Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Visual Representation In Mathematics: Special Education Teachers’ Knowledge And Emphasis For Instruction, Delinda Van Garderen, Amy Scheuermann, Apryl L. Poch, Mary M. Murray

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The use of visual representations (VRs) in mathematics is a strongly recommended practice in special education. Although recommended, little is known about special educators’ knowledge of and instructional emphasis about VRs. Therefore, in this study, the authors examined special educators’ own knowledge of and their instructional emphasis with VRs in mathematics for students with disabilities (SWDs) in Grades K-12. A total of 146 teachers (pre- and in-service) responded to an online survey. A mixed methods triangulation research design was utilized. Findings include the following: (a) teachers hold conceptions about VRs and the roles they serve in problem solving; their ideas, …

Understanding The Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of Preservice Learning And Behavioral Specialists During Their Practicum, Field-Based, And Student Teaching Semesters, Alice S. Cahill

Theses and Dissertations

The study of self-efficacy has become a dominant topic in psychological and educational research over the last 50 years. However, little information is known about preservice teachers and even less about preservice special education teachers’ beliefs. This study was designed to survey preservice special educators’ self-efficacy beliefs placed outside of the college classroom in the education field.

The participants (n = 74) were special education preservice teachers in the state

of Illinois in their practicum, field-based, or student teaching semesters. The participants completed a 24-question online survey designed by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) on their self-efficacy beliefs in the areas …

Effectiveness Of 1:1 Technology In The Science Classroom, Courtney Tara Weiss

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were: (a) to determine if using e-text technology in a middle school resource science classroom increases student academic performance, (b) to determine if using e-text technology in a middle school science resource classroom increases student engagement/on-task behavior, and (c) to evaluate student comfort and satisfaction in using an electronic textbook or print textbook in a middle school resource science classroom. Ten middle school students, four in grade 7 and six in grade 8 participated in the study using the Discovery Education Science Techbook and the AGS General Science series. A single subject design with ABABA …

The Effectiveness Of Listening While Reading With Story Mapping On The Reading Comprehension Of Students With Emotional Disorders, Suzanne C. Sedarat

Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized a single-subject ABA design to examine the effectiveness of listening while reading using audiobooks combined with the evidence-based strategy, story mapping, on the reading comprehension of narrative text for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Four high-school students in a ninth grade self-contained classroom in a private, special education setting participated in the study. During the intervention, students listened to a novel on the computer program Learning Ally (TM) while reading along with a copy of the text and competing a related story map. Reading comprehension was measured via student responses to comprehension questions and the number …

Tuning "The System": An Evaluation Or Restorative Practices In San Lorenzo School District, Amber White

Master's Projects and Capstones

In 2013, The Director of Student Support Services for the San Lorenzo Unified School District (SLZUSD) implemented a Restorative Practices program in an effort to improve relationships on campus and decrease suspension and expulsion rates in SLZUSD. The Directors push for RP was fueled by the passing of Assembly Bill 1729 (AB-1729), when the California Education Code changed to allow for alternative disciplinary actions. States nationwide have passed bills similar to AB-1729 and allowed schools to use alternative punitive practices. Despite good natured intentions there were many faculty members who did not respond with enthusiasm and there has since been …

Preparing Teachers For High-Need Schools: A Focus On Thoughtfully Adaptive Teaching, Arlene Mascarenhas, Seth Parsons, Sarah Cohen Burrowbridge

Occasional Paper Series

Differentiated instruction, or thoughtfully adaptive teaching, helps teachers successfully meet the needs of students in under-served schools. Teacher education institutions can do their part by forming partnerships with high-needs schools so teacher candidates can gain experience in a supportive environment. Along with providing a solid grounding in pedagogy, teacher education programs need to help candidates develop their own vision of teaching. Vision is seen as a way for teachers to remain true to their core values, and as a way to stay focused on how to do the best for all of their students.

Comparing Math Fluency And Automaticity Using Explicit Timing With Students With Disabilities, Andrew Ehala

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the mathematical fluency performance of a group of students with various learning disabilities in an eighth grade classroom by implementing and intervention intensification program that incorporates an explicit timing model. Students demonstrated a wide range of progression with their mathematical fluency with all students showing progress from the start of the study to the conclusion. Analysis of the data determined that students fluency levels increased at a faster rate when provided with a consistent intensive regime of math computational facts. Implications for teaching students with disabilities mathematical fluency are discussed.

Let's Keep In Touch : Conversations About Access And Tactility., Whitney E. B. Mashburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Let’s Keep in Touch: Conversations about Tactility, a project collaboratively organized by social practice artist Carmen Papalia and curator Whitney Mashburn, presents conversations between Papalia and artists selected by Mashburn, in regard to tactile access of the chosen artists’ works. The project aims to challenge visual biases in museum engagement, through dialogue with living artists.

Carmen Papalia takes social practice in a new direction as he applies it to the topic of accessibility. Using the tool of conversation, he creates strategic infrastructural activism and prompts exploration of non-visual perception.

In this thesis, Papalia’s work will be examined and discussed …

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 …

Teacher Beliefs Regarding Positive Behavior Support Programs In Mississippi Middle Schools, Chad Joseph Davis

Dissertations

In today’s educational environment of continued and high-stakes accountability, school administrators are constantly looking for effective techniques to improve the academic performance and behavior of their students. In an effort to attain improvement by their pupils, many educational leaders are choosing to implement positive behavior support (PBS) programs in their schools. This study examined the differences between teachers’ beliefs about PBS programs and their impact on reported student attendance, standardized test scores, engagement, and behavior. It also examined the differences in reported changes in these variables between teachers at schools with PBS programs and teachers at schools without the behavior …

Exploring Gesturing As A Natural Approach To Impact Stages Of Second Language Development: A Multiple Baseline, Single Case Study Of A Head Start Child, Guillermo I. Mendoza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an increase in Hispanic English Language Learners (ELL). Poverty levels and lack of teacher training can also be stacked against the ELL population. Gesturing is a teaching technique that is used in successful methods such as The Natural Approach (NA) and Total Physical Response (TPR) in helping ELL students in English comprehension and output. This study examined the effects that increased teacher gestures have on the number of words spoken by the child in multiple settings. Data were collected in the context of a multiple baseline design across three settings. The results indicate that there was an effect …

Tiers 1, 2 & 3 Intervention: Pyramid Model For Early Childhood Education, Allison Heifner, Jan Thelan, Christine Marvin, Emily A. Dorsey, Teresa Berube, Ana Damme, Reece L. Peterson

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Conclusion

The Pyramid Model represents a comprehensive effort to provide teachers, caregivers, and families the tools and strategies needed to promote and support positive behavior, prevent challenging behavior, and address the social needs of all young children. The Pyramid Model emphasizes data-based decision making, employs evidence based prevention and intervention practices, and matches the intensity of behavior intervention to the intensity level of behavior for those children in need of individual support. The Pyramid Model provides a program- wide approach for use by early childhood teachers, caregivers, and families to support the social-emotional development of young children and decrease or …

Building Principals’ Self-Efficacy Regarding Their Ability To Supervise Special Education Programing And Staff, Candida J. Marek

Masters Theses

This study uses quantitative data analysis to reveal Michigan building principals’ selfefficacy dependent on number of years on the job and types of certification they hold. These findings reveal the need for principals to have more opportunities to better understand this special population they are leading and are responsible for. Albert Bandura has established much research on self-efficacy and cognitive theory. Applying that research to that of principal responsibility reveals a need for more knowledge and confidence in the area of Special Education. Principals report that this area is not addressed formally in their certification journey and the need to …

Special Education Department Organizational Change: A Case Study, Christina Castellane Cloidt

All Theses And Dissertations

Special Education compliance is an area governed by mandates and assurance reviews by government agencies, both state and federal. This study presents the current state of the District Z’s Exceptional Learner Department prior to an organizational leadership change which demonstrated the need for improvement in the current system of functioning. The study continued to monitor and explore the changes the district made in personnel, protocols, procedures and how accountability was maintained in order to achieve improvement in a timely manner. Research is presented in the area of leadership and special education that exemplifies the need to enact change through prescriptive …

The Reading Intervention Program Making Connections Intervention And Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program Scores In One East Tennessee School District, Jami H. Corwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the reading intervention program Making Connections Intervention (MCI) and pre-intervention and post- intervention Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) reading scaled scores in one East Tennessee school district. Participants included 99 Tennessee students in grade levels six through nine who received reading intervention instruction through MCI and were frequently monitored following the requirements stipulated in the Tennessee Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI2) Framework. This study assessed pre- and post-intervention data specific to gender, special education classification, Title I classification, and instructor classification through a series of t-tests. Findings …

Do Formative Assessment Strategies Help Learners With Academic Difficulties?, Dana King

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not formative assessment strategies enhance the educational learning experience for lower level learners in a mathematics classroom setting. The selected students are supported by a Basic Skills teacher and perform below grade level. The FA group, Formative Assessment group, was given two variations of Formative Assessments to use each day. The IAL group, Instruction as Usual group, continued as is. The formative assessment strategies used were mini white boards and a mathematical graphic organizer allowing the students to determine the problem, question being asked, information provided, which operation to choose, …

From Access To Interaction, Daniel Atkins

Occasional Paper Series

Atkins calls on educators to see beyond access to identify “core moments” for child-centered experiential learning in inclusion classrooms. He warns that “[t]he process of scaffolding the child’s inclusion in the activities or interactions of the day can too often become conflated or confused with the process of scaffolding the child’s physical ability to gain access to those activities or interactions.”

Overcoming Barriers To Coteaching, Seamus O'Connor

Occasional Paper Series

Seamus O’Connor, a high school special education teacher, shares a story of bridging a divide. He takes a clear and honest look at the evolution of his relationship with his coteaching partner, Carol. In doing so, he explores themes of equity, trust, and negotiated differences in building a collaborative classroom.

Doing The Civil Right Thing: Supporting Children With Disabilities In Inclusive Classrooms, David J. Connor, Kristen Goldmansour

Occasional Paper Series

David J. Connor and Kristen Goldmansour explore cotaught inclusion classrooms through the lens of the social justice narrative. They write about the parents who asserted “that it was their children’s civil right to be educated within a diverse classroom, one that truly mirrored the nation’s population.” They critique the alternative to inclusion as “segregation,” which results in “devaluation, a loss in cultural capital for individuals” and argue that cotaught classrooms can upend “artificial notions of ‘normalcy’ that have served to diminish and devalue ‘disabled’ children.”

Inclusion: What Came Before, Judith Lesch

Occasional Paper Series

Judith Lesch’s firsthand account of her teaching experiences from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s takes us on a journey through the evolving approaches to inclusion.

Front Matter And Introduction, Valentine Burr

Occasional Paper Series

The writers in this issue of Occasional Papers advocate for models of inclusion that support children’s capabilities and challenge systemic inequities based on ableism and cultural biases. They examine the complex and changing nature of collaboration between general and special educators in inclusion settings. Underlying these essays, though not always explicitly stated, is recognition that the fields of special education and disability studies can deepen and inform each other.

Accessibility Services Roundtable Unconference Proceedings 2016, Lacuny Accessibility Services Roundtable, Robin Brown

Events

A group of 16, mostly librarians, met in the Archives Reading Room of City College Library on Friday, June 17, 2016. The format of our meeting was an unconference, which means the conversations were driven by the concerns of the participants. I have no doubt that anyone who reads this document will come away with different impressions. The ideas that jumped out at me include learning a lot more about universal design for learning. Be aware that phones can be used in the classroom as assistive technology. Consider doing a usability study of library resources in concert with students with …

Getting More From Your Maze: Examining Differences In Distractors, Sarah J. Conoyer, Erica S. Lembke, John L. Hosp, Christine A. Espin, Michelle K. Hosp, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The present study examined the technical adequacy of maze-selection tasks constructed in 2 different ways: typical versus novel. We selected distractors for each measure systematically based on rules related to the content of the passage and the part of speech of the correct choice. Participants included 262 middle school students who were randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 maze formats. Scoring of the maze included both correct and correct-minus-incorrect scores. Students completed 3 criterion-reading tests: the Scholastic Reading Inventory, the AIMSweb R-Maze, and a high-stakes state assessment (the Missouri Assessment Program). Alternate-forms reliability was similar across maze formats; however, …

Attitudes Toward Statistics Studies Among Students With Learning Disabilities, Orly Lipka, Itay Hess

Numeracy

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a support course to change attitudes toward statistics studies of post-secondary students who were diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD) and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The participants were 22 students in a support course that was provided over a single academic term on a weekly basis. The design of the study was according to 'Pre-Post' comparison. The effects on attitudes toward statistics were examined quantitatively and qualitatively to provide a comprehensive methodology for the research purposes. Results suggest that the weekly support course model that was taught simultaneously to the on-line course …

When Language Arts Meets The Spectrum: English Teachers' Perspectives Of Students With Autism, Laura De Armond Sabella

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current accountability measures require English language arts (ELA) teachers to teach literacy skills to all students. However, the population of mainstreamed students is becomingly increasingly diverse and includes students on the autism spectrum for whom literacy skills may lie in opposition to population characteristics. Further, educators are encouraged to respond to students in culturally responsive ways, and current teacher evaluation systems often require teachers to demonstrate cultural competence. However, a dearth of research provides insight into the ways secondary ELA teachers perceive their students on the autism spectrum, or how they interact with those students or support them in culturally …

Social Emotional Development's Effect On Academic Achievement Of Children With Special Needs, Adrienne Dunn

EDL Sixth Year Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine how social emotional strategies could be embedded into the academic curriculum for students with special needs. In order to develop a greater understanding on how to most effectively embed the strategies, a variety of stakeholders were called upon to gather information about strategies the could be implemented. The effectiveness of the strategies would be illustrated by the students’ attitudes towards learning after the implementation of embedded strategies and skills. This study focused on gathering information from a faculty at an intermediate school and the implementation of strategies was done in a collaborative …

Emotional Regulation And Technology In Various Educational Environments, Aimee Boyle

EDL Sixth Year Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of technology in various educational environments. Specifically, it looked at the ways in which technology is integrated into special education classrooms, and how it impacts learning. Two self-contained special education high school classrooms were studied, using qualitative methods of data. These included field notes based on observations and a semi-structured interview. In addition, a review of the literature on this topic was conducted to better place the study within the context of wider work done in this area. The data from the two classrooms were analyzed using the constant comparative …

Co-Teaching: How Do Teachers Rate Barriers To Effective Co-Teaching?, Christopher Ratcliff

All Capstone Projects

Students with disabilities are increasingly more present in high school general education class due to the pressures from federal legislation and disability advocates. In response, co-teaching model are being implemented by many school districts within the United States. The purpose of the study was to examine how teachers rate the effectiveness of co-teaching and the barriers to success. The study reflected a quantitative, descriptive approach using a survey design. A 20 item questionnaire was used to collect data on the perceptions of the participants. The participants for this study included professionals in the field of education, specifically teachers from both …

Teacher Awareness Of Social Emotional Learning Standards And Strategies, Mary Reynolds

All Capstone Projects

This study investigated teacher knowledge and attitudes of both special education and general education teachers towards social emotional learning. A total of twenty-five certified special education teachers and twenty-five certified general education teachers were surveyed regarding their familiarity with the State of Illinois Social Emotional Learning Standards. Teachers’ perceptions of the competency of their higher education preparation and professional development to meet their students’ social emotional needs were solicited. The data gathered from this study suggests that universities should prepare teachers more adequately in the areas of social emotional learning. The data also supports that there is a need for …

Adapted Physical Education: Where Does It Stand?, Danielle M. Wilkins

All Capstone Projects

Sixty-six teachers were surveyed regarding adapted physical education. The three types of teachers surveyed were physical education, special education, and general education. The teachers' perceptions to the importance and necessity of adapted physical education were analyzed. The findings showed most physical education teachers felt training was inadequate in their preservice program, as well as in professional development to teach students with disabilities. Discussion of the results and implications for further research are provided.