This research analyzed all available hearings from 2013 to 2015 in a national database of due process hearings regarding placement issues and determinations of the least restrictive environment for individual students with significant disabilities. The main research question was whether parents/guardians and due process hearing officers sought placements for these children with significant disabilities that considered creatively and holistically a range of options rather than just a dialogue between already extant possible programmatic offerings. The research resulted in a description and taxonomy of the types of issues and factors arising in the hearings for students with significant disabilities from 2013 to 2015. This research shows almost no evidence of creative or holistic thinking in these due process decisions, and there was little evidence of parent advocacy for general education classes and creative options for their students with significant disabilities beyond existing offerings. The most unique placements to be found in public school settings for these students were in general education classes. Twenty-four students in this analysis were offered general education classes with their typically achieving peers. In general, though, for this unique group of students with significant disabilities, very few due process hearings could be found to have demonstrated creativity, or the consideration of holistic options, for such students. In general, in due process hearings for students with significant disabilities from 2013 to 2015, parents were overwhelming advocating for, and due process hearing officers were deciding among, options on the continuum of placements already traditionally considered for students with significant disabilities.

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One of the most controversial issues in the field of education is the determination of the educational placement of deaf K-12 students. Although school psychologists are involved in the determination process, little is known about their specific role in decision-making. School psychologists (n=357) with varying degrees of specialization in this area were surveyed with regard to their experience and perceptions. Results indicated that student audiological status predicts the types of assessment data that school psychologists collect and report in order to inform educational placement decisions. Participants who responded to the survey on the basis of their experience making placement decisions for deaf students (n=54) perceived themselves as less influential over the decisions than participants who responded on the basis of their experience making placement decisions for hearing students (n=303). Additionally, there was a relationship between school psychologists' specialization in the area of deafness and the interpretation of the phrase, the "least restrictive environment." Possible explanations and the associated implications of these findings are discussed. / School Psychology

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Trudy A. Salsberry / Educational leadership is challenged with meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) of 2001 and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. The focus on accessibility and accountability is resulting in an increase in the number of students with disabilities receiving specialized instruction within the least restrictive environment (LRE) of the general education classroom. To support students in the LRE, many schools are implementing the service delivery model of co-teaching, or pairing a special educator with a general educator, to provide core instruction with appropriate special education services to students with special needs. The purpose of this case study was to investigate what practices of principals are deemed most supportive to teachers engaged in a co-teaching service delivery model. The qualitative, multi-case study was designed to analyze perceptions of district level general education administrators, district level special education administrators, building principals, co-teaching coaches, and co-teaching partners who participated in the Kansas Co-Teaching Initiative. Data were obtained primarily through interviews of the participants. Demographic surveys, building schedules and field notes served as additional information for analysis and the interpretation of the data. The over-arching research question for this study was: “What practices of principals provide the most meaningful support to collaborative co-teaching in the context of the least restrictive environment?” Sheard and Kakabadse’s nine Key Elements of Effective Teams (2002, 2004) formed the framework for the study. These key elements also guided the research sub-questions. Data collected through the study revealed sixty patterns across the key elements of effective teams. When analyzed, the patterns yielded three themes: 1) principals arranged and protected time during the daily schedule for collaboration between co-teaching partners, 2) principals paired co-teachers together with careful consideration for compatibility, and 3) principals established and maintained a culture of professional growth.

Regular education teachers' self-efficacy may be negatively impacted due to a lack of professional development and experience teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Research links teacher self-efficacy with increased student academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine to what degree training on ASD during and following teacher certification and experience had on overall teacher self-efficacy. This one-shot case study was based upon Bandura's theoretical construct of self-efficacy and secondarily on Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy's theory of self-efficacy. The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scales (TSES) was used to collect data from regular education teachers with experience teaching students with ASD in 1st through 3rd grades in a Southern California school district. After the data were assessed for accuracy, missing data, and outliers, the analysis was conducted on 36 cases. MANOVAs were conducted to assess differences on overall self-efficacy. Separate ANOVAs were used since the overall self-efficacy and the subscores were highly correlated. Though the sample in this study was small (n = 36) for data analysis, the effect size showed that training experience and grade levels had a moderate to large effect on teacher self-efficacy (.16, .13, .13 respectively). Therefore teacher self-efficacy has a positive impact on student achievement. Implications for positive social change are self-efficacious teachers increase the academic achievement of students with ASD. In this way, such students can become self-sustaining, dynamic members of the work force and community.

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