This dissertation explores the impact of special education teacher (SET) turnover on general education teachers (GETs) in K-12 schools. Students with disabilities are increasingly placed in general education settings, where collaboration with SETs is critical. However, high SET turnover rates threaten this partnership. This mixed methods study…

Autistic students are enrolling at higher educational institutions at an increasing rate. To keep up with the population of pupils, colleges and universities are finding ways to support students. Yet, a small percentage of students who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder do not succeed in attaining a degree. This trend is significant and…

The Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) is one of the six elements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The practice, definition, and intention have been debated throughout its history. This study focuses on the elementary school educators' understanding and perspectives on how LRE affects how they support students with…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate junior college faculty's attitudes toward student with disabilities and their attitudes regarding accommodations for students with disabilities in Belize. Faculty members from the ten junior colleges of the Association of Tertiary Level Institutions of Belize (ATLIB) were recruited to…

The current study observed the presence of implicit bias toward students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the classroom and the influential role of teacher self-efficacy. Teachers report a lack of readiness to work with students with diverse learning needs. Students with alternative learning needs, such as those with ADHD,…

Despite the existence of various special education laws and mandates aimed at protecting the rights of students with learning disabilities (LD), these students tend to be removed from the classroom setting at disproportionate rates and durations when compared to students without disabilities. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenology was to…

This study investigated the predictive relationship between grit and its components (perseverance of effort and consistency of interest) on GPA among students at a small Midwestern private college. Using archival data from 234 participants and drawing upon the grit theory and Tinto's integration Model, the research aimed to determine these effects…

This qualitative descriptive study aimed to understand how public school administrators, who previously served as special education teachers, describe how their instructional leadership practices help them oversee special education activities, functions, and processes in the United States. The conceptual framework for this study includes a look at…

Planning for secondary transition includes identification of postsecondary goals in the areas of continued education, employment, and independent living when appropriate (IDEIA, 2004). Independent living includes important components of adulthood such as community engagement, recreation, and travel skills. Young adults with intellectual and…

Teachers often have a negative perception regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classroom settings. Students with special education needs are often placed in classrooms where teachers believe they are unprepared to teach and manage classrooms in an inclusive environment. The purpose of this qualitative case…

Students with disabilities have progressed in achievement compared to their general education peers, but learning gaps remain. The problem is elementary and secondary school students with disabilities have achievement gaps despite receiving specially designed instruction through an individualized education program by an intervention specialist in…

The purpose of this non-experimental correlational quantitative study was to examine the relationship between race and special education under the disability category of ED for kindergarten through 12th-grade students in four school districts in the greater Houston area. The study had three research questions regarding racial representation, the…

Age-appropriate use of social skills throughout a student's K-12 career has been linked to a variety of favorable academic and behavioral outcomes (Capara et al., 2000; Malecki & Elliot, 2022; Wentzel, 1993). Social skill deficits are widely present in the secondary setting (Gresham et al., 2010), and research has highlighted 9th grade as an…

Looking at Cape Henlopen School District as a whole, most students within the district are proficient in reading. When looking at data for young adults (18-22) with autism and other severe disabilities in the Sussex Consortium Life Skills Program, students were not proficient in reading. They could not read functional words within context. This…

Online learning is becoming more prevalent (Aylmer, 2020) and institutions are seeing an increase in disabled students (HEFCE, 2017; Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Research [ANVUR], & National Conference of University Delegates for Disability [CNUDD], 2021; Rao, Edelen-Smith, & Wailehua, 2015).…