Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of interventions designed to address the needs of high school students with emotional and behavioral challenges and adopted by their teachers. In this study, 336 general and special education teachers rated classwide interventions (e.g., expectations, routines, positive student-teacher…

This dissertation investigated regular and special education co-teachers' perceptions of professional development programs and their readiness to co-teach in the elementary mathematics classroom. A gap in co-teaching literature exists regarding how teachers perceived co-teaching professional development and how it impacts their readiness to…

The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the lived experiences of special education teachers. The Giorgi phenomenological model was utilized for this qualitative project. The study looked in detail at the lived experiences of five special education teachers actively working in Pennsylvania schools. Information gathered came from…

While No Child Left Behind assessment policies require student performance on alternate assessments to be reported to parents, there have been no research studies and limited guidance on how this information is best reported. There are two issues resulting from the lack of research and guidance. First, there is no established standard for what…

This study used qualitative methods to evaluate the perceptions of parents, educators, and school administrators in three large, urban school districts (Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Rochester) regarding services for children with autism spectrum disorder within the context of limited district resources. Facilitators followed a standard…

This qualitative study was designed to examine how homeschooling parents in Pennsylvania make the determination to engage with public school districts to accommodate the special education needs (SEN) of their children. This phenomenological study used direct interviews with 30 Pennsylvania families who are homeschooling children with SEN. Data…

The purpose of this study was to identify the benefits and challenges of co-teaching, as self-reported by high school general education teachers, special education teachers, and administrators and determine if they shared common beliefs regarding supporting students with special needs within the general education curriculum. Participants included…

While there has been some research detailing the difficulties that special educators have with compiling the complex paperwork required by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandate, little has been written about how technology weighs into this framework, or how teachers use data to assist with their instructional…