Principals have performed many tasks which either promoted or hindered facilitation of the learning process for all students in their schools. One of these tasks has been compliance with federal and state legislative procedural requirements for special education. Though there has been relative progress in special education, compliance has not been 100% in program visits performed by State Department of Public Instruction. The purposes of the study were to: (a) determine the relationship between the level of administrative knowledge of compliance requirements with the degree of application of legislative regulations of special education (b) identify the constraints or factors which prevented total compliance in a local education agency. A two-part study was designed to fulfill the researcher's purposes. The initial phase of the study consisted of an opinionnaire to determine the amount and source of administrative knowledge of state and federal procedural legislative requirements. The second phase of the study involved individual interviews to identify the constraints to compliance with special education legislative requirements. Major conclusions were (a) knowledge did not make a difference in the school system's compliance with state and federal procedural legislative requirements (b) there were numerous constraints six of which permeated the study as knowledge understanding of regulations, excessive paperwork, money, time, parent/community awareness and maintenance of records (c) local educational agencies who were in 100% compliance did not differ significantly from schools who did not comply in the identification of factors which prevent compliance with state and federal legislative procedural requirements. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

The purpose of this study was to determine which, if any, of seven variables, as well as the linear combination of same, help to explain a significant amount of variance between ideal and real role function of counselors in the implementation of PL 94-142. The study investigated whether the explained role incongruence was increased, independently or collectively, by the following independent variables: (1) discrepancy of counselors and special education administrators' perceptions of appropriate counselor responsibilities in assisting with the implementation of PL 94-142 (discrepancy index), (2) amount of staff development regarding special education topics, (3) experience, (4) counselor-student ratio, (5) sex of counselor, (6) degree classification, and (7) proportion of time clerical assistance is available to counselors. The study was conducted in West Virginia by surveying a random sample of public school counselors and all fifty-five (55) special education administrators in the state. Questionnaires were returned by 204 of the 216 counselors in the sample and by 54 of the 55 special education administrators, for an overall return rate of 95.2 percent. Data was collected from January to March, 1983. Results of the multiple regression analysis, stepwise method, indicated that the linear combination of staff development, discrepancy index, and experience explained a significant amount of role incongruence variance. No relationship was found between role incongruence and any of the independent variables when each was considered independently. The item analysis of counselors' responses on the questionnaire indicated that a majority have assumed primary responsibility for eleven of the forty tasks on the questionnaires, even though a majority perceived twenty-seven of the tasks to be appropriate. The tasks which a majority of counselors perceived to be appropriate but had not assumed as a primary role pertained to the delivery of related services, the Individualized Education Program (IEP) development and evaluation process, communicating with parents to acquire or disseminate information, and administering instruments to assess areas such as self-concept, interests, and career maturity. Eight (73 percent) of the eleven tasks which a majority of counselors reportedly have assumed as a primary role are quasi-administrative. The remaining three primary role tasks assumed by counselors include participation in school-based assistance team meetings and placement advisory committee meetings, as well as providing career education programming for handicapped students. / Ed. D.

The Kentucky Department of Education initiated a technical assistance program in 1981-82 for fifteen special education area cooperative projects established in 1980 with funds from P. L. 94-142. The program was aimed at overcoming problems related to the implementation of the cooperative concept among project participants. The program consisted of: On-Site Visits; Conferences and Workshops; Statewide Meeting; Consultations; Quarterly Mailings; and Proposal Development. The Discrepancy Evaluation Model was used to evaluate the program. A variety of measures including questionnaires and workshop evaluations were utilized. A review of the cooperative project proposals for 1981-82 and 1982-83, by a Panel of Experts, provided additional evaluation data. The analysis of the data included both descriptive and nonparametric statistics. While statistical significant was not shown, the analysis indicated the program was successful in strengthening the cooperative concept. / Ed. D.

Policy analysis of individualized education program (IEP) regulations and their application was done by describing and interpreting IEPs as lived experiences of disabled people. An interpretivist paradigm was employed with research techniques informed by psychoanalytic theory. Five participants used their childhood life stories to critique the IEP policies and practices. The participants performed the roles of co-researchers as well. Through a focused synthesis of their analyses, the identified strengths and weaknesses of the IEP policies and practices were discussed in terms of the appropriateness of education received, the school environment, the cost of education and the empowering of disabled children. Recommendations were made for policymaking, service provision and further research. / Ph. D.

The courts have determined that for some handicapped children to derive "educational benefit" from their schooling an extension of the school year, beyond the traditional 180 day school year, may be required. The current study describes Extended School Year (ESY) program implementation in the field, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and identifies potential gaps and inadequacies that exist between implementation and case law. A survey instrument was mailed to a purposive stratified random sample of the directors of special education across large and small school districts (with a student population) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. All forty-two of the school divisions surveyed responded to the questionnaire. Data from the survey included descriptive information regarding: the education and training of respondents; services offered to handicapped students beyond 180 days; and criteria for making an ESY determination. A two-year follow-up survey of the same school divisions examined changes in the implementation of ESY services. Survey data were analyzed to reveal points in case law that current practice does not address and practice that is congruent with case law. / Ed. D.

The 1986 Amendments to the Education of All Handicapped Children's Act (P.L. 99-457) require that the individual education plans for students ages three to five, "must include instruction for parents so that they can be active and knowledgeable in assisting in their child's progress" (U.S. House of Representatives Report, 99-860, p. 20). Expansion of special education services to preschool children, will require educators to increase their efforts to involve parents in the child's educational program. Because schools have traditionally focused on child needs, additional insights into the parent involvement process are needed to effectively implement broader-based models more likely to result in active parent involvement. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher and parent perspectives on involvement to better understand the involvement process. Teacher and parent interviews were conducted in a large well-developed public preschool program. The interviews, together with observations and program documents, were analyzed to gain a better understanding of involvement practices. The teachers interpreted the parents’ level of involvement according to how well they complied with teacher prescribed activities and teacher expectations. Parents rated as most involved were seen by the teachers as cooperating with child-level activities, expressing an interest in participating and providing positive feedback for teachers' efforts. However, parents identified as least involved were viewed as not initiating contact with the teacher or showing little interest in participating in program activities. Most teachers relied on positive feedback from the parents to continue their efforts with them and use it to define the relationship with them. The teachers attributed the variations in involvement to family characteristics and to their belief about the family's concern for the child's development. The meanings which the parents gave to the involvement practices were distinct for the least and most involved groups. How the parents conceptualized the child's development and their belief about their impact on it appeared to contribute to parents' perceptions about their role in the involvement process. These differences in role perception can explain their interactions with the teachers as well as their level of participation in activities. Levels of involvement can be further explained by the degree to which activities were relevant to a particular family's needs and the control they felt to act on their own behalf. The understandings gained from examining parent and teacher perspectives of the involvement process can help ensure effective involvement practices with families. / Ed. D.

Increased integration of the handicapped in regular classrooms, popularly called mainstreaming, has drawn attention to how nonhandicapped students are affected. Numerous authors have contended that integration has the potential to positively affect nonhandicapped individuals' socio-moral development. Empirical data to support this contention have not accumulated as an instrument has not been available to measure value reflective conative attitudes toward the handicapped. This study addressed the problem of development of an instrument to measure action choices toward the handicapped which would reflect the attitude holder's underlying general socio-moral reasoning. Item responses relating to integration issues were constructed to represent characteristic moral judgment at various levels. The developed "Action Choices Toward Handicapped" (A.C.T.H.) instrument was field tested with two samples of 138 subjects each, including high school students, graduate students, and teachers. Research questions focused on instrument validity, internal consistency and reliability, and variables affecting scores. Validity was supported by a panel of judges critique, and a significant positive correlation between scores on the A.C.T.H. and the Defining Issues Test (D.l.T.) of general moral reasoning. Nonsignificant effects of: order of tests; directions to try to obtain a high score; knowledge of handicapped law; and sex supported the discriminant validity of the A.C.T.H. The reliability was determined to be .71. Variables tested for their effect on scores included reported: family member who is handicapped: close handicapped friend; and integrated education experience. Mean A.C.T.H. and D.l.T. scores were significantly higher for subjects reporting having had integrated educational experience. Forty-six of the subjects also completed a commonly used test of general attitudes toward disabled persons, the A.T.D.P. Subjects' A.T.D.P. scores had a nonsignificant correlation with the both the A.C.T.H. and D.l.T. scores, indicating that the developed instrument was a better indicator of attitude holder's underlying socio-moral reasoning in this study. Additional research is recommended before making generalizations about use and interpretation of the developed A.C.T.H. instrument. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was threefold: to assess the knowledge of school board members pertaining to PL 94-142 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (PL 93-112), to investigate the attitude of local school board members regarding handicapped children and to ascertain the source and methodology from which school board members receive their information regarding PL 94-142 and Section 504. Mailed survey forms were sent to local school board members selected from the subscribers list of the American School Board Journal. The survey forms consisted of a demographic section, an author-made knowledge index, an author-made attitude scale and information sources identification section. The size of the school district which a member represents made a significant difference in both knowledge and attitude scores. No significant relationship was found between knowledge or attitude with geographic area or type of district. Significant differences were found between knowledge and reading about education of the handicapped. Attitude scores reflecting favorable attitudes toward education of the handicapped increased with the experience of due process hearings in the school district. Seventy-two percent of the respondents correctly answered ten or more of the twenty knowledge questions correctly. The mean for knowledge was 10.86. The mean score for attitude toward the education of the handicapped was 62.66 from a possible score of 100 which would be the most positive attitude toward a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. The author concludes that school board members are knowledgeable about the education of handicapped children under the regulations for the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. The attitude of school board members toward the education of handicapped children is neither highly positive nor is it notably negative. The size of the school district the board members represents affected both attitude and knowledge scores. School board members from very small and very large school districts scored lower on the knowledge portion of the survey than those from medium-sized districts. Board members from small school districts had a more negative attitude about education of handicapped children than those from larger districts. The survey of knowledge and attitude of board members on PL 94-142 and Section 504 and the education of the handicapped has serious implications for the need of continuation of federal and state support of the rights of handicapped children to be educated at public expense in the public schools. Further, there are implications to give direction to advocates of education of handicapped children in areas of inservice and public relations. / Ed. D.

If the intent of Public Law 94-142 is to be realized as it pertains to the provision of appropriate placement and programming within the least restrictive environment for handicapped students, there must be an improved understanding of the attitudes, training, and experience of the principal as they relate to his practices. The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes and training of elementary school principals in a large mid-Atlantic school system as they related to their least restrictive environment practices toward students with specific learning disabilities and/or emotional disturbances who are placed in self-contained, (Level 4) special education classes in their schools. A review of literature indicated no instruments emphasizing elementary school principals' attitudes, training, and current LRE practices. A survey instrument was developed that was sensitive to the above variables. The sample which responded to the survey instrument included 46 elementary school principals who supervise self-contained (level 4) learning disabilities and/or emotionally impaired classes out of a total population of 46 principals and 72 special education teachers working with these programs. The multi—part survey instrument completed by principals included 3 sections: LRE Practices, Opinions Related to LRE Practices, and Demographics. Thirteen LRE activities were delineated to provide a composite of the LRE practices over which the principal has direct influence. The special education teachers responded to a modified survey instrument that focused on their principals' LRE practices. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

All branches of the military service have humanitarian transfer policies which require that consideration be given to the special educational and medical needs of dependent family members during the reassignment process. These policies may result in certain school districts serving a disproportionate number of military-connected handicapped children. Despite the federal financial assistance received by LEAs under P.L. 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) and P.L. 81-874 (School Assistance for Federally Affected Areas) the presence of these children may create a fiscal burden on the LEAs. This study sought to determine if seven school districts in the Tidewater area of Virginia served a disproportionate number of military connected handicapped children, what the additional costs were to the LEAs to educate these children, and what percentage of military parents of handicapped children were assigned to the Tidewater area due to the special educational needs of their children. Analysis of the data indicated that 7.7% of the total military enrollment (40,824) of the seven school districts were enrolled in special education programs. This percentage is not considered disproportionate when compared with the 10.3% of the nonmilitary population enrolled in special education programs. A number of possible explanations were offered for these inconsistencies. Per pupil costs were calculated for four self-contained programs in the Newport News School Division. Analysis of the data indicated that additional costs were incurred by the LEA to educate students in these high cost programs. These additional costs varied due to differing amounts of revenue received under P.L. 81-874 and the state reimbursement formula. It was concluded that the findings_of this study would be applicable only to the Newport News School Division and to the programs and settings that were investigated. Nineteen percent of the parents of military-connected handicapped children from five school districts were surveyed. Analysis of the data indicated that 55% of those parents were familiar with the armed forces' humanitarian reassignment programs. Forty-one percent of those familiar with the humanitarian reassignment programs had requested a transfer to the Tidewater area on the basis of their child's special educational needs. A growing awareness of reassignment policies has implications for certain school divisions. These implications were presented and discussed. / Ed. D.