Education Commons^™

The Importance Of Endrew: Analyzing The Influence Of A New Legal Precedent In Pennsylvania Due Process Hearing Officer Decisions Before And After Covid-19 Closures, David H. Rush

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

In 2017, a new standard for determining substantive violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was established with the ruling for Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. Recently, the United States Department of Education and State Education Agencies have cited the Endrew decision as being important in defining what constitutes a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) under the IDEA, in light of mandated school closures due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Despite its noted importance, there has been limited analysis into how this new legal precedent has influenced special education due process hearing officer decisions. …

Exploring The Use Of Witness Testimony In Special Education Due Process Hearings, Mary E. Sheppard, Samantha Riggleman, William Blackwell

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA) protects the rights of parents and/or guardians of children with disabilities to utilize the due process system to settle disagreements with school districts regarding their children’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). In the event that these disputes move before a due process hearing officer, it is common for each side to enlist experts to provide testimony to support one of the parties involved. In the current study, we examined the use of expert witness testimony in due process hearings in five large states throughout the United States. Findings indicated several concerning trends, such …

Taking Flight: Giving Up The Things That Weigh Me Down, Karina Malik

Occasional Paper Series

From the perspective of a Latinx, dual-language, special education, public school teacher, I explore and detail what an equitable and just education could look like in our future. I begin by envisioning a future that:

• Values collaboration in teaching and learning

• Allows for spaces of ongoing teacher learning where we teachers decide where we want to grow and how we want to learn.

• Invests in our growth and development as educators.

• Consists of a solid understanding that there is more expertise across communities than in any one person.

I continue by explaining that in order for this to be a …

A Qualitative Study Of American Sign Language Interpreting For Deaf Individuals With Disabilities, Emily A. Mason

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

There are complexities involved in American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting for the unique population of Deaf individuals with disabilities (DWD), particularly in educational settings, that must be considered. Based on the foundation of existing literature regarding the field of ASL interpreting, educational interpreting, and strategies of working with DWD individuals, the researcher created a theoretical conceptual framework that combined the frameworks of ASL Interpreting and Special Education. The current primary research is aimed at addressing another portion of the gap, that is, research regarding practical experiences in working with this population. This study was conducted through questionnaires sent out through …

Exploring Stem Kit Diagrams For Braille Readers In Inclusive Classrooms, Sariat A. Adelakun Dr

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Diagrams appears in many school subjects but more prominent in science and mathematics taught in schools. Accessing these diagrams in an inclusive classroom has been identified to be problematic for blind students partly due to the teaching resources available and personnel type, support and sufficiency. Diagrams are mostly omitted by teachers leaving the blind person out in such classroom to access portion of education received by their peers. In many instances, questions with diagrams are treated as bonus for blind students in some countries which is not fair to them. This study explored the efficacy of STEM Kit diagrams on …

Students With Disabilities: Transitioning From Pk-18 To The Workplace, Cheri Beverly, Jane B. Thall

Dilemmas in Education: A Casebook for Ethical Reasoning

The case study investigates the conflict that arises when a student who has received extensive assistance and accommodation for an invisible disability throughout her education (PK-12 through graduate school) transitions to her first job. The case explores the tension between the employee and her employer.

Elucidation Of Effective Professional Development Experiences: Addressing Inclusion For Students With Autism, Jennifer Lee Suppo

Journal of Research Initiatives

Open interviews were conducted with a special education teacher and a general education teacher. The overall guiding question was to provide elucidation of what is needed in a professional development program to meet the needs of both the general and special education teachers who teach children with a diagnosis of autism in an inclusive setting. Overall, the themes of diversity, knowledge and collaboration emerged as important variables for professional development experiences. Furthermore, in-depth knowledge and flexibility arose as important qualities of the facilitator of a professional development experience. Implications are a set forth for the expansion of the study and …

Making All Students "Our" Students: Where To Start?, Frank E. Mullins Ph.D., Janice Murdock Ph.D., Phoebe A. Okungu Ph.D., Deann A. Lechtenberg Ph.D.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

The collaborative team approach is an approach in which general education and special education teachers work together in a single classroom to provide instruction to all students. Neither teacher has more authority than the other.

Education should not be compartments in which one has a mindset of “my students” and “your students”. The mindset must be changed to “our students”. This change in mindsets must begin in pre-service programs in order to carry on to PreK-12 classrooms. As inclusion becomes more and more accepted in public education, educators must be taught strategies that will enable them to work collaboratively with …

Effective Interventions For Improving Reading Accuracy And Fluency In Children With Dyslexia, Carlea A. Winkler

Scholarship and Engagement in Education

There are a vast number of instructional strategies for teaching students with dyslexia, but successful approaches all share a few key components including, a high degree of structure, intensive and explicit instruction, and a low student to teacher ratio. Additionally, most research-backed strategies fall into one of two categories: programs that target phonological awareness, and programs that target orthographic pattern recognition and morphology. Numerous studies on phonological awareness training and orthographic pattern recognition training have showed positive results. However, more research is needed to understand why some children fail to make significant gains even with intensive intervention, and what factors …

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Of Students With Learning Disabilities: Using Mixed Methods To Examine Effectiveness Of Special Education Coursework, Renée A. Greenfield, Megan Mackey, Gretchen Nelson

The Qualitative Report

As the number of K-12 students with learning disabilities educated in general education classrooms grow, it is essential to examine the preparation and perceptions of pre-service teachers (N=15) who will educate students with learning disabilities. Within the context of an undergraduate learning disabilities method course, this study examined how pre-service teachers perceived students with learning disabilities as well as the effectiveness of particular course experiences, including fieldwork with students with learning disabilities, video vignettes, lesson planning, assigned reading, and center-based instruction, in shifting perceptions. Using a convergent, mixed method design, teacher educators at a university in the northeast used surveys, …

Professional Development Data: A Review Of Action Research And Data Analysis And Its Implications For Special Education, Jennifer Lee Suppo

Journal of Research Initiatives

In today’s world of accountability and budgeting constraints, schools are examining how they get the most “bang for their buck” in the area of professional development experiences. Professional development has traditionally been used to keep teachers and administrators abreast of current teaching strategies. In using the traditional model of professional development, typically the school or district would have a speaker, who was knowledgeable on a random topic of education, come in and conduct a one-day seminar. More often than not, there was little accountability to this traditional model; little if any data was taken to see if the knowledge obtained …

The Bridges And Barriers Model Of Support For High-Functioning Students With Asd In Mainstream Schools, Wendy Holcombe, Margaret Plunkett

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

National statistics indicate the ongoing challenge of catering for the unique needs of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) within the context of inclusive education. Higher rates of difficulty and poorer outcomes are experienced by this cohort when compared to both the general population and others within the disability sector. The perspectives of educators from a variety of roles were examined to identify factors impacting upon the educational experience of high-functioning students with ASD to determine how they could be supported more effectively. Findings indicate despite extensive educational experience and considerable knowledge of ASD, many educators lack an understanding of …

Ambiguity In Speaking Chemistry And Other Stem Content: Educational Implications, Mick D. Isaacson, Michelle Michaels

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Ambiguity in speech is a possible barrier to the acquisition of knowledge for students who have print disabilities (such as blindness, visual impairments, and some specific learning disabilities) and rely on auditory input for learning. Chemistry appears to have considerable potential for being spoken ambiguously and may be a barrier to accessing knowledge and to learning. Educators in chemistry may be unaware of, or have limited awareness of, potential ambiguity in speaking chemistry and may speak chemistry ambiguously to their students. One purpose of this paper is to increase awareness of potential ambiguity in speaking chemistry and other STEM fields …

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 …

Off Sunset Boulevard: Students, Homelessness And Disability In Los Angeles- Idea, Mckinney Vento And The Void In Between, Remy Krumpak

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Homeless youth with a disability must overcome many barriers to receive the meaningful, individualized education they are legally entitled to. Over the last two decades, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the McKinney-Vento Act have begun to acknowledge the challenges that exist for this population. These laws require school districts to identify homeless youth with a disability, allow them immediate enrollment and access to special education services, and free transportation to school. This article examines the Los Angeles Unified School District as a case study for policy implementation. In analyzing the success of the policies as implemented, this article …