The number of deaf and hard of hearing students served in an itinerant capacity in recent years has steadily increased. As a result, school districts have increased need for an itinerant teacher workforce that is engaged, satisfied, and committed. However, while research tells us a good deal about special educators' job satisfaction, research…

Despite extensive research on teacher self-efficacy, little has focused on certified itinerant teachers who work with students ages infancy through 22 identified as deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). During a U.S. shutdown and global pandemic, the researcher explored factors that influence itinerant teachers' sense of teacher self-efficacy and…

The primary question for this dissertation was: Does online professional development increase novice itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments' (TVI) efficacy for assessing learning and literacy media for students with multiple disabilities including visual impairments? The literature suggested novice TVIs might experience low…

The Visiting Scholars program was created in 1999 by a large urban community college in Texas in response to the need for a diversified faculty workforce due to changing student demographics. The purpose of this study was to determine how many women and ethnic minorities are hired into full-time college faculty positions after completing the…

This dissertation examined the perceptions of three itinerant deaf educators and three general educators at the elementary level on the deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) push-in service model in one American southwestern, PK-12 public school district. Open-ended research questions guided the study on educator perceptions of the model in general and…

Legislative mandate and judicial precedence of the guarantee of a free and appropriate public education for students with disabilities can be challenging to uphold in rural areas. 13 out of 15 counties in Arizona are in rural areas according to the US Department of Agriculture Rural-Urban continuum code, 2003, making the challenge of filling…

This study investigates caregivers' perceptions of the transition process for children transitioning from Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) to School Age Special Education services (SA). Interest in this topic developed during the researcher's 18 years of experience as an Itinerant Early Childhood Special Education Teacher during which she…

Under No Child Left Behind Act 2001, the Reading First initiative was a component geared toward strengthening literacy skills in schools that were in need of improvement. Despite the intervention attempts through this initiative, research shows that students continue to struggle in literacy, which widens the achievement gap in urban school…