In 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-457, part H, providing for a statewide, comprehensive, multidisciplinary program of early intervention for handicapped, developmentally delayed, and at-risk infants, toddlers, and their families. The professions of special education, audiology, medicine, nursing, nutrition, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychology, social work, and speech-language pathology are required to participate and be trained in interdisciplinary programs to the extent feasible. / A four round, fifteen month, Policy Delphi study was conducted to develop consensus on discipline specific competencies for early childhood/special educators and interdisciplinary competencies for all early interventionists. A Design Monitor team representing each profession and parents provided an ongoing reliability and validity check and helped with cultural/linguistic issues between disciplines. Delphi panelists included national and Florida University and direct caregiver infant experts from the ten professions, parents, anthropologists, and policy makers. Nine hundred and fifty six individuals were invited to participate; 613 met the criteria and elected to participate in one or more Delphi rounds. Participation by round ranged from 576 in round 1 to 284 in round 4. / The knowledge base was found to be interdisciplinary with discipline specific competencies representing a few areas of increased specialization. Other major findings included: (1) a list of 21 discipline specific competencies for early childhood/special educators; (2) a list of 149 interdisciplinary competencies; (3) a list of service delivery settings and technical competencies for them; (4) a new measure to differentiate between professions, "level of knowledge or skill"; and (5) cultural and linguistic issues between professions. Greatest consensus was found in the competency areas of typical and atypical development, people/communication skills, confidentiality, and working with families from varied cultures and economic conditions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4017. / Major Professor: Charles H. Wolfgang. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

The Education for Handicapped Children's Act, re-authorized in 1986, mandates special education and related services for all children with handicaps, ages 3 to 21. Perhaps the most confusing aspect of the law involves the interpretation of providing health related services required by children with disabilities. The law has created, in theory, a partnership between parents and professionals in sharing their specialized knowledge and collaborating in implementing services. / The study, conducted in a preschool class for children who had a range of handicapping conditions, used a qualitative strategy. It began with an interest in (a) how school personnel use health and medical information in the performance of their specialized roles and (b) the processes staff use in developing a shared understanding of the information and a coordinated course of action for individual children. The inquiry, however, expanded to include the critical role parents play in brokering information between the medical system and the educational system. / Findings from this study indicate that the lives of children with handicaps are managed by three different social systems: family, medical, and education. Each of these social environments has its own purpose, structure, rules, and perceptions. Communication between the three systems frequently is very difficult because all three are simultaneously but independently involved in assessment, diagnoses, prognoses, developing plans, and establishing outcome measures. Three factors contribute to the ease of communication and coordination between the systems: (a) a definitive etiology of the child's handicap; (b) a definitive diagnostic label of the handicapping condition; and (c) the degree to which the handicap is visible. The study was conducted in a a preschool class for children who have a range of handicapping conditions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4087. / Major Professor: Pearl E. Tait. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This was an archival study of the effect of support services on academic achievement, students' knowledge of their learning disability, students' acceptance of their learning disability and students' satisfaction with support services. In this study students' files and responses to a support services survey were reviewed. The student file review included a review of grade point averages (entrance--at end of high school; cumulative--after one academic year at the university). The Support Services Survey included demographic information on classification, age, gender, major, region, population of hometown, educational level of parents, parents' incomes, and professions. / Subjects for the study were selected from the population of students currently enrolled in the Florida A&M University, School of General Studies' Learning Development and Evaluation Center. / The statistical procedures for the study were a paired T-test analysis and a multiple regression analysis. The paired T-test analysis was used to compare entrance grade point averages to the students' cumulative grade point averages. The multiple regression analysis was used to ascertain the relationship between the dependent and independent variables, and the interrelationship between each of the independent variables. / A significant difference was found in the students' entry level grade point average and their grade point average after receiving support services for one academic year. In addition, there was a significant relationship between students' knowledge of their learning disability, their acceptance of the disability and the students' academic achievement. A significant relationship between students' knowledge of their learning disability, their acceptance of the disability and satisfaction with support services was not indicated. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0219. / Major Professor: R. William English. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

A reinforcer assessment was used to determine operant training potential for 15 profoundly mentally retarded people with and without training problems (TP and NTP groups). A modified, standard reinforcer assessment included increased and individualized assessment opportunities. Training was conducted in free operant sessions with a switch designed to activate with minimal effort. Stimuli most and least preferred from the assessment were used as consequences for the responses and alternated in a reversal design. Expert judges determined which stimulus effects replicated across the repeated conditions. Operant training was more likely with people assessed to have reinforcers than those with no reinforcers (Fisher's Exact Test, $p$ =.009). All NTP participants had assessed reinforcers and demonstrated training effects. Two TP participants had reinforcers, and one of them showed training effects. Efforts to increase the believability and replicability of the investigation were emphasized for the dependent variables, independent variables, and adjunct measures having a potential relation to results of the study. Reliability and validity of the Reinforcer Assessment as a testing procedure was discussed. Assessing operant training potential was discussed as "limitation research" and emphasized the need to develop data-based treatment alternatives to improve the lives of persons with low operant training potential. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-05, Section: A, page: 1254. / Major Professor: Jon S. Bailey. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The identification of gifted minority students is an especially sensitive problem. Currently in America Black students are underrepresented in classrooms for the gifted and overrepresented in classrooms for the mentally and emotionally handicapped. Low referral rates by classroom teachers has been suggested as a factor that may account for the underrepresentation of Black children and other minorities in gifted programs. The present investigation addressed the following questions related to referral bias in teachers' nomination of Black and White children to gifted programs: (1) does race of the teacher and/or the race, sex, or school behavior of students (or possible interaction of these variables) relate to teachers' referral of children for gifted evaluations? and (2) What is the relationship between teachers' racial attitude and referral decision? Participants were 120 (60 Black, 60 White) third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers who taught regular academic classes in a large metropolitan public school district in Florida. Participation was voluntary and all participants were paid $5.00 for completing a questionnaire packet. The results were analysed using a log linear procedure and t-tests. / The results indicated that teachers in this study did not make differential referrals on the basis of sex, race or student behavior. In addition, there was no significant relationship between teachers' racial attitude and referral decision. The implications of these results are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-02, Section: B, page: 1046. / Major Professor: Joyce Lynn Carbonell. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

To date the management of state-maintained special schools for children with hearing impairment (SMSSCHI) in Ghana has not been extensively researched. As a result, the way such schools are managed is inadequately understood. This research sought to address that lack of understanding. The aim of the research was to examine the nature of the day-to-day management activities in SMSSCHI to refine our current understanding of such schools. Research questions focused on the nature of the day-to-day management; the organisational challenges; the relationships between the SMSSCHI and stakeholders including, the private sector, parents and the Ghana Education Service (GES); the way educational policies influence the management of SMSSCHI; and the boundary issues in the day-to-day management of SSMCHI in Ghana. The research began with an analysis of the relevant literature. The empirical research was in two phases: Phase 1 involved visits to seven out of the 12 SMSSCHI in Ghana to understand day-to-day management practices. Phase 2 explored the relationships between schools and stakeholders in the day-to-day management of SMSSCHI in three schools. The data were analysed using the planning, organising, staffing, coordinating, reporting, budgeting (POSDCoRB) framework. The key findings were that day-to-day management practices were homogenous across study schools. This homogeneity stemmed from the use of centralized planning emanating from the GES to ensure conformity to set policies. This practice led to a limited adoption of strategic plans to address local needs. Organisational boundary issues emerged as significant in relation to the involvement of stakeholders in school management portrayed by the profound influence of the GES and very minimal involvement of other stakeholders as enshrined in the decentralisation policy of the GES. Societal conceptions of disability and the location of special schools influenced stakeholders' involvement in school management. The implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed.

In the context of Family Systems theory, the purpose of this study was to identify differences in the perceived Family of Origin experiences of college students with disabilities versus non-disabled college students. The study was based on the assumption that college students with disabilities, as compared to non-disabled college students, have a unique family of origin experience which results in distinct patterns of personality. More specifically, differences between perceived family of origin experiences in students with disabilities and non-disabled college students were hypothesized with respect to learned helplessness, locus of control, and self-concept. / A secondary purpose was to identify differences among specific disabilities (blindness, neurological, and learning disabilities), with respect to the four dependent variables. The overall differences between students with disabilities and non-disabled students for the four dependent variables were tested using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The test of individual hypothesized differences between groups on the four dependent variables was expanded to include a test for possible main effects or interaction for gender. The within group correlations among the four dependent variables were tested using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation. The correlations of the four dependent variables within the total college students with disability group indicated no significant relationship. The only exception was a positive and significant correlation between learned helplessness and low self-concept (r =.17, p $<$.05). / Questionnaires were completed by 72 college students with disabilities and 74 non-disabled students for a total sample of 146 students. All students were enrolled at Florida State University during the Fall, 1988. The hypothesis was supported with an overall significant difference between groups for all variables (F (1,145) = 9.36, p $<$.01). A significant difference among the three disabilities was found only for Locus of Control (p $<$.05). / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0956. / Major Professor: Murray Krantz. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The purpose of this study was to correct certain deficiencies in performance assessment as currently practiced in social service programs by providing measurement and evaluation specialists with guidelines for designing and developing sound performance assessment instruments tailored to the requirements of social service program evaluations. Such guidelines serve two purposes--as a process for planning and developing consumer performance assessment systems and as a set of criteria for evaluating the utility of performance assessments currently employed in social service programs. / Two activities were conducted to meet these purposes. First, a set of design and construction consumer performance assessment guidelines that embodied the characteristics of the assessment process in social service agencies were developed. As part of the development process, guidelines were revised on the basis of a formative evaluation conducted with experienced evaluators. Second, the consumer performance assessment guidelines were field tested on an assessment instrument used by a state agency. These guidelines were judged by agency personnel to be a valid framework for evaluating existing performance assessment instruments and for developing more valid performance assessments applicable to social service contexts. / The conceptualization of the guidelines was based on a grounded theory approach to the assessment development process and a review of the characteristics and assumptions of performance assessments conducted in educational and social service settings. These field based analyses revealed major differences between the education and social service context with respect to the contextual components of the assessment process, the roles of participants in the testing process, and the utility of assessment results. A review of current testing and program evaluation standards also pointed to the need for consumer performance assessment guidelines for social service programs. / A professionally defined basis for judging performance assessment instruments from the consumer's perspective has not been available to evaluators. By providing a concise set of professional guidelines, this study constitutes a first step in filling that void. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0784. / Major Professor: Garrett Foster. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Special education in the public-school setting is designed to support students with disabilities by providing them specially designed instruction to meet their unique needs. This cannot be achieved without special education teachers who undergo specialized training to enable students with a disability to reach their maximum potential. Special education teachers' job duties differ greatly from that of a general education teacher, and they require specialized supports from their administrators. This qualitative study was designed for three purposes: (a) to understand the current teacher evaluation system along with the state and local policies from which the evaluation system is created; (b) to define the unique roles and responsibilities of the special education teacher that the current evaluation process may be failing to identify; and (c) to give special education teachers a voice to describe their experiences with the current teacher evaluation system. A document review of the current Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) evaluation rubric and of current state and local teacher evaluation policies preceded focus groups of high school special education teachers from three special education settings: inclusion, self-contained, and resource. Findings showed that teachers across all three settings agreed that T-TESS is not a true reflection of their job and was not created with diversity in mind, thereby failing students with disabilities. When evaluating the T-TESS rubric, only two out of the 16 dimensions uses language that acknowledges diverse learners in the teacher performance grading standards while no dimension mentions working with students with disabilities. This indicates that across all areas of T-TESS, even the most distinguished teacher is not being evaluated on their ability to work and support students with disabilities.

The importance of parental involvement in schools has been the focus of numerous studies (Cotton & Mann, 1994; Hoover-Dempsey & Sadler, 1997; McDermott & Rothenberg, 2000; Trotman, 2001; Epstein & Sanders, 2009). Many of these same studies correlate student achievement with parental involvement and suggest that student achievement is improved when parents are involved in their children's schools. In spite of this positive effect, school involvement continues to be low in many inner-city schools where a large number of parents are ethnic minorities whose socio-economic status is low (Cotton, 2000). Included in this group are the parents of inner-city gifted middle school students. / The purpose of this study was to investigate, evaluate, and determine, from the perspective of a group of inner-city parents of gifted middle school students, factors that foster, or deter, their involvement in their children's schools. Of the plethora of studies that have been conducted on parental involvement, few have focused specifically on school involvement by inner-city parents of gifted adolescents. A survey was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data. / Findings revealed that among the major factors that fostered school involvement was a school atmosphere that was inviting, friendly, and caring. A major deterrent to the participants' involvement was the school's failure to communicate with them.