Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / Jeong-Hee Kim / This phenomenological case study focuses on three secondary special education students’ perceptions of themselves and their lived experiences. The purpose of this study is twofold: First, to understand how secondary special education students perceive themselves as literate beings; and second, to illuminate how secondary special education students understand what it means to be literate and how their lived experiences have shaped their perceptions of being literate. Based on qualitative data, such as, interviews, observations, questionnaire, and a qualitive analysis method, called Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, I have identified three themes of the lived experiences of the participants: 1) Students’ stability and/or instability of their lived experiences influenced their literacy practices; 2) Being identified as special education students did not prevent them from being literate; and 3) Different lived experiences led to different literacy practices. Based on these themes, I provide implications for educators and policy makers including: understanding secondary special education (SSE) students as literate beings; valuing the varied experiences that SSE students bring to classrooms; capitalizing on SSE students’ self-efficacy and resilience to promote students’ literacy; respecting SSE students’ literacy skills on out-of-school literacy; paying attention to the personal dimensions of literacy practices to meet the needs of the diverse learners; allowing SSE students to demonstrate their literacies in multiple ways; and collaborating between general education and special education teachers to benefit all students. The significance of this study resides in that it focuses on the literacy practices of secondary special education students, whose voices have been largely missing in the literature. This understanding of the voice and the lived experiences that secondary special education students bring to the classroom will help educators, policy makers, and curriculum writers find ways to better serve special education students. In so doing, this study reconceptualizes the power of literacy that needs to be fostered in SSE students, so that they can succeed not only in college and career but also in their personal lives.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications Studies / Timothy Steffensmeier / Due to a rising interest for degrees in higher education, more students with disabilities have enrolled in the university system. Still, accessibility issues on campuses suggest institutions are not meeting the needs of students in the classroom or through curricula. This study examines current academic adjustments and the lived experiences of students with disabilities in order to understand the ableist Othering phenomenon in higher education. Qualitative research methods have been commonly used to investigate the “disabled voice”; however, triangulation of such methodologies has been criticized for reinforcing Otherness. This study used a phenomenological design implementing rhetorical agency for disabled students to answer open-ended questions in semi-structured interviews about their lived experiences. Consequently, such interviews created a platform for social change. The author also reflects on his own lived experiences as a deaf student in higher education. Findings include major themes such as a percolation of institutional hegemony, a re-appropriation of stigma through “voice,” and a call for inclusive strategies. Results indicate disabled students experience discrimination likely due to organizational tension in their university institution. Further, this study elaborates on proposed policy changes to college classrooms on large university campuses. Contributions of this study lie in implications for the future of qualitative inquiry, including how current research practices could undergo methodological reinvention to examine the ableist Othering phenomenon.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Karen Myers-Bowman / The reciprocal interaction between children and their environment can affect their development. Certain environmental interactions such as problematic parent-child relationships or peer rejection in school are associated with the development of emotional and behavioral disorders. Children with emotional and behavioral disorders experience difficulties in a variety of areas including academics, social relationships, behaviors, and life outcomes. These emotional and behavioral disorders can progress or regress depending on relationships occurring within the child’s environment. Positive, healthy, and caring parent and teacher involvement in the lives of these children is an important factor. When parents and teachers become involved, especially when they work together to set mutual goals to help with success, children with emotional and behavioral disorders may see improvements in their problem behaviors, experience more successful achievement in academics, and develop in a direction that is more normative rather than problematic. This information can be applied through an online educational module for parents of children with EBD that aims to educate these parents on the avenues to and importance of involvement.

Doctor of Education / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Warren J. White / Since 1990, IDEA has required a transition-focused IEP for adolescents with special needs. There have been limited data on whether culturally and/or linguistically diverse (CLD) students in Kansas were receiving transition services to mitigate or remedy their marginalized, disenfranchised, and dis-empowered status. This study examined transition practices for CLD students with special needs in Kansas. The hypothesis tested was that Kansas schools address the multicultural needs of exceptional students in transition practice. There were two research questions. First, do considerations of multicultural needs figure into transition practices in Kansas schools? Second, are multicultural needs taken into account to a greater extent in certain areas of transition? A review of research literature yielded multicultural considerations relevant to the five domains of transition: 1) self-care, domestic living; 2) recreation and leisure; 3) communication and social skills; 4) vocational skills; and 5) community participation skills. An Internet survey with 22 Likert items covering these multicultural needs and concerns was administered via e-mail. A total of 582 valid e-mail addresses were used, comprising contact information developed from a sample frame of a KSDE database of resource-room teachers. The survey e-mail and follow-up were sent to every contact, covering 190 of the 293 unified school districts of Kansas. The completed sample was 178, for a response rate of 30.58%. Data were analyzed from the 93 participants whose responses indicated experience as caseworkers in the past three years on transition-focused IEP teams for at least one student in any of the three CLD groups of interest in the present study—African Americans, Native American Indians, or Hispanic/Latinos. Means and standard deviations were calculated for the frequencies of choices on the 22 Likert items. Pearson's chi-square testing was used to determine significance. Survey results indicated that on 17 of 22 items there was 80% or higher agreement among caseworkers that their school communities were addressing the multicultural needs and concerns of students and families in transition practices. Discussion includes participants' comments. Recommendations are given to increase the roles of cultural and linguistic heritages in transition in Kansas schools, especially in the skill-areas of community participation and communication-and-social skills.

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.