilience resources, and the capacity of individuals, families and communities to negotiate culturally meaningful ways to share health-promoting resources. This means that resilience is a process that involves an individual’s own assets or strengths as well as those found in his or her physical social and ecology. Inclusive education, on the other hand, is a discipline that allows learners whose socio-economic circumstances, physical disability …

Welcome, Patricia R. Renick

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Welcome to the Summer/Fall edition of The Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education.

Nontraditional Pre-Service Teachers: What They Learn From Inclusion Literature, Kimberly Sutton

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Characterized by work, financial, and family demands, nontraditional students are an increasing population in university teacher education programs. Typical teacher education programs include at least one course on the education of students with special needs, and faculty may address perceived weaknesses of the course textbook by supplementing it with "inclusion literature," narratives written by or about individuals with disabilities. Although inclusion literature has been documented to be of value, to date there has been no research that specifically examined the use of inclusion literature with nontraditional pre-service teachers. This qualitative study examined the impact of inclusion literature on a population …

When Job Skills Are Not Enough: Transitioning Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Francis Dematteo, Patricia S. Arter

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The purpose of this paper is to describe transition outcomes of school-aged young adults with ASD enrolled in a university-based program that emphasizes vocational training and socialization with neuro-typical peers and adults. Although this program appears to integrate best practices for successful transition to employment, reports from parents and program alumni indicate that few graduates continue to work despite their acquired vocational and social skill repertoire. This trend supports the need for adopting a resource-based transition model to better utilize employment related resources in the family network and community.

Addressing Barriers To Effective Rti Through School Counselor Consultation: A Social Justice Approach, Jeffrey M. Warren, Gretchen Robinson

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a culturally responsive framework developed to provide targeted, evidence-based instruction to all students in regular education settings. A goal of RTI is to reduce the disproportionate number of students of color referred for special education services. However, numerous barriers often prevent teachers from effectively engaging in the RTI process and serve to impede the delivery of instruction. School counselors can provide rational emotive-social behavior (RE-SB) consultation for teachers to address psychosocial barriers and promote social justice. This article outlines RTI, barriers to implementation, and how school counselors can advocate for all students through RE-SB consultation.

Indian Higher Education System: Challenges And Suggestions, Sahil Sharma, Purnendu Sharma

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Higher education system plays an important role for the country’s overall development which includes industrial, social, economic etc. Indian higher education system is third largest in the world. The role of Indian higher educational institutes such as colleges and universities in the present time is to provide quality based education in the field of education, research etc to empower youth for self sustainability. This paper includes the key challenges that India is currently facing in higher education and also includes some initiatives taken by the government to meet those challenges.

Exploring The Effects Of Reading Young Adult Literature That Portrays People With Disabilities In The Inclusion Classroom, Janine J. Darragh

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This intervention study examined the impact of reading young adult novels that portray people with disabilities on the attitudes of 229 eighth grade students. Students’ beliefs and intentions to interact with peers with disabilities were measured on three occasions utilizing the Shared Activities Questionnaire (Morgan, Walker, Bieberich & Bell, 1996, Unpublished manuscript) and the Adjective Checklist (Siperstein, 1980; Siperstein & Bak, 1977). First, all students took the attitudinal surveys. Half of the students then read and responded to a book that portrays a character with a disability, while the other students read a novel without disability portrayals. All students then …

A Study Of Assistive Technology Competencies Of Specialists In Public Schools, Betsy B. Burgos

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Despite the rapid proliferation of assistive technology implementation, studies have revealed that a number of professionals that provide assistive technology services do not have adequate competencies to recommend and deliver assistive technologies in school settings. The purpose of the study was to examine the competencies of assistive technology specialists in Florida K-12 public schools, and identify training opportunities that may have helped them achieve professional competence in the evaluation and provision of assistive technology devices and services across AT service providers from different preparations.

The study applied quantitative and qualitative methods to determine answers to the following six research questions: …

Math In The Dark: Tools For Expressing Mathematical Content By Visually Impaired Students, Patricia M. Mcdermott-Wells

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Blind and visually impaired students are under-represented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines of higher education and the workforce. This is due primarily to the difficulties they encounter in trying to succeed in mathematics courses. While there are sufficient tools available to create Braille content, including the special Nemeth Braille used in the U.S. for mathematics constructs, there are very few tools to allow a blind or visually impaired student to create his/her own mathematical content in a manner that sighted individuals can use. The software tools that are available are isolated, do not interface well with other …

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Accessibility Awareness Among Faculty In Online Learning Environments, Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Although all organizations and institutions should consider accessibility when developing online content, inaccessibility is a recurring issue in recent literature pertaining to online learning environments (OLEs) and faculty accessibility awareness. The goal was to describe how online faculty gain knowledge regarding accessibility, to explore the lived experiences of online faculty who have worked with students who have disabilities, and to gain a better understanding of how faculty experience the process of accessibility implementation. The following research questions guided this study: How do faculty in OLEs experience encounters regarding accessibility for students who have print related disabilities? How do faculty in …

Abriendo Oportunidades Program: Integrated Curriculum Guide (8 To 17 Years Old)—Two-Year Cycle, Cecilia Garcés, Paola Broll

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Abriendo Oportunidades program aims to support indigenous girls in Guatemala to reach their maximum potential and overcome the cycle of poverty. The program created safe spaces for girls at the community level, reaching adolescent girls with an asset-based curriculum implemented by community mentors. This is the third version of the curriculum. It was designed to foster reflection and dialogue, sisterhood, and critical thinking among adolescent girls. The first two versions focused on reproductive health, nutrition, hygiene, communication skills, and financial education. Several of the initial topics, as well as some activities from these previous versions, are included in the …

Education, Numeracy, And Literacy: Baseline Findings, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) is a program for girls ages 10–19 in rural and urban Zambia that aims to find the best ways to improve their social, health, and economic resources. The program involves over 10,000 girls participating in weekly girls’ group meetings, receiving health vouchers, and opening savings accounts. Over 5,000 girls, unmarried at baseline, are enrolled in a randomized, controlled trial and are being followed over four years—including the two years of the program and two years after. This brief describes the characteristics of these girls at baseline. Of the girls who are currently in school, …

Chile’S Educational Reform: The Struggle Between Nationalization And Privatization, Vannia J. Zelaya

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper looks into Chile's educational system and the recent policy reforms that President Michelle Bachelet seeks to establish. More specifically, this paper explores the "Proyecto de Ley de Fin al Lucro, la Selección y el Copago," which aims to eliminate private for-profit institutions within the public system, admission selectivity, and mandatory copay fees. With this, Bachelet's administration along with Chile's Ministry of Education intend to end the inequality of access to education, which is part of Chile's broader problem of great socioeconomic inequality. This particular policy is part of Bachelet's comprehensive educational system reform, and it brings Chile's voucher …

Loudness In The Library: Empowering Students To Think Critically About Identity And Bias, Anshu Wahi, Allie Bruce, Jamie Steinfeld

Progressive Education in Context

Describes how an unplanned, informal discussion about how race and identity are depicted on book covers evolved into a year-long investigation with a class of 11 and 12-year-olds where the interests and comments of the students drove the curriculum.

Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya: Financial Education Curriculum, Kibera, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Initiative–Kenya builds the social, health, and economic assets of adolescent girls in urban slums and Northeastern Kenya. This collection of learning sessions was designed to prepare adolescent girls for the financial responsibilities of adulthood. The sessions were developed to be delivered without a lot of resources or materials, with limited time available for training. The guide contains step-by-step descriptions of the learning activities as well as background information.

Intellectual Disability Discrimination, Kirsti D. Mutz

Selected Honors Theses

A lack of understanding concerning individuals with intellectual disabilities has led to exaggerated fears and diminished expectations. Consequently, these individuals have faced social exclusion. Research reveals, however, that societal discrimination can be stunted when people are given both information about and contact with these individuals. This research provides the foundation for a film documentary that provides society with the information and contact required to cultivate positive, inclusive attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disabilities.