This dissertation explores the phenomenon of burnout among teachers of special education students in rural schools, focusing on understanding the factors that contribute to burnout and the strategies that can mitigate its effects. The study used a qualitative research design to interview teachers from a rural Board of Cooperative Educational…

The purpose of this study is to better understand the subjective viewpoints of faculty members toward students with psychological disabilities as a subset of the larger student population with unique needs due to the hidden nature of the barriers they experience. This Q methodology study explores the views of 29 faculty who have taught students…

Research has shown that inequitable participation in computer science education is an occupational injustice for students with disabilities, as it is an unfair and inequitable distribution of occupational opportunities. There is limited information regarding how schools' capacity for and access to computer science education relates to the…

The current organizational autoethnographic study aims to problematize ableism as an ideology that permeates and contributes to the inequities students with disabilities face in education. I share how I came to see ableism as an ideology that permeates and contributes to recursive practices in special education and share experiences that…

Students with learning disabilities are attending postsecondary institutions at a much greater rate than they have in the past. Although these students can receive accommodations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the graduation rate for these students is much lower than for their nondisabled peers. This data suggests that traditional…

The purpose of this study was to examine the ongoing issue of teachers with chronic absenteeism particularly as it relates to vulnerable student populations. For the purposes of this research, chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 or more instructional days. The problem is the effect that chronic teacher absenteeism has on vulnerable…

Children with disabilities are a marginalized group and current literature indicates that their parents are less likely to participate in their education. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the agency and advocacy experiences of parents of elementary school children with disabilities in a school district in a central Florida…

This research study presents the Scale of Dis/ability Apparentness in Education Settings (SDAES) to explore the complex and dynamic nature of dis/abled apparentness among college students. The study combines qualitative and quantitative data to examine five key domains: Environment, Ableism, Identity, Taking Action, and Embodied Dis/ability,…

This Qualitative study was conducted to examine the perceptions of K-5 parents who homeschooled their students with disabilities and how they perceived homeschooling to influence the student's social-emotional development. Participants involved in this study decided to homeschool their child with disabilities as they perceived their child's…

This quantitative methods study aimed to explore the perceptions of the general and special education teachers' knowledge and beliefs about dyslexia. Also, this study investigated the differences between general and special education teachers' perceptions of knowledge and beliefs about dyslexia with their education level and special education…

This research study, rooted in the theoretical framework of phenomenology, examined the impact of professional development related to specially designed instruction for students with a learning disability in reading. Teachers of students who had mastered at least 50% of their IEP goals in reading or had exited from special education services were…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) entitles students who qualify for special education services to a free and appropriate education (FAPE) across all public education settings, including juvenile justice (JJ) facilities. JJ facilities have disproportionately higher rates of students with disabilities, who tend to experience…

This multiple-case study sought to understand how adult students with disabilities demonstrate grit in the pursuit of higher education. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, this study found that adult students with disabilities demonstrate grit through seeking to understand their own disabilities and the impacts of those disabilities on…

Students with disabilities have lower rates of graduation from institutions of postsecondary education as compared to their nondisabled peers (National Council on Disability, 2020). Supports for disabled students in higher education have relied primarily on a deficit-based, regulatory model of access, ignoring a more wholistic approach to access…

Special education teachers are asked to deliver high-quality instruction with compassion and care (Cipriano et al., 2016). The development of interpersonal characteristics that positively influence the quality of the interaction have been shown to be predictors of success (Callahan, 2019). Despite the critical impact of these soft skills on the…