Disability and Equity in Education Commons^™

Teachers' Negative Comments Toward Youth In Foster Care With Disabilities: How Do They Relate To Youths' Problem Behaviors, School Attitudes, And School Performance?, Sunghwan Noh

Dissertations and Theses

A large proportion of youth in foster care receive special education services, and poor educational outcomes are one of the most important difficulties facing these youth. One potential risk affecting the low educational achievements of youth in foster care and special education could be teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments toward them. Teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments could have negative effects on youths' behaviors, school attitudes and school performance. Yet, research on the nature and the impact of teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments remains limited.

Based on labeling and attribution theories, this study investigated the nature and impact of teachers' negative …

Effectiveness Of Gluten-Free And Casein-Free Diets For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Evidence-Based Research Synthesis, Jie Zhang, Michael R. Mayton, John J. Wheeler

ETSU Faculty Works

In order to better assist practitioners and better serve persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families, it is vital for professionals to systematically evaluate the existing body of literature and synthesize its scientific evidence, so that the efficacy of research can be translated to evidence-based practices (EBPs) (Wheeler, 2007; Zhang & Wheeler, 2011). This research synthesis evaluated adherence to EBP standards and analyzed the effectiveness of gluten-free and casein-free (GFCF) diets for individuals with ASD. Four hundred and seventy articles were screened among peer-reviewed journals in English language published through 2010 using the Academic Search Complete search database. …

The Message 2.0: Perceptions Of Success From Members Of The Founding Class Of Mc Squared Stem High School, Jeffrey D. Mcclellan

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the methods of learning from the student’s perspective in order to understand what made the first graduating class of MC Squared successful. The conceptual model of student success composed of non-academic factors of motivation, social connectedness, and self-management was used for the lens from which to understand the six students in depth. Through the research, it was uncovered that diversified learning environments, a mastery based assessment system, and an unwavering acceptance of students within a challenging and supportive environment are essential to the success achieved at MC Squared STEM High School. Lastly, the seminal contribution of this …

The Race For Honors, Hannah M. Frantz

SURGE

Over graduation weekend, it was pretty common to see people weighed down by massive numbers of honor cords hanging around their necks. This is a mark of respect at Gettysburg College, so students wear them proudly. I had the privilege to attend Spring Honors Day and watch many of my friends receive achievement awards. As we started winding down to the end of the ceremony, something hit me:

The recipients were overwhelmingly white. [excerpt]

Literacy And The Most Marginalised Children, Megan Robinson

International Developments

Researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in the field of inclusive education gathered at a roundtable meeting to discuss synergies across the Australian and international development education policy arenas regarding literacy interventions for the most marginalised children.

How We Understand Intelligence And Why It Makes A Difference : A Literature Review, Maya Golden

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Investigates theories of intelligence and examines the educational implications of contrasting views. Following a personal reflection on the subject, the author conducts an extensive review of the related literature. The author indicates that the quality of a student's educational experience is greatly impacted by the view to which his or her teacher subscribes.

Internationally Adopted Children & Language-Based School Difficulties, Sylena B. Goodman

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper will provide teachers with essential information on internationally adopted children's unique language acquisition process and their common language-based school difficulties. It will also address the potential for educational misclassification of internationally adopted children and provide suggestions for IDEA language modifications in order to ensure proper classification of internationally adopted children. Lastly, the paper will discuss a variety of potential supports and interventions for struggling internationally adopted children.

Spark : An Educator's Look At Connection In 21st Century American Schools, Melissa J. Berrada

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Connection, creativity in the classroom and miracles are possible, even in today's standardized climate. The author gives examples that prove damaged systems can be overcome and difficult situations surmounted. Her hope is that this integrative master's project will show a true exploration of what it means to have an inner voice, to find and free it, and eventually express it.

Chartered Sites Of Exception : Problematizing The Construction Of Bare Life For Exceptional Populations In The United States Educational System, Jonathan Michael Mcintosh

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of deregulation policies in charter schools through a site of exception analysis and the resulting effect on exceptional populations in these schools.

Racial Inequality In Special Education And The Need For Cultural Competence, Nicole Rosado

Graduate Student Independent Studies

For many years, schools in the United States have been dealing with the persistent overrepresentation of students of color in special education. The research suggests a variety of causes for this epidemic. After an analysis of the ways in which racially, culturally and linguistically diverse students are on the receiving end of unequal educational experiences, recommendations for the implementation of culturally competent education will be provided.

African-American Language : Linguistics, Power, And The Impact On All Children, Kendra Lewis

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Addresses the issue of linguistic discrimination in educational settings with specific focus on African-American language (AAL) in historical and political context including: socio-linguistic research, theory of African-American language (AAL), analysis of syntax and lexical morphology as well as sample texts in hip-hop, poetry, prose, and drama with instructional guidelines and a field-based summary statement.

Making Power Visible For Museum Educators : A Theoretical Framework For Multicultural Museum Education, Sehr Karim-Jaffer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The central guiding question of this study is how can museum educators (and volunteers) effectively engage multicultural audiences, who may face langauge and socioeconomic barriers, with objects of art in museum galleries?.

Process Drama: A Medium For Creating A Hospitable Space For Learning Through Reverent Listening, Kim Anne Anthony

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This thesis explores how Process Drama, as pedagogy, can invite into educational discourse a conversation about the roles of hospitality and reverence in the classroom through reverent listening to self, others and context. It can become a medium for holistic learning in the drama classroom and in learning situations of all kinds. Process Drama, as an enactment of reverent listening, creates a space for theater to facilitate the engagement of all participants, creating a learningful experience that can transcend barriers of race and social economic status brought by the invited and uninvited learner. Reverent listening and hospitality become the catalyst …

Interagency Barriers And Facilitators In Transition Planning For Students With Disabilities, Deanna Lynn Taylor

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This study examined the barriers and facilitators identified by both vocational rehabilitation counselors and special educators in four states (Florida, Maryland, Oregon and Utah) regarding collaboration in transition planning. Two survey questionnaires were disseminated: one to vocational rehabilitation counselors and one to special educators in that requested information on perceptions of the level of knowledge on transition planning and activities, level of satisfaction, and open-ended questions for suggestions on how to improve collaboration between the two groups. The surveys were nearly identical and were designed to explore barriers that the two disciplines experience working with each other as well as …

The Value Of Nongovernmental Free Vocational Training In Vietnam; The Opportunities And Barriers In Teaching Japanese Cooking Skills To Disadvantaged Vietnamese Youth, Koji Asada

Capstone Collection

Nongovernmental free vocational training for disadvantaged youth has been provided by various organizations in the world and has had a positive impact on the learners. This is also true in Vietnam.

However, how is the training geared to employment opportunities, designed to overcome challenges to learning and employment, and with what potential impact on the learners and communities. These questions have not been well answered.

This study examines the value of nongovernmental free vocational training in Hanoi city, Vietnam, which is in the middle of rapid economic development. Specifically, this study researched the future prospects of skill training in Japanese …

The Incorporation Of Deaf American Culture And History In Secondary Education Classrooms, James B. Smith

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Bilingual-Bicultural Education (Bi-Bi) has a positive impact on language development and social-psychological development of Deaf children (Baker, 2011; Scott, 2010; Humphries & Humphries, 2010). This development is predicated on the child’s access to American Sign Language (ASL); however, the role of Deaf culture and history in Bi-Bi is not well-defined (Ladd, 2003). Children at Bi-Bi schools and programs often acquire cultural aspects through social interactions among their Deaf acquaintances rather than in the classroom. The socialization and cultural sensitivity of Deaf children does not constitute a formal instruction and mastery in all the elements of culture, as often believed in …

The Effects Of Instruction On Self-Determination On Transition Students' Levels Of Goal-Setting, Goal Expression And Action, Scott Charles Sorensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Students with disabilities in transition from school to adulthood often experience problems with self-determination skills, especially goal-related skills (e.g., goal setting, expression, and taking action). Instruction in these skills is needed. This project examined the effect of instructing portions of the self-determination intervention Whose Future is it Anyway? (WFA) dealing with goal-related skills and its effect on goal setting, expressing, and taking action. Participants included five students with disabilities in a transition program ages 18 to 21. Procedures involved a pretest using the ChoiceMaker Assessment and the Arc Scale, followed by the implementation of the WFA intervention, and posttests using …

Technology And The Self-Directed Iep: Improving Meeting Participation For Students With Severe Disabilities, Crystal Ann Stringham

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Students with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) often experience challenges when transitioning to postsecondary education institutions after high school. A unique challenge involves filling out forms in order to registered for college. One of several components to a successful transition to postsecondary settings requires students to complete application forms. The purpose of this project is to examine the effects of direct instruction (DI) on increased performance of filling out college application forms of students with SLD in a special education classroom. Participants included eight high school students, ages 17 to 18, with a SLD. The intervention in this study involved …

The Effects Of Direct Instruction On Completing College Application Forms Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Allyson White

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Students with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) often experience challenges when transitioning to postsecondary education institutions after high school. A unique challenge involves filling out forms in order to registered for college. One of several components to a successful transition to postsecondary settings requires students to complete application forms. The purpose of this project is to examine the effects of direct instruction (DI) on increased performance of filling out college application forms of students with SLD in a special education classroom. Participants included eight high school students, ages 17 to 18, with a SLD. The intervention in this study involved …

The Fallacy Of Free Market Democracy: Marginalization Through Chilean Health Care And Education, Robin L. Young

Senior Capstone Theses

This thesis examines how neoliberal policies implemented during Augusto Pinochet’s sixteen-year military regime in Chile have affected post-dictatorship democratization. It argues that democracy has been incomplete in Chile since the fall of Pinochet’s regime, due mainly to the three neoliberal policies of deregulation, decentralization, and decreased government funding. Through the detailed analysis of Chile’s health care and education systems, this thesis demonstrates how these neoliberal policies drastically changed social welfare practices in Chile during the 1980s, leading to extreme social inequality that has only continued to increase in the last thirty years. This social inequality, as well as the marginalization …

Effect Of Racial Socialization And Racial Identity In Adolescent African American Males On Academic Achievement, Rasheema Pitt

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

This study examined possible influences of racial socialization and racial identity in minority’s academic achievement. Qualitative data sources (in-depth, personal interviews, focus groups, and a survey) were collected from 10 minority students and 8 administrators. In addition, a quantitative survey was used to supplement qualitative data. The researcher established her own set of questions for the interviews and focus groups. The pre-established measures used were the Does Your School Have High Expectations for All Students survey and the School Climate survey.

Thematic and theoretical analyses procedures were used to identify emerging themes and patterns, with particular attention to what minority …

School For Global Inclusion And Social Development: Expanding The Umass Boston Community On A Regional, National, And International Level, David Temelini, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The School for Global Inclusion and Social Development (SGISD) is the newest graduate school at UMass Boston. We are the first graduate program in the world to focus on wellness, disability, and economic development from an international perspective. The first students in our master's program will start classes in January 2014, with our PhD program to launch in September 2014. SGISD's emphasis is on groups of people who are excluded from communities here in the U.S. and abroad, due to disability or other conditions. Instruction will be delivered on campus, online, and through international exchange programs.

Building The Capacity Of The Massachusetts Workforce Development System In Massachusetts To Better Serve Individuals With Disabilities, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Ensuring that community resources that are available to assist anyone with their job search and training needs are fully accessible and effective for individuals with disabilities.

Camp Shriver – A Free Inclusive Summer Sports Camp For Children With And Without Disabilities, Gary N. Siperstein, Mark Spolidoro, Barbara Gildea, Center For Social Development And Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Camp Shriver at UMass Boston provides a free and fully inclusive summer recreational program for children in the surrounding communities of Boston and Quincy. Through Camp Shriver, UMass Boston reaches out to children and families who have few opportunities, particularly families of children with disabilities.

Inclusive Concurrent Education Partnership, Aimee D’Avignon, Laura Vanderberg, Felicia Wilczenski, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston;

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Inclusive Concurrent Education Grant was implemented at the beginning of the fall 2012 semester after a planning period covering the spring and summer of 2012. Seven students from Boston Public Schools participated in the program’s first semester at UMass Boston, auditing a class each chosen from their personal interests. Five students completed.

The objective of the Inclusive Concurrent Education partnership is to provide secondary students with significant intellectual disabilities an opportunity to take an undergraduate course at UMass Boston. The goals are to provide an opportunity for these students to pursue their interests and to learn such skills as …

Health Care Inadequacies For Disabled Americans, Emily Housecamp

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

In lieu of an abstract, below is the first paragraph of the paper.

Many disabled individuals, including the mentally retarded, the physically disabled, and the elderly, face constant erasure in American society. Rarely, if ever, are people with disabilities portrayed in television commercials, and if they are ever present in a movie or television show, they commonly portray such disabled stereotypes as "supercrips." They also must face many unnecessary difficulties, including discrimination in the workplace, various abuses, and a lack of handicap accessibility. One of the most difficult aspects of life for a disabled American, however, is the inability to …

El Éxito Del Colegio De Educación Especial San Rafael / Success Of The Special Education School “San Rafael”, Cecilia Vichier-Guerre

Spain: Language, Community, and Social Change

For my service project in Granada, Spain, I spent the last few months volunteering in special education at San Rafael Hospital, working with students who have disorders ranging from cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, epilepsy to autism. I witnessed first-hand how Andalucía’s warm culture can have a positive impact in the workplace, an advantage in comparison to American education.

I worked one on one with the children helping them in their activity books. These lessons challenged my creativity to explain mathematics or grammar in ways the children could understand, a feat considering my limited Spanish. Volunteering at San Rafael redefined my …

Special Education: A Comparison Between Special Education In Bali And In America, Jacey Ann Dold

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In America, education is very highly valued. America believes that everyone has the right to education. Traditionally, students complete about 12 years of primary education before they continue on to college and then possibly graduate school. However, in Indonesia, specifically Bali, education is not seen as anything that should take priority over any other activity. Now lets shift the focus into a more specific kind of learning: special education. Special education for special needs people is a progressing teaching system that is continuously being developed in both Indonesia and America.

This paper will attempt to assess the special education systems …

Landscapes To Learnscapes: Exploring Schoolyard-Based Education, Emily I. Palena, Caroline T. Spurgin

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis explores schoolyard-based education as a viable and necessary method for rectifying the shortcomings within the American public school system and the Nature-deficit Disorder epidemic. We argue that schoolyard-based education should be fully integrated into the school system, not in the sole form of popularized school gardens, but as a standard teaching method. We show this using extensive research and a case study of three elementary schools in Claremont, California.

The Impact Of Demographics On 21st Century Education, Norman Eng

Publications and Research

Do all students need STEM education or should it be focused primarily on the mathematically and scientifically inclined? Here, demographics may hold the key to such questions from which a 21st century education model should be based on.