The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief, in-person training package on Functional Communication Training (FCT). The training corresponded with content presented in the AFIRM e-learning modules on FCT with modifications to suit an in-person format including the addition of modeling, practice, and feedback to enhance…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of special education teachers as they relate to teacher preparation programs and how they prepared teachers to work with and lead paraprofessionals. Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership approach and Adult Leadership Theory are the theoretical basis…

Educating students with disabilities has been a challenge for schools across the United States and throughout the world for quite some time. At Frederick Law Olmsted #156, a gifted and talented school within the Buffalo Public Schools, academic performance on New York State Regents Exams reveals the challenge is most prevalent in the mathematics…

Teacher recruitment is a continual challenge facing many rural high-needs schools. The researcher designed this quantitative survey study to explore superintendent and teacher perceptions of the effectiveness of teacher recruitment practices used in High Need/Resource Capacity Rural school districts in New York State and the use of Bolman and…

The problem to be addressed in this study was most special education high school teachers are not adequately teaching job transferable skills to students with intellectual disabilities in American. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to investigate the beliefs of special education high school teachers within a rural Colorado school…

This study utilized a qualitative constructivist grounded theory methodology to gain an understanding of how experienced special education teachers working with students with emotional and behavioral disorders have remained in the field. In-depth interviews were conducted with thirteen special educators who have been working with this population…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe experiences of dialectical behavior therapy for special education teachers at a large, suburban school district in the Southeast United States. The theory guiding this study was Bandura's social cognitive theory (SCT), as it explains how new behaviors are learned and…

This study examines job satisfaction among special educators while focusing on factors such as workload, administrative support, compensation, and self-efficacy. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, and informed by push and pull theory, the research in this study combines both quantitative and qualitative data analysis through the collection of…

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…

The prevalence of Autism is increasing exponentially in today's classrooms, such that general education teachers face a broad range of challenges within inclusive settings (Leech, 2008). This study investigated the degree of teacher preparedness in teaching autistic students in general education and special education classrooms by examining the…

The problem addressed in this study was that there is a lack of knowledge about middle school special education teachers' perceptions on the benefits of social emotional learning (SEL) strategies for improving the behavior of students with emotional behavior disorder (EBD) in a self-contained setting. Comer's concepts on social learning served as…

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…

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…

In an urban school district in a western state, the problem addressed through this study was that, despite available professional development (PD) training and resources, educators at a high school were not effectively implementing the strategies of the Campus 2 Community (C2C) initiative, which is designed to assist students with disabilities…

The current study looked to understand the lived experience of special education teachers who work with children and young adults with disabilities in a non-academic setting (NAS). The study explored relationships between the learning experience and the teachers' self-efficacy in the setting. The experience of pre-service and in-service special…