Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Special Education Ethical Practices'

This is a normative ethical analysis of school discipline policies. The overarching objective of this work is to inform school practices that directly benefit students. Chapter one examines the current state and practices of student discipline within schools. It focuses upon the pervasive use of suspensions to deal with non-violent student offenses and the adverse consequences that result from the applications of suspensions. Chapter two analyses three theoretical frameworks as they inform the developmental of a threshold for the ethical application of punishment. Developmental liberalism informs the understanding of the role that schools have in exhausting educative measures before the use of force, Self-Determination theory provides the foundation for psychologically nurturing school environments as necessary for the curtailing of adverse student behaviors, and School Community theory acknowledges the essential aspects of curriculum in engaging students. Chapter three sets forth a model for making ethical decisions within schools, and provides an analysis of principles and educational aims that directly inform this process. Chapter four explores the "crime and punishment" phenomenon within school discipline and provides the theoretical rationale that is offered to support such arguments. The chapter concludes with a discussion of when, if ever, it is appropriate to suspend students from school. Chapter five examines existing approaches to student discipline that align with the requirements of the threshold for ethical application of discipline and a well-informed ethical decision making process.

Contemporary educational theory and practice emphasizes interpersonal teacher–student relationships as a means of enhancing academic performance, promoting social development, and improving class management. Unfortunately, related policy, training, and professional standards have lagged. Into this void steps the principal, who as school leader falls the responsibility of guiding staff.

Twelve (12) principals from public secondary schools (grades 6–12) in central and coastal Virginia were interviewed, to gather their descriptions of how they perceived appropriate ethical teacher–student relationships, and their practice in promoting and maintaining them in their schools. A qualitative methodology grounded in social constructivism was employed, which included inductive coding of the transcripts, and content analysis to categorize results. Principals’ practice was then compared with theoretical approaches from literature, which included care theory (Noddings, 1984), professional development and practice theory (Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2016), and standards based professionalism (Barrett et al., 2012; Barrett et al., 2006).

The results indicated that principals envisioned positive teacher–student relationships as a critical enabler for class management and improved instructional outcomes. Foundations for the relationship were the teacher’s caring and professional behavior, and placing a genuine priority on acting in the best interest of students. The boundaries for the relationship were behaviors that detracted from, or undermined that foundation, and potentially traumatized or harmed students. Principals described the development of friendship and personally intimate relationships between teachers and students as the gateway to potential ethical relationship boundary issues, and sought to reduce opportunities for this to occur. The key factors in principal practice for promoting and maintaining ethical teacher–student relationships were described in terms of modeling expected behaviors, training staff, promoting a positive school culture and climate, and monitoring behaviors. Leadership and the ability of the principal to cope with peripheral influences on the school were also recognized as important factors. Three models from literature attempted to enhance understanding of how principals promote and maintain ethical and productive teacher–student relationships. Principals described using elements from all of these approaches, attempting to promote and develop positive attributes and skills in their staff, while at the same time monitoring and supervising their behaviors in relation to standards.

Research findings implied that ethical teacher-student relationships and associated boundaries are clearly defined conceptually, vaguely defined in policy, and ambiguously defined in practice. The absence and vagueness of policy and standards places an onus on the principal to develop teacher attributes and skills, and for teachers to be able to act semi-independently as professionals. All as principals, teachers, and schools are under intensified public scrutiny, in the age of social media and electronic communications. Principals confronted the issue by drawing on their character, experience, skills, and leadership, which they tempered to meet the context and challenges of their respective schools. Student safety and trauma (physical and psychological) surfaced as growing concerns for school leadership, and something that needed to be factored more prominently into decision making.

Students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) are educated in restrictive placements at higher rates than students in other disability categories due to their challenging behavior and inability to function in the general educational environment (Bullock & Gable, 2006). The increasing utilization of alternative programming to educate students with EBD has prompted scholars to more closely examine and identify critical intervention components of these programs (Simpson et al., 2011). Although outcomes associated with restrictive placements have been investigated, there has not been any systematic investigation of whether the recommended elements of comprehensive programming are in place in these settings, whether they are being implemented with integrity and whether they, in turn, lead to improved outcomes. Therefore, a review of the literature aimed at examining studies of restrictive settings for the existence of the eight critical elements for effective EBD programs (Simpson et al., 2011) and the associated academic, behavioral, and social outcomes was conducted. The review revealed that none of the studies described the existence of supports in all eight areas. Examination of the outcomes across the studies indicated that students with EBD made some progress academically, behaviorally, and socially, but the extent and practical significance of that progress varied. A descriptive study was also conducted. Administrators and teachers from Board of Cooperative Educations Services (BOCES) specialized programs and approved day treatment programs in New York State were surveyed about the intensity and fidelity of implementation of evidence-based academic practices, effective behavior management and treatment plans, and social skills instruction. Means and standard deviations were used to summarize the levels of intensity and implementation fidelity across the sample. Two-way multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to determine the effect of type of program and the respondents' professional position on the three elements. Overall, the results suggest that the three critical elements are present in some capacity and implemented with at least medium fidelity across the two restrictive settings. Significant differences were found between programs and positions in regards to the perceived levels of intensity and fidelity of implementation of the practices. Implications for future research, practice, and limitations are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate secondary school staff’s beliefs, practices, and skills concerning Response to Intervention (RtI), now known as multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS). The majority of research in RtI/MTSS has focused on the elementary level; however, little research has addressed its implementation at the secondary level. Using an exploratory mixed method design, this study explored the beliefs and perceptions of over 300 secondary school staff currently implementing RtI/MTSS in a large urban district in south Florida. The first phase, a quantitative research design, used three surveys developed and vetted by the Florida Statewide Problem Solving and Response to Intervention Project. The surveys assessed the RtI/MTSS beliefs of four secondary school groups: administrators, professional support staff, general education and special education teachers, and measured their perceptions about their RtI/MTSS skills and practices. The second phase of the study utilized a qualitative design that included four homogeneous focus groups to address in depth the issues that had emerged in the quantitative survey phase. In order to reduce the possibility of Type I error, only statistically significant findings at p <.001 were reported as there were multiple tests of significance conducted. MANOVA results showed that secondary special education teachers and administrators had significantly higher RtI/MTSS beliefs and perceptions of their RtI/MTSS skills than the other two groups, while secondary general education teachers had the lowest beliefs and perceptions about their RtI/MTSS skills. There were no significant differences in perceptions of practices among the four groups of participants. Major themes that emerged from the focus groups included the need for reorganization of urban secondary school structure, for extensive and intensive professional development, for authentic collaboration to build trust, for delineation of role clarity, and for improved knowledge of the RtI/MTSS framework.

Many students with disabilities attending alternative high schools are not improving their mathematics ability scores. Failure to improve their mathematics ability scores has hampered their potential academic success and career prospects, resulting in many students dropping out of schools without graduating. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the effect of a 10 week of constructivist and traditional instruction and investigate a possible causal relationship between experimental and control groups pretest and posttest mathematics ability score. The study adopted a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design, using within-subjects and between-subject two-way factorial repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS software for data analysis. The participants for the study were 70 students with disabilities attending an urban alternative high school situated in Mideast United States. The results showed students’ mathematics ability mean scores; with the control (M = 30.36, SE 2.69) and the experimental (M = 34.14, SE 2.69) groups respectively for the participants receiving the 10-week intervention, F (1, 68) = 4.37, p < .05. The Wilk Lambda post hoc test revealed that students’ scores were significant p < .05, meaning scores were different for both pretest and posttest. This key finding shows that the constructivist approach did not produce more achievement growth in student’s math score ability than did the traditional approach. Further, it can be concluded that the constructivist approach was not superior to the traditional approach. It is also recommended that educators should not implement constructivist approach for students with disabilities without further studies to ascertain that the approach is superior.

In this descriptive study, I researched five elementary general education teachers’ reading assessment practices as they worked within the context of IDEA (2004), NCLB (2002) and Response to Intervention (RTI). My own connection to the classroom and reading assessment practices brought me to this research. I presented my personal and professional connection through vignettes about my own classroom assessment practices. Relevant literature on both the context and culture of assessment were pertinent to this research.

I used a qualitative design, specifically, Colaizzi’s (1978) method of phenomenological analysis. Data were three in-depth phenomenological interviews, relevant documents and artifacts, and use of a researcher reflective blog. I summarized the initial findings of this research through 10 clustered themes; shift of focus, ever changing accountability, independent efforts with data, collaborative efforts with data, working environment, interventions and reading assessment practices in action, authenticity in practice, lack of decision making power, teacher emotion, and teacher needs and wants and a composite narrative in order to describe the lived experience of these teachers reading assessment practices.

Implications from my research with regard to policy include a perceived incongruence between an RTI framework and the teacher evaluation system with regard to active collaboration. Those toward practice include difficulty with the day-to-day implementation of an RTI framework and the perception of a singular focus of RTI as disability determination. My recommendations for future research include an action research agenda designed to explore increased involvement of stakeholders such as students, parents and other school personnel.

Research indicates that the trend of students with disabilities choosing to attend college is continually increasing. However, research also suggests that this population may be ill prepared to meet the increased academic demands and level of independence needed at the college level. Research in the field indicates that high schools may not be engaging in practices that are aligned with the transition-planning mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004). The current study explored the extent to which high schools are compliant with IDEIA (2004), and are engaging in best practices in transition planning for college-bound students. Results showed that students who had transition plans with a greater level of compliance and college-specific best practices had higher grade point averages. These results have implications for stakeholders at the secondary level in assessing quality of transition planning to promote positive outcomes for students with disabilities pursuing postsecondary education.