This study documents perceptions by seventeen students from special education self-contained classrooms in an urban junior high school who participated in some regular classes. Massachusetts and federal laws mandate placement in the least restrictive setting for all students in the expectation that "mainstreamed" students will feel better about themselves and gain more academically. Yet evidence suggests that few students are mainstreamed and that the benefits to students are not self-evident in most schools. The evidence presented in this dissertation came from two loosely structured interviews with seventeen students who were selected because they seemed to have had a reasonably successful experience in regular classroom placements in a school with a strong commitment to mainstreaming. As teenagers who were in a self-contained setting primarily because of behavioral issues, they could handle academic work and were at an age when peer relationships are crucial. Because the researcher had already established positive relationships with the students, the interviews reflected apparently honest responses--including both positive and negative judgments. The study also explored attitudes of 10 teachers in the school toward mainstreaming. The interviews showed the debilitating effects of isolated classroom placement as stated by special education students in self-contained classrooms for behavioral reasons. Sixteen of the respondents who participated in the study preferred mainstreaming in regular education classes over remaining in one classroom the entire day. The student who dissented experienced difficulty in changing classes and adjusting to different teachers. Feelings of embarrassment, worthlessness and in general, low self-esteem were experienced by the students. Being mainstreamed in regular education classes enabled them to feel "normal" and part of the school environment. Their transportation to school on special buses with mentally handicapped students reinforced feelings of being classed as "mentally retarded." Mainstreaming, irrespective of teacher attitudes and academic problems, was preferred over special education classrooms. The mixed responses of these students indicates that the goals of mainstreaming are worth pursuing but staff need more preparation if P.L. 94-142 is to meet its full promise.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of integration on both regular and special needs kindergarten students in Boston Public Schools' East Zone district. A comparative study of the cognitive and social achievement of kindergarten students in the pilot program and their counterparts who were not in the pilot program was conducted. In order to test the hypotheses presented the following comparisons were carried out for both instruments: Experimental group 1 versus control group 1. Integrated regular education kindergarten I students were compared with segregated regular education kindergarten students. Experimental group 2 versus control group 2. Integrated special education kindergarten I students were compared with segregated special education kindergarten I students. Experimental group 3 versus control group 3. Integrated regular education kindergarten II students were compared with segregated regular education kindergarten II students. Experimental group 4 versus control group 4. Integrated special education kindergarten II students were compared with segregated special education kindergarten II students. The kindergarten I integrated regular education experimental groups' change scores were significantly higher in both cognitive and social testing. The kindergarten I integrated special education experimental groups' change scores were significantly higher in cognitive testing but there was no difference on the improvement of social test scores in integrated versus segregated classrooms. The integrated group improved more than the segregated group on the test of social achievement but the significance level was not high enough to reject the null hypothesis. For kindergarten II students, regular and special education students achieved more on a test of social achievement when taught in an integrated classroom. Special education students achieved more cognitively when taught in an integrated classroom. Regular education students' cognitive achievement improved when taught in an integrated setting but not to an acceptable significance in order to reject the null hypothesis. The overall outcome indicated that kindergarten students achieve more in integrated settings on tests of cognitive and social achievement. Results indicate there may be a better way to educate both regular and special education children. System wide and school based strategies may need to be developed to explore these options. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)

For over a decade, federal and state laws have mandated a free and appropriate education for special needs students in the least-restricted environment. There has been a wide variation of progress made in this area, depending on the approach taken by the administration of the school district, and the degree of support between staff (both regular and special education staff), parents and administrators. The purpose of this study was to obtain suggestions from five Massachusetts Public School systems that focus on effective administrative strategies for mainstreaming on the elementary school level. Data was gathered from a review of literature, as well as a questionnaire, containing both questions to answer, and statements with which the participant was asked to either agree or disagree. A total of 25 Questionnaires were sent to five members of each of five Massachusetts school districts. Only three out of the five schools responded to the questionnaires. Further information was derived from tape-recorded interviews with school administrators. By examining actual case study accounts and various national model programs for mainstreaming, other ideas have been suggested and are included in the study. The success of a mainstreaming program lies in the relationship between administrators, staff, and parents. The key ingredient is unlimited involvement at the administrative level, and the ability to develop effective techniques for enhancing integration. In order to succeed in the development of an effective mainstreamed program, it is critical that administrators: (1) Need to encourage and improve interaction between regular and special education staff members. (2) Try to identify negative attitudes and work toward improving attitude problems. (3) If possible, involve staff in the development of the model, as well as the ultimate implementation of the program.

Active parental involvement in the special education process has historically been emphasized. In addition, legal impetus (94-142, 766) has been provided for this active involvement. However, research has indicated that some educators tend to disregard, manipulate, and often intimidate parents during special education TEAM meetings, thus violating their due process rights. As a result, parental involvement in the Team process and development of the IEP document has continued to be lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate parental attitudes toward the Team process and the IEP document and to implement a training program designed to assist parents in the development of the skills necessary to critically analyze their child's IEP document's effectiveness. The underlying theory behind the training program was, that given the appropriate training and information, parental skills to effectively participate in the Team meeting and development of the IEP document would increase. A group of 15 parents from the central Massachusetts area participated in this study. Their experiences within Special Education ranged from 3 months to 11 years. Severity of the handicapping conditions of their children ranged from speech/language services to full time special education. A pre/post test design was utilized to evaluate parental perception of the Team process and IEP evaluative skills. Based on the data gleaned from this research, the following has been concluded: (1) in spite of 17 years of mandated involvement in the Team process and development of the IEP document at the Team level, the parents; (a) view the child's IEP as not being the product of the entire Team's input, and (b) indicated that they did not participate in the development of the document. In regards to qualitative effectiveness of the IEP, it was determined that: (1) the student profile section; (a) did not contain all of the mandated information, and (b) was not concisely written. In addition, other information (teaching strategies, service delivery and plan duration) was not contained within. In spite of their passive roles, the parents generally expressed satisfaction with their child's program and IEP document. The need for parent training and professional staff development was cited.

A qualitative research methodology was utilized to study the perceptions of regular class teachers and special education teachers toward the Regular Education Initiative. Eighteen teachers, twelve regular classroom teachers and six special education teachers were interviewed using a guided interview format. The questions focused on six major areas: (1) responsibility for special education students; (2) teacher morale; (3) evaluation; (4) communication and collaboration; (5) instruction; and (6) teacher preparation. The results of this study begin to distinguish the differences and agreement in the perception of regular class teachers and special education teachers concerning the Regular Education Initiative. The data indicates that the differences between the regular and special education teacher are for the most part not substantive, but perceptual. There is more agreement concerning the issues central to the Regular Education Initiative than there is disagreement between the two teacher groups. The data from this study indicates that the role of the regular and special educator must be more clearly defined using a collaborative model. The greatest deterrent to effective collaboration is failure to make adequate provision of time for such activities. Goal achievement for the REI is dependent on more than simply resolving the differences between the regular and special education teachers, policy must be developed to support this initiative. The findings of this study demonstrate that teachers want training that will provide an understanding of the complexities of classroom teaching, behavior management and collaboration so that they can meet the needs of all children within the regular classrooms.

Statement of the problem. The problem addressed in this study is whether special needs students progress in their prototype designation faster in a comprehensive or vocational school system. This issue is critical because within the past ten years an increasing number of special needs students have become a sizeable percentage of the students in vocational school systems. Methodology. The methodology utilized in this study was the survey method. An instrument was mailed to 65 randomly identified comprehensive school systems and 65 vocational school systems. The computer language BASIC was used to generate the list of comprehensive school systems. A vocational school system is identified as one which has five or more vocational course offerings. The approach was to utilize the "sample of the whole" method. There are 65 identified vocational school systems in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition to the utilization of the survey instrument, the researcher conducted on-site interviews in six school systems; three comprehensive and three vocational. These were chosen due to their marked tendencies of significant movement of special needs students from the prototypes of 502.1-502.4. The on-site interviews was also undertaken to supplement the data generated by the survey instrument. Results. The survey generated responses from 13 comprehensive school systems and 19 vocational school systems. Within prototypes 502.1 and 502.2 (least restrictive) there were 8,423 special needs students from the comprehensive sector and 17,805 from the vocational sector. Within prototypes 502.3 and 502.4 (most restrictive) there were 5,488 special needs students from the vocational sector and 4,798 from the comprehensive sector. Conclusions. The conclusions of this study were as follows: (1) Increasing number of special needs students in the least and most restrictive prototypes were found to be in the vocational sector; (2) Increasing number of students from the vocational sector were mainstreamed; (3) More students in the comprehensive sector remained in their prototypes over a four year period of time. In general, the study determined that special needs students achieved placement in the least restrictive prototype settings in the vocational delivery system at a quicker pace than their counterparts in the comprehensive sector.

As a model program, this study utilized high school students who tutored elementary students in computer assisted drafting (CAD). The tutors (called interns) offered various aspects of Technology Education to fifth and sixth graders (called youngsters). All youngsters were classified as gifted. In addition to high intelligence, each had some learning disability. Consequently, they were both gifted and learning disabled, or G/LD. Using a case study method, this study compared five author formulated propositions to data from observations and interviews. Proposition I. Changing schools. By utilizing existing resources, teachers can bring about positive changes in school policies and procedures. The study examined a staff-initiated, adapted change in an existing classroom practice which gave school staff a sense of ownership and, therefore, encountered little of the resistance that frequently accompanies imposed changes. Proposition II. Cooperative education. College-bound students have fewer opportunities to participate in off-campus learning experiences than do non-college-bound students. Although scheduling and other difficulties work against easy implementation of cooperative education programs for college-bound students, the study demonstrated that such programs can be successful. Proposition III. Building relationships. The interns, as positive role models, provide a vital component in the affective development of the G/LD youngsters, many of whom tend to be isolates. Classroom observations indicated that the youngsters admired, respected, and confided in the interns regarding personal matters. Proposition IV. Technology and values. Fear of job loss, coupled with the fear that technology is beyond human control, causes people to distrust and/or fear technological change. The interns expressed concern regarding jobs, the environment, and, the threat of war. None expressed fear of technology or felt that it was beyond human control. Proposition V. Seeking new teachers. Because few capable students are interested in teaching careers, the study attempted to present a positive image of teaching, thereby cultivating an interest in the profession. Prior to their involvement in the study, all of the interns indicated having little or no interest in teaching. At the end of the year-long study, these views remained unchanged.

In recent years, the concept of individualized instruction has gained increasing attention among special educators, researchers, and policy makers in China. At the same time, many are concerned that as a concept borrowed from Western countries, individualized instruction may not be successfully implemented in China’s social and cultural context. The literature, however, has revealed little empirical information about what Chinese teachers actually do and think about individualized instruction. This study therefore aimed to investigate Chinese special education teachers’ perceptions and practices related to individualizing or adapting instruction for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Specifically, the investigation focused on teachers who taught elementary Chinese language arts and math in public special education schools for students with IDD in Shanghai and were considered as effective teachers by school administrators. A generic qualitative research design was utilized. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 31 teachers from six schools. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the interview data. Analysis revealed that the participants shared many similarities in their practices and perceptions. In general, they recognized the wide range of student differences existing in their classrooms and the necessity of adapting instruction to accommodate student differences. However, in reality, practices and beliefs associated with one-size-fits-all approaches of teaching were prevalent. Although all participants described making efforts to address individual differences, these efforts seemed to be inadequate, as indicated by significant limitations in both assessment and adaptation practices reported in the study. The participants perceived fully addressing the needs of individual students as difficult and described challenges in four areas. The study revealed that teachers seemed to hold the conflicting perceptions that instruction should be adapted to accommodate individual needs and that the structure of standardized approaches of teaching should be maintained. In this context, a fenceng instruction method was used to address individual differences, which involved minor changes to traditional standardized approaches of teaching; instruction tailored to each individual’s need was not found.

Simulators offer the standardization of training for parents of children with disruptive behaviors in a controlled, safe environment, thus reducing the potential harm associated with inadvertently reinforcing problem behavior. Simulated scenarios in a virtual learning environment, combined with the action review cycle, allow parents to rehearse and receive feedback on implementing behavioral procedures. The study explored the impact of repeated virtual rehearsal sessions paired with the action review cycle on participants' implementation fidelity of functional analysis procedures, under attention and escape test conditions, in the TLE TeachLivE™ remote simulated environment. Virtual rehearsals combined with the action review cycle were introduced and withdrawn in a multiple baseline design across participants. Findings suggest the intervention increased participants' implementation fidelity; however, a functional relation could not be verified. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

This study examined the effectiveness of using a technology-based self-monitoring intervention called Monitoring Behavior on the Go (MoBeGo). On-task behavior for students with behavioral issues was the primary dependent variable in the study. The researcher employed a single-subject withdrawal design (ABAB) with two generalization phases (C-D) to investigate the ability of MoBeGo to generalize the results to a different setting. Visual analysis of graphs revealed the participants had a clear functional relationship between MoBeGo and percentage of on-task behavior. The finding illustrated on-task behaviors in a different setting did not increase without using MoBeGo and therefore no automatic generalization occurred in different settings. A replicated phase (D) was conducted to confirm the finding, and the results showed the percentage of on-task behavior increased in math and science classes which used MoBeGo and did not increase in reading/writing which did not use MoBeGo. Also, the outcomes showed MoBeGo has a high level of acceptability among teachers who participated in the study. The researcher evaluated this single-subject withdrawal design (ABABCD) by using the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards. In addition, the researcher utilized the Single-Case Analysis and Review Framework (SCARF) to evaluate the study outcomes. The evaluation results of using WWC and SCARF are discussed in Chapter 4. The researcher discussed major lessons learned and some limitations of using technology based self-monitoring (TBSM). In addition, implications for practitioners, researchers, and application developers were included as future directions for using TBSM. Moreover, the researcher discussed the potential role of self-monitoring-based artificial intelligence (SMBAI) in education, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs), or machine learning (ML) with self-monitoring apps. Finally, some important questions were raised about protecting privacy and minimizing the risk of data breaches for individuals, and how to ensure the security of individuals' data.