Education Commons^™

The Inclusion Of Classroom-Related Dispositions In Teacher Evaluations, David K. Griffin

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This paper examines various approaches to evaluating the classroom teacher and discusses the inclusion of dispositions in the evaluation process. A random sample of 150 teachers were asked to complete an online survey focusing on the inclusion of dispositions in their formal evaluations. They were asked to report what specific dispositions were evaluated, and if the specific dispositions were operationally defined. A summary of their responses to the survey items is discussed.

Use Of Online Hybrid Supplemental Teaching In Field-Based Teacher Education Programs, Hank Bohanon, Wenjin Guo, Christopher Dickman

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

University faculty who implement field-based teacher education programs experience challenges providing instruction for clinical, site-embedded university-based students. These issues can include a lack of common times to meet with students, limited access to meeting space to provide direct instruction, and changes in the school schedule. A number of these barriers may be addressed by adding elements of online instruction to traditional in-person classes, making the course, in effect, a hybrid one. In this study, the researchers analyzed the perspectives of university-based, special education focused instructors and clinical partners on the barriers, needs, benefits, and content related to implementing hybrid instruction …

The Lived Experience Of Secondary Career And Technical Education Teachers Collaborating With Special Education Teachers: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Padro L. Gould

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological study aims to describe the lived experiences of secondary career and technical education (CTE) teachers in a Michigan public school district who collaborate with special education teachers to meet the instructional needs of students with special needs. The theory guiding this study is Bandura’s self-efficacy theory as it is used to assess CTE teacher confidence levels, and how those levels directly and indirectly affect their capacity to offer adequate instruction to CTE students with special needs through collaborative efforts. This research intended to answer this central research question: What are the experiences of CTE teachers who collaborate …

A Phenomenological Study On Special Education Teachers' Experience With General Education Teachers Not In A Co-Teaching Model Of Inclusion In North Carolina High Schools, Desmond Denard Coble

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of special education teachers with general education teachers who are not in a co-teaching model of inclusion in North Carolina high schools. The study examined how inclusion is implemented at the school level and how special education teachers and general education teachers collaborate for students with disabilities. Special education teachers working at the high school level in North Carolina are the participants in this study. The setting for the study is high schools within the state of North Carolina. The central question for this study asks how special …

Teachers’ Perception Of The Impact Of The Switch To Emergency Remote Teaching On Students With Disabilities During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Chinwe Osondu

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore teachers’ perception of the impact of the switch to emergency remote teaching on students with disabilities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as the factors that helped or hindered their academic and social-emotional achievement levels and motivation. A secondary goal of this study is to add to the literature on strategies to improve the outcomes of students with disabilities in an online/virtual learning environment. An interview protocol that included semi-structured, open-ended questions was used to capture the perceptions of 15 special education teachers. Rich qualitative data were …

Teaching Students With Maladaptive Behaviors In Special Education, Giselle Valdez Tejeda

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Thousands of students engage in maladaptive behaviors in Special Education classrooms throughout the world every single day. It is very important for parents and others related to the field to know and get an understanding of how teachers teach students effectively according to their functional skills and understanding. This senior capstone examines how teachers teach students with maladaptive behaviors in Special Education. Through the use of literature review and interviews with three specialists in Special Education, the findings reveal that by finding ways to keep their maladaptive behaviors to interfere with their learning is by providing one-to-one support in classroom …

What Keeps Teachers Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder Teaching?, Kimberley Rodriguez

All NMU Master's Theses

Currently, staff shortages exist in all areas of education. In the field of special education, there are sub-groups of teachers and classrooms, each with unique challenges. This study explores the experiences of teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) disability in order to identify important retention factors specific to them. In this qualitative, phenomenological study, the researcher conducted four, one-on-one interviews to discover the district-related factors shared by teachers of students with ASD when considering staying or leaving their current position. Interview responses were categorized into the four themes critical to teacher retention according to the four capital theory …

Investigating The Collaboration Of Teachers Of Students With Disabilities And Teaching Assistants In The Classroom, Sa-Qwona S. Clark

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative dissertation study examined the complex dynamics and structures (i.e., people and/or explicit/implicit classroom-, school-, and district-wide behaviors and practices and school-wide structures) that influence collaboration between teachers of students with disabilities (TOSD) and teaching assistants (TAs). Specifically, I wanted to learn: (1) What are the complex dynamics (i.e., people and/or explicit/implicit classroom-, school-, and district-wide behaviors and practices and school-wide structures) that interact to influence collaboration between teachers and teaching assistants? (1a) What role does each participant stakeholder (i.e., teacher, teaching assistant, and principal) play in those complex dynamics? (1b) How do participants develop their understandings about the …

Features Of Direct Instruction: Interactive Lessons, Kristen R. Rolf, Timothy A. Slocum

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

Direct Instruction (DI) teaches challenging academic content to a range of diverse learners. In order to do so, DI includes a complex system for organizing and directing teacher–student interactions to maximize learning. This system includes: instructional formats that specify the interactions between teacher and student, flexible skills-based groupings, active student responding, responsive interactions between students and teachers, ongoing data-based decision making, and mastery teaching. In this article, we describe each of these main features of the system, define their functions, reveal how they are interwoven throughout all DI lessons, and provide specific examples of their application during instruction. Our goal …

The Benefits Of Teaching Professionals Using Mindful Practices For Stress And Emotional Regulation, Becky Aish

Culminating Projects in Special Education

Teaching requires a lot of caring, determination, creativity, flexibility, knowledge, and understanding. To have these traits shine through, teachers must have compassion for the students they educate. When compassion turns into mental health stressors, teachers can no longer concentrate effectively in the classroom environment. Giving a teacher tools of mindfulness practices can help the teacher to equip themselves to help counter compassion stress. This paper is a literature review intended to explain what mindfulness is, the history behind it, the need for mindfulness in an educational setting, and research evaluating the effectiveness of mindfulness for teachers in general education and …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Home-School Collaboration: Enhancing Learning For Children With Autism, Chana S. Josilowski

The Qualitative Report

This study aimed to explore the relationship between teachers and students’ families and address the deficiencies in the body of research regarding the performance gap between children with autism and their age-equivalent peers. The research question was: How do teachers of children with autism perceive the home-school collaboration and its impact on learning? Ten state-certified special educators with at least 3 years’ experience teaching children with autism, and experience collaborating with their students’ families participated in face-to-face interviews, answering 8 open-ended questions in this generic qualitative study. Inductive thematic analysis yielded 6 themes: (a) collaboration improves learning, (b) communication is …

Training Teachers Of Children With Moderate To Severe Disabilities To Contingently Respond To Child-Initiated Socially-Desirable Behaviors During Centers, Ashley King Holt

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers of young children with moderate to severe disabilities may have insufficient training in implementing naturalistic instructional practices based in evidence. Behavior Specific Praise (BSP) and Incidental Teaching are well researched, but limited studies exist on the use of teacher contingent responses to children with moderate to severe disabilities’ self-initiated socially-desirable behaviors during centers. I used a multiple baseline design across four special education teachers to measure the effects of a training package incorporating Behavior Skills Training (BST) and Emailed Performance Feedback (EPF) on teachers’ contingent responses to their target children with a few self-initiated socially-desirable behaviors during centers. Results …

A Qualitative Exploration Of Teachers’ Experiences With Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder Transitioning And Adjusting To Inclusion: Impacts Of The Home And School Collaboration, Chana S. Josilowski, Wendy Morris

The Qualitative Report

Although inclusive classrooms provide unique opportunities for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), these students face barriers during the initial transition from self-contained classrooms (Sanahuja-Gavaldà, Olmos-Rueda, & Morón-Velasco, 2016). The purpose of this qualitative, generic study was to identify how home and school collaboration impacted the transition and adjustment of students with ASD to an inclusive setting. Using a generic qualitative methodology, we collected data from 16 teachers who responded to a series of open-ended questions about their experiences with parental engagement during the transition to inclusion for students with ASD. Three themes emerged; teachers indicated that when parents and …

The Ebp-Cot Assignment: Increasing The Use And Understanding Of Ebps In Preservice Teachers, Margaret Bowman

Honors Theses

This study investigated whether the use of the Evidence-Based Practice-Classroom Observation Tool (EBP-COT) assignment in an introductory teacher education practicum increased the understanding of Evidence-Based Practice-Classroom Observation Tools (EBPCOT). Participants in this study were consenting special education majors in their introductory block practicum course at a mid-south university in the fall semester of 2018. Students were asked to complete the EBP-COT assignment to include focused checklists components and reflections as well as a pretest and posttest. The assignment, pretest, and posttest were analyzed for similarities in increased understanding of evidence-based practices and comfort with the use of evidence-based practices. Overall, …

Motivating The Unmotivated: How Are We Supporting Struggling Readers In Upper Elementary Classrooms?, Maci V. Wood

Honors College Theses

Motivating struggling students to read is a question considered by many general education reading teachers and special education teachers alike. Since student classroom experiences today differ greatly from classrooms of the past in terms of instructional practices and learning supports, scripted materials that seldom cater to student interest have often been promoted due to the pressure of standardized assessment. With little to no student engagement present in the classroom, it is up to the student to find the will to read or to the teacher to utilize alternative strategies in increasing student motivation (Cambria & Gunthrie, 2008). However, there is …

The Connection Between Teacher-Student Relationships For Behavior And Academic Outcomes, Lance William Edminster

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The National Center of Educational Statistics (NCES, n.d.) reports the “2016–17 ACGR (adjusted cohort graduation rate) for all students was 84.6 percent.” Emotional/Behavioral Disorder (E/BD) students are the lowest to graduate that has a disability. As of right now, 40% of the students labeled with E/BD graduate from school which is far below the national average (University of New Hampshire, 2014). Suicide is the number two killer of individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 which is a preventable death (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.) Harvard University (2019) reports that one caring and supportive adult can …

Indicators And Precipitators Of Special Educator Satisfaction: The Role Of Certification And Advanced Coursework, Jessica Spencer

Dissertations

Special education teachers are leaving the education field at a higher rate than other education professionals. The annual attrition rate for special education teachers is estimated to be between 8-10% of special educators across the United States. These attrition rates are concerning, as they contribute to the shortage of quality special educators. Considering that an estimated 50% of special educators leave their positions within their first five years, researchers have conducted studies examining criteria centered on teacher retention and attrition. This study examined the findings of such studies, and explored the role of how teachers' certifications and obtaining advanced degrees …

Job Satisfaction And Self-Efficacy Score Differences In General And Special Education Teachers As Measured By The Job Satisfaction Survey And Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Scale, Angela Alford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Teacher turn over has been a concern over the last 30 years in the United States. The implementation of No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 impacted the accountability of teachers. This quantitative, correlation study endeavors to determine the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Within this study, teachers of a Title I school in the largest school district in a southern state were surveyed via hard copy. The Tschannen-Moran instrument, Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (2001), was used to identify three subscales: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. The Job Satisfaction Survey collected participants’ general satisfaction by …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Serviceability Of Teaching Practice Modifications Aimed For Special Education Teacher Candidates, Veysel Aksoy Ph.D., Tezcan Çavuşoğlu Res. Asst., Gülefşan Özge Kalayci Res. Asst.

The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship

The process of training special education teacher candidates is an issue that has been widely discussed in literature, yet there is no consensus as to the most effective method. Therefore, it is recommended that methods designed to meet the needs of special education teacher candidates with proven efficiency should be used collectively. This research analyzed the serviceability of the teaching practice process considering its strength and weaknesses based on the views of special education teacher candidates and observations of researchers.

Strategies For Supporting Students Who Are Twice-Exceptional, Janet Josephson, Charlton Wolfgang, Rich Mehrenberg

The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship

No abstract provided.

Educators' Attitudes Towards Implementation Of Inclusive Education, Kimberly Evans Holmes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand educators’ attitudes toward implementation of inclusive education. The survey study investigated the collaborative efforts, responsibility, accommodations, and training these educators are working towards teaching students in an inclusive environment. This study adopted a descriptive survey design, where 59 educators completed the online survey regarding their attitudes towards implementation of inclusive education. The opinions regarding necessary accommodations for students with IEPs were extremely supportive; whereby 98% of educators feel that they are willing to make necessary accommodations for students. Overwhelmingly, the educators disagree that they are not provided with sufficient training opportunities in …

Elementary Principals' Perceptions Of Special Education Teachers' Performance Evaluation Process, Nafees H. Rasul

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Evidence suggests that current special education teacher evaluation systems may not accurately reflect these teachers' unique duties and responsibilities. In a Midwestern, urban school district, the teacher evaluation system was not adequately aligned with the performance expectations of special education teachers. Guided by Danielson's framework for teaching, this qualitative case study explored elementary school principals' perceptions of teacher evaluation approaches, perceived effectiveness of these approaches, applications of key indicators of teaching quality, and barriers preventing accurate evaluations of special education teachers' performance. An online survey comprised of closed- and open-ended questions was distributed to 445 principals in the district with …

Table Of Contents

The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship

No abstract provided.

Hire, Train, Retain: Addressing The Arkansas Special Education Teacher Shortage, Cody Lee Chatman

Theses and Dissertations from 2017

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify factors affecting special education teacher recruitment and retention throughout the Northwest Arkansas/River Valley region. This study contains both quantitative and qualitative survey data from 30 public school districts and 401 special education teachers currently serving in the field. The survey, deployed over a 30-day period, contained a series of multiple choice, Likerttype, and open-ended questions that were analyzed by the researcher to answer seven research questions. The results of this study indicate that perceptions of job commitment do not differ significantly based on the demographic characteristics of special educators. Yet, …

Importance Of Accommodating Elementary School Students With Learning Disabilities, Angelica R. Rivera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone examines the rationale why it is important to accommodate the students with learning disabilities at the elementary schools. Mainstreaming students with disabilities with those in regular general education classrooms remains a very important issue for principals and teachers. Through the use of literature review and interviews with a principal and a teacher from their respective schools in the Monterey County area, the results show that there is a gap between the services provided to students with learning disabilities.

Teacher Retention: Perceptions Of The Organizational Factors That Influence Teacher Transition From Private School Classrooms Of Individuals With Autism To Public School Autism Classrooms, Kathryn Cerino Britton

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Nine experienced certified special education teachers who chose to move from the private sector to the public sector were interviewed to gain knowledge and information that could be used to improve the private sector school for learners with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as the conceptual framework, this study explored the respondents’ beliefs about their workload, work responsibilities, compensation, and perceptions regarding their teaching experiences in private and public schools. Specifically, telephone or face-to-face interviews were conducted to ascertain the motivating factors that led the respondents to leave one private school, The Apple School, for teaching …

A Descriptive Case Study Examining The Perceptions Of Haitian American Parents And The Perceptions Of Their Children’S Teachers On The Parents’ Involvement In A Structured Parent Intervention Program, Kristina M. Taylor

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parental involvement is legally mandated requirement in schools across the United States, and prevalent in special education legislation. However, methods for increasing and promoting parent involvement of minority subgroups in low socioeconomic areas are scarce. The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and describe Haitian parents’ perceptions of their involvement in a structured parent intervention program and to describe the perceptions of their children’s teachers concerning the parents’ involvement in the program.

In this study, the researcher used a descriptive qualitative case study methodology. All participants in the 5-month program implementation were interviewed at three points throughout the …

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …

General Education And Special Education Teachers' Attitudes Toward Inclusion, Carmen Yvette Charley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educational reformers have mandated inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. However, general education teachers often do not regularly receive training in inclusive practices, and this lack of training can affect teachers' attitudes and levels of self-efficacy, which may ultimately affect their ability to successfully teach students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in general education and special education teachers' attitudes towards inclusion of students with disabilities and if levels of self-efficacy (overall and 3 subscales), gender, education level, teacher type, and grade level taught were predictors of Teachers' Attitudes Toward …

Supervision As A Prevention And Support To Teachers In Inclusive Education, Petra Potmesilova, Milon Potmesil, Marcela Fojtikova Roubalova

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The presented research was focused on the field of sentiments, attitudes and concerns of educators potentially working with pupils with impairment under inclusive settings.

This study was aimed at discovering whether the above stated parameters change after achieving qualification in special needs education. The results of research encompassing a period of two years aimed at describing a group of 794 educators from the point of view of the development of their attitudes, opinions and concerns while being focused on the process of inclusion. In accordance with the obtained results, supervision as a special psychological support is badly needed.