As mandated in Maryland public schools, principals cannot suspend students for infractions coded in the categories of disrespect and insubordination. To manage these behaviors, teachers need effective supports from educational leaders. The purpose of this case study was to explore a possible relationship between administrative supports and special education office referrals for disrespect and insubordination at a rural East Coast 8-12 school. The administration provided differentiated professional development by offering options that would meet the varied needs of teachers for classroom management. The theoretical foundation for this study was Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which was used to assess teachers' needs for safety and acceptance to move towards self-fulfillment, one's ability to critically problem solve. Two research questions were used to examine the influence of providing differentiated teacher resources on special education discipline referrals for disrespect and insubordination. The site school also presented results from voluntary, anonymous surveys that asked teachers about their use of classroom management strategies for various behaviors. In the case study, the researcher triangulated quantitative data of office referral rates and archival survey results with qualitative open-responses from the archival survey. For the outcome, the researcher identified themes that represented needs of teachers. The researcher concluded that administrators needed to be empathetic in how they provide teacher supports. The study findings resulted in a project involving training for principals, which included strategies for empathic leadership to better support their teachers. The findings and project outcome may contribute to positive social change by helping to improve classroom management strategies and add to teacher-administrator relationships.

Coteaching is a mandated practice in which students with disabilities are educated in the general education setting among their peers, but it often is not effectively implemented. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of both middle school general education and special education teacher relative to coteaching parity and barriers to effective coteaching practices. Friend and Cook's conceptual framework of collaboration, outlining the importance of understanding roles when working in teams, supported the purpose and design of this study. The research questions were designed to investigate the extent to which the general and special education teachers share coteaching responsibilities and implementation of coteaching practices. Eleven general and special education teachers participated in interviews and observations. Teachers were selected through convenience sampling from a large school district in the Southeastern United States. Data were analyzed with thematic coding and open coding. General education teachers were perceived as clearly dominating lesson planning and delivery during interviews and observations. Common perceived barriers to effective coteaching included low expectations of the special education teacher, limited coplanning time, inadequate training, large class sizes, student behaviors, and issues with special education teacher presence. The results of this study can promote positive social change by helping improve the coteaching environment for teachers and help administrators make informed decisions that will facilitate more effective coteaching decisions.

Friendship is one of the hallmarks of social competence, yet few studies of interventions intended to increase social competence have evaluated their effectiveness through the formation of friendships. Peer-mediated interventions have been found to increase social competency and improve sociometric peer acceptance. Based on these findings from previous research, this study evaluated the effects of a peer-mediated intervention on the formation of reciprocal friendship for preschool children with disabilities. Evaluation using behavioral observations and sociometric nominations of friendship from classmates suggest that participation in a peer-mediated intervention may precipitate friendship formation.

Co-teaching is defined as a general education teacher and special education teacher, who may or may not have the same area of expertise, jointly delivering instruction to a group of students with special needs in a special education classroom. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions of general and special education teachers in regard to forming coteaching relationships in a school setting organized to serve special education students through coteaching models. Participants were purposefully sampled following the typical case sampling strategy and included two public schools. Of the two schools, there were five special education teachers and two general education teachers who participated in in-depth interviews based on open-ended questions from a predetermined interview guide. Analysis of transcripts from the interviews helped identify the findings for this study. Through the analysis of the transcripts the data revealed becoming a coteacher, communication, coplanning, continuity of teachers, and roles and responsibilities of coteachers were factors of forming a cohesive coteaching relationship.

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With the re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the federal mandates of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the role of the principal has new implications regarding the free and appropriate education of students with disabilities. As a result of the inclusion model of special education instruction being supported as the most effective learning environment for students with disabilities, principals now need to know the definitions of types of disabilities, appropriate placements, how to provide correct feedback for parents and at a minimum, the basics of special education law. The literature review focused on principals’ attitudes and concerns for special education placements and how knowledgeable school principals are with regard to issues of special education law and the possibility of litigation when planning for the free and appropriate education of special education students. Few U.S. studies have focused exclusively on the actual principals’ knowledge of special education law. This study researched the knowledge of Virginia principals on special education. A geographical random sample of 462 principals from the state of Virginia were asked to complete an on-line survey of 24 hypothetical scenarios based on the following components of IDEA: free and appropriate public education, due process, individualized education plans, least restrictive environment, related services, student discipline and liability for reimbursement of parents.. Experts, practitioners, and researchers in the field reviewed these scenarios. The survey was e-mailed to the principals from October 1st to November 1st, 2006. A follow up e-mail was sent two weeks after the initial contact as a reminder to complete the survey. From November 2nd to November 15th 10% of the respondents who did not respond were contacted by phone and asked why they did not respond. Out of 49 phone calls, 12 principals responded. The instrument was anonymous and color coded according to the eight Superintendents’ Study Groups across the state of Virginia in order to identify the number of schools that participated. A total of 236 principals responded resulting in a 51% response rate. Upon completion of the questionnaire principals were provided correct responses. Using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on all demographic variables and the principals’ test score. An item analysis of each of the hypothetical scenarios determined the areas of deficiencies in the principals’ knowledge base. Results of this study show that there is no significant difference between principals’ test scores and each of the demographic variables. Seven areas of special education law were tested: free and appropriate public education (FAPE), individualized education plan (IEP), least restrictive environment (LRE), student discipline, related services, due process and liability for reimbursement of parents This study identified two significant areas of weakness: related services and FAPE. The information from this study will be beneficial in determining school districts’ professional development needs and coursework in university education programs that addresses special education law. / Ph. D.

School administrators are responsible for ensuring state and federal special education laws and regulations are being implemented properly. This study examined the amount of training a Virginia school principal receives while attending principal preparation programs as well as professional development offered by their school division on how to handle any legal issues that may arise pertaining to special education. In 1975 Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142) and amended in 1997 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Education for All Handicapped Children Act was introduced in Congress to ensure that students with disabilities were provided the same opportunities as general education students. This legislation was later renamed IDEIA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, in 2004. A web-based survey was used to obtain information from principals in school divisions with high or no incidences of special education complaints. The survey was sent to 12 school divisions with 189 schools and 21 divisions with 189 schools respectively. The data collected from participants was analyzed with JMP software to determine patterns in principal responses based on their employment in divisions with high or no incidences of special education complaints. Statistical analysis included measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode), frequencies, and percentages of the data collected at the state and regional level, by high or no incidence groups to determine if better prepared, more experienced, more informed principals that have had on-going training are able to administer special education programs effectively and therefore have fewer parent complaints. The results of the study indicated a need for higher education institutions (colleges and universities) to increase course offerings at the principal preparation level in the area of special education. Additionally there is a need for superintendents and division leadership to continue to develop and seek partnerships to deliver relevant ongoing professional development, as well as for principals to explore special education networking opportunities external to the division. / Ed. D.