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The Impact Of Federal Level Special Education Policy Internships In Preparing Special Education Faculty: A Preliminary Investigation, Katie Miller, Lisa A. Finnegan, Wilfred Wienke, Angel Lopez

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

In this manuscript, the authors examine the reaction of special education doctoral scholars and their response to a federal policy internship. Six doctoral scholar participants participated in a summer federal policy internship opportunity and partook in the study. Doctoral scholars responded to a survey about their knowledge of federal legislation and their perceptions of the federal policy internship. Data were collected and analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Three themes emerged after completing their doctoral internship which include: importance of advocacy and its impact on policy, importance of evidence based practices and their role in policy making, and increased knowledge of …