<p> Co-teaching has been utilized as a method of academic intervention used in K-12 classrooms over the past fifteen or more years. This method has consistently involved the pairing of a special educator with a general educator through a variety of co-teaching models. Co-teaching is meant to be used in inclusive environments, where students with and without disabilities are taught together. Co-teaching is a commitment from both educators who participate voluntarily, develop a professional relationship with one another, allow time for planning of classroom objectives, and obtain sufficient training. Multiple benefits to carefully implemented co-teaching in the K-12 environment have been documented in research studies. However, few studies contain information about co-teaching in higher education, particularly in the field of education. This research hopes to gain an understanding of how the pairing of a K-12 special educator and special education professor can bridge educational theory and practice to, hopefully, produce pre-service educators that have more competence about the realities of the teaching world. Results under analysis include measuring attitudes about special education inclusion and overall academic growth for pre-service educators after exposure to knowledge from two working professionals in a co-teaching and traditionally taught classroom environment. </p>

This study surveyed the perceptions of educators in Korean special schools regarding the current status and issues in eight components of the special education system. The eight components of a special education system selected were: philosophy and fundamental practices, identification and evaluation, instruction and related services, personnel, parents and the public, organization, funding, and facilities. A survey instrument was used to obtain information from 70 principals and 192 teachers, with a response rate of 58 (83%) and 156 (81%), respectively. A mean score of responses to each questionnaire item in each component of the special education system was calculated to rate the perceptions of all subjects. The perceptions of special educators were negative toward the status of special education in many items of eight components of the system. The ratings were compared using a t-test or analysis of variance to analyze statistical differences by such variables as position of special educator (principal and teacher), foundation of special school (public and private), and disability areas of special educator (visual, hearing, mental, and physical impairments). The ratings of special educators on the eight system components were statistically significant in four components, according to the foundation of the special schools. As a whole, the perceptions of special educators did not reveal many significant differences by the variables of position and disability specialty areas. Critical issues to be resolved in the future were identified and discussed. Recommendations were made for future development of special education in Korea.

The purpose of this research study was to determine if teachers responsible for implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) in elementary schools within the district of the study contributed to a disproportionate amount of students being referred for special education testing through the Response to Intervention process. The researcher examined teacher understanding of Response to Intervention and the implementation of the process. The method used involved a qualitative study that included three data collections methods to measure the teacher's perceptions: individual face-to-face interview sessions, written surveys, and a focus group interview. Participants in the study included 12 classroom teachers for independent interviews from six schools across three clusters of a school district 20 miles outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The focus group included eight teachers from two additional schools. In addition, each teacher was asked to complete a Teacher Interest Inventory Survey. The data produced from this study provided information to contribute to the understanding of factors that impact the number of children referred for special education testing through the Response to Intervention process. This study created an awareness and overall perception of teachers throughout the district regarding the RTI process. Limitations of this study include the limited number of people involved in the study. However, findings from a study such as this one can increase awareness of how children are referred for special education testing within a district studied that contribute to creating a disproportionate number of children referred for special education testing and could lead to similar studies in other school districts. Suggestions for further research are included within the study.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of the relationship of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores in Reading and Math for students with disabilities and purposefully selected independent variables in selected Title I schools. It was the goal of this study to disclose some of the variables that directly impact the performance of students with disabilities (SWDs) on the CRCT in order to improve instructional practices of classroom teachers, the quality of educational leadership programs, the awareness of school leaders on the needs of SWDs and the teachers that provide instruction to them, and to give stakeholders that influence educational policy suggestions on implementation for polices that directly effect SWD student achievement. The study used a QUAN-QUAL research design to triangulate the n data through standardized assessment results, teacher surveys, and teacher interviews. The researcher concluded that parental involvement, special education setting, gender, and disability category directly effect SWD performance on the CRCT.

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This study was done for the purpose of determining if the amount of contact and type of contact someone has with a person with a disability effects attitudes toward people with disabilities. The MIDS (Modified Issues in Disability Scale) was administered to one-hundred and seventy graduate and undergraduate students to determine current attitudes toward people with disabilities. In addition, these students were asked to answer demographic questions along with questions regarding the amount and type of contact they have had with a person with a disability. A two-way ANOVA was administered to determine if there was a relationship between the amount of contact and type of contact and attitude scores. Significance was found for both the time spent and the type of contact. More positive attitudes were found in work relationships and spending a moderate amount of time with a person with a disability. Less positive attitudes were found when no time was spent and there was no relationship with a person with a disability

Although the policies and practices of special education are openly constructed around a premise of mobility and opportunity, students from low income backgrounds (‘at risk’ youth) are twice as likely to be labeled “special.” Moreover, of all the special educational categories, learning disabilities (a diagnosis deeply contested) account for the largest group of special educational students who are ‘at risk’ learners. This project is hinged on addressing how those students who are apparent beneficiaries of special educational policies and programs (evidenced by post-secondary enrolment) make meaning of their prior and current educational experiences in relation to special educational policies, services and programs. The author begins by theorizing that such disabilities may medicalize social problems while still preserving a veneer of equality. However, since not all labels have universal meanings when applied to specific social agents, they may both hinder and help some in gaining access to post secondary education. With the support of a group of four enrolled post secondary students located in the Canadian urban west-coast, who identify as learning disabled and the recipients of related interventions, this thesis provides a complex reading of the everyday that draws upon how the students’ specific cultural and material locations inform their understanding of education, ability, disability, meritocracy and normalcy. Collecting data through semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted during the Spring and Fall of 2007, the students actively engage and challenge the author’s original theoretical and methodological assumptions. Anticipating critiques of special education, the author is surprised by the students’ support of such programs. Expecting responses to interview questions to be based on a reading of meritocracy as normalcy and disability as deficit, these students weave understandings of meritocracy and normalcy to articulate their abilities without rejecting their disability labels. In terms of policy where the emphasis is placed on disability as deficit, the findings imply that policy-makers neglect the energy and labour students invest in emphasizing their abilities. For educators, this reveals an important pedagogy of inclusion by inverting assumptions that special educational students are ‘at risk’ of educational failure without unfolding the complex ways in which they actively demonstrate their abilities.

<p> Despite the vast research on students with disabilities, little is known about the perspectives of faculty in higher education. According to the literature reviewed, the overall experience of students with disabilities inside the classroom in higher education is negative due to faculty knowledge, awareness, and perceptions. Institutions of higher education are seeing an increase in the number of students with disabilities who are attending college. Students with disabilities have needs inside of the classroom that exceed a typical student in higher education. Faculty provides the support inside of the classroom necessary to meet both the university standards and the standards addressed in the Americans with Disabilities Act. The purpose of this study was to assess faculty knowledge, awareness and perceptions as they relate to students with disabilities and the regulations that mandate accessibility in higher education. </p><p> A survey was administered to 162 faculty members at a large four-year university in the southeastern United States. The findings from this study identified that faculty at the university had significant differences across gender, knowledge, awareness, and perceptions. No significant group differences were found in faculty based on years teaching and their knowledge, awareness, and perceptions. Findings could serve as the foundation for future research on faculty knowledge, awareness, and perceptions. In addition the findings add to the existing literature and provide data to offices for students with disabilities to further understand faculty knowledge, awareness and perceptions as well as possible justification for faculty development. Suggestions and implications for practice are also addressed.</p>