Previous research has found enrollment in CTE is predictive of positive outcomes in postsecondary education and employment. Students with disabilities who engage in a concentration of CTE courses in high school: (a) have fewer unexcused absences, (b) are more likely to graduate high school on-time, and (c) are more likely to be employed after high school than those students enrolled in few to no CTE courses. Outcomes of youth with disabilities are influenced by many factors (e.g., expectations). Services provided to students while in high school also contribute to positive outcomes. One important transition service that can be provided to students while in high school to assist in mitigating poor outcomes for youth with disabilities is access to career technical education (CTE). The content presented will support practitioners in aligning services and supports in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) to increase the likelihood of postschool success after high school.

The purpose of this article is to outline bow school and rehabilitation counselors can work together more effectively to meet the needs of students with disabilities. School and rehabilitation counselors share similar education, goals, and values, and they bring complementary skills and knowledge to their work with students. By increasing their understanding of rehabilitation counseling, school counselors can broaden their professional activities with students with disabilities to enhance their transition into the post-high school world.

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of students with disabilities who were participating in an inclusive physical education setting. The information gained will add to the existing knowledge base regarding the placement of students with and without disabilities in a common setting. Given the importance of ensuring that the students with disabilities are able to truly participate in an inclusive setting, the study focused on obtaining and evaluating perceptions with respect to both the inclusive physical education setting and physical activity in general. Participants were seven students with various disabilities from two high schools which utilize inclusive physical education programs. Gaining and understanding of the perceptions of those students required use of various methods, including observations, interviews and visual methodologies. Observations provided information as to the manner in which all students interacted in the classroom setting. Interviews elicited the thoughts of the students with disabilities regarding physical activity, their participation in such activities and their participation in the physical education classroom. Use of visual methods, including pictures and personal artifacts, elicited further thoughts by prompting memories and allowing for further expression of feelings. Students exhibited positive attitudes on physical activity, recognizing the importance of such activity and sharing the belief that a person with a disability is able to participate in physical activities. While students had a positive perception of the inclusive physical education setting, they indicated activity modification would enhance their level of participation. The perceived modifications were predominantly focused on being able to choose an activity during class, one in which they felt they were more likely to succeed. Findings suggest that consideration of students’ perceptions of physical activity, including the perceived impact of their disability must continue to be considered by educators in developing inclusive physical education programs. Such perceptions may impact the level of student participation in an activity and in the physical education class. This is critical for future practice in order to identify additional ways of ensuring that students with disabilities will continue to participate in physical activities, while accepting the limitations of a disability when necessary.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PSYCHOLOGY IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 2010. / The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a Wellness Promotion Programme on the “overall development of a group of students with disabilities at the University of Limpopo.” The literature research that was conducted led to the following conclusions:  students with disabilities at tertiary institutions experience a variety of problems, including physical, psychological and socio-cultural ones.  the problems that students with disabilities experience can be addressed in a systematic and programmatic manner to enable these students to be more effective and successful in their studies and their lives. This is really the raison d’être of this study. Two groups of students with disabilities at the University of Limpopo were used in this study, namely, the treatment and control groups. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the groups. A combination of Pre-test- Post-test and Post-test only, group design was used in the study. Both the treatment and control groups did the pre-test and post-test. The treatment group participated in a three-month Wellness Promotion Programme which served as the treatment. Changes in the developmental level of the two groups were measured by means of the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA), the Life Skills and Competencies: General Questionnaire on Life Competencies and Skills (GQLCS) and the Self-Directed Search Questionnaire(SDSQ). Two versions of the t-test, one for correlated data and the other for uncorrelated data were used in the processing and analysis of the data. The treatment group, unlike the control group, made significant pre- to post-test gains on all the three tests used in this study. The findings, therefore, led the researcher to conclude that the Wellness Promotion Programme that was presented to the treatment group enhanced the overall development of the students who were exposed to it. It was, therefore, recommended that the programme for students with disabilities be introduced at the University of Limpopo and at other tertiary institutions in South Africa. (

Students with learning disabilities are increasingly included in state accountability systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate disability-based differential item functioning (DIF) on a statewide high-stakes mathematics test administered in the Spring of 2003 to all students seeking a high-school diploma in one state in the eastern part of the U.S. Overall performance scores for all students in grade 10 taking the test for the first time were examined. Item performance scores for students with specific learning disabilities who took the test with and without state mandated accommodations were compared with that for students without disabilities after matching on total test score. It was hypothesized that more DIF items will favor students who received packages of accommodations. The standardization method for DIF analysis by Doran and Holland yielded the presence of items in two directions. This study revealed that more DIF items favored students without disabilities, and with substantially high indexes that could be problematic for understanding the meaning of scores for students with specific learning disabilities.

No description available.

This study examined the current case law on school voucher programs for students with disabilities and legal protections under IDEA. The idea of school vouchers can be traced back to the 1950s but have taken a new form in the past 13 years. There have been several court challenges to the constitutionality of school voucher programs with mixed results which will lead to court challenges in the future on a state by state basis based on the state’s constitution. School vouchers have been developed to target specific populations of students including students with disabilities. But with very little accountability for the private schools accepting the school vouchers, parents are left to make choices about their child’s education with the limited information provided to them. Parents of student with disabilities who participate in school voucher programs in order to attend a private school may lose many protections under IDEA, if not all of them. The focus of the study was on the five states with school voucher programs for students with disabilities: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Utah. The review of case law in regards to school voucher programs for students with disabilities demonstrated difference and similarities depending on the state’s constitution. This will lead to future case law for school voucher programs for disabilities to be determined on a case by case basis. The legislators developing new school voucher programs for student with disabilities will need to analyze the state’s constitution in order to determine if any legal challenges would occur. Federal legislators need to revisit the protections under IDEA for parentally placed private school students with the mindset that more and more school voucher programs for students with disabilities will be developed in years to come. In the iv reauthorization of IDEA, federal legislators need to determine if more protections need to be provided to parentally placed private school students attending a private school on a school voucher program. Without more protections for students with disabilities, parents may have limited options when participating in a school voucher program and the students may not receive the appropriate special education and related services.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the commitment of elementary school teachers to inclusive education for students with disabilities (SWD), and whether the commitment to inclusive education between general and special education teachers was equal. Measurements were based on Richard Clarke's Commitmemt and Necessary Effort (CANE) theory, severity of disability, and demographic factors including teaching assignment, number of students in class, number of years teaching and number of years working in an inclusive setting. A four-point Likert-type survey(Appendix A) adapted from a combination of Spencer Salend's (2008) "Teacher's Inclusion Survey and Interview Question to examine the Experience of Educators Working in Inclusive Classrooms" was used to collect the data. The data indicated that 57% of the respondents were committed to inclusive education, with special education teachers displaying a greater committment than their general education counterparts. In addition some of the earlier roadblocks to inclusive education such as needed support from administrators and ancillary personnel dealing with SWD, lack of resources, time for collaboration and consulation, along with a need for more training, still appear to be pervasive problems in implementing a fully inclusive program for all students nearly two decades later in contemporary schools.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of students with disabilities who contact the school counselor for college information. Self-determination was the theoretical framework guiding this study. Self-determination refers to a student's ability to (a) act autonomously, (b) identify goals, (c) engage in problem solving activities, (d) appraise strengths and limitations, and (e) capitalize on opportunities. The current study used the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002), a nationally representative database that tracks high school students as they transition from high school to postsecondary options. The dependent variable was whether the student went to the school counselor for college information. The independent variables included student characteristics (i.e., sex, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability type, self-determination) and school characteristics (i.e., school enrollment, number of school counselors). This study has conveyed significant information about the relationship between students with disabilities and professional school counselors. The results of this study provided a wealth of information about students with disabilities who contacted the school counselor for college information. This results marks the first time research addressed the characteristics of students with disabilities who visited the school counselor for college information by utilizing the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002). The recommendations to school counselors as a result of this research are to develop comprehensive school counseling programs that embody the characteristics of students with disabilities. One logistic regression model was conducted to determine the influence of sex, race, socioeconomic status, disability type, and self-determination on whether students with disabilities were likely to visit the counselor for college information. Predicted odds were calculated to demonstrate the statistically significant, predictive quality of the variables on visiting the counselor for college information. The theoretical framework of self-determination demonstrated an important relationship in whether the student visited the counselor for college information. Finally, a Pearson correlation (r) that was used for enrollment and number of school counselor variables produced a positive correlation between the number of school counselors and whether the student visited the counselor for college information. / Ph. D.