The purpose of this study was to investigate special education outcomes in relation to state standardized testing. It specifically sought to determine if a relationship existed between selected data from the Texas Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) comparing district students receiving special education services TAAS scores with selected district demographic, fiscal, and special education data. The population for this study consisted of all 2001-2002 grades 3-8 and 10 public school students with the exception of charter schools, special-purpose statutory districts, and state-administered districts. The reading analysis incorporated data from 896 Texas school districts. The mathematics analysis used data from 914 school districts. Multiple linear hierarchical regression was chosen as the method for statistical analysis. Data was obtained from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) as a special data pull. For both the reading and mathematics analyses, wealth and ethnicity were statistically insignificant although ethnicity individually accounted for a large percentage of the variance for both the reading (20.3%) and mathematics (13.2%) scores as well as producing negative β weights. All other predictor variables produced varying degrees of statistical significance. Community type, socioeconomic status, instructional expenditures per students, and instructional expenditures per student receiving special education services also produced negative β weights. Two variables in this study, enrollment and the percentage of students receiving special education services tested, produced positive β weights, substantial squared structure coefficients, and positive Pearson correlation coefficients. Of these two predictors, the strongest overall positive predictor for students receiving special education services success on the grades 3-8 and 10 reading and mathematics TAAS exams was the percentage of students receiving special education services tested. These percentages produced the largest positive correlations with passing rates (reading r = .283, mathematics r = .219) and the second largest regression coefficients (reading β = .224, mathematics β = .202). They individually accounted for the largest percentage of total criterion variance (reading = 33.0%, mathematics = 22.6%). For this study, these results clearly suggested that the dominant positive predictor of testing success for students receiving special education services was the percentage of students receiving special education services tested. Conversely, socioeconomic status was the dominant negative predictor.

As states begin to highlight the system supports used to include English language learners with disabilities in standards-based assessments and accountability programs, implementation of those supports will be closely examined by school districts. This case study investigates the classroom culture in an early childhood preschool program for four-year-old children with disabilities. Classroom observations were used to determine how two young children with disabilities were acquiring English as a second language. Specific focus was given to activities that allowed for second language acquisition, native language development, the attainment of developmental skills, and alternative communication skills such as sign language and a communication board. An investigation took place into current theories to create a knowledge base for understanding how young children acquire linguistic skills in English and how classroom culture was created.

No description available.

Holistic approach--Whole language approach.

Malawi is a state party to a number of international human rights instruments that guarantee the rights of children with disabilities (CWDs), which include the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD); the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). The instruments guarantee the right to education, among other rights. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2011. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / nf2012 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

A phenomenological study was conducted to investigate the experiences of school principals, who exceeded district standards on standardized performance evaluations, in providing effective educational programs for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) in an urban setting. The aim of this study was to identify common experiences, practices, or attitudes regarding students with EBD, and their teachers, among school principals who qualified for the study. Data was be collected through principal interviews. Data results were coded, organized, and analyzed using a systematic method of phenomenological analysis to find general themes that speak to the essence of the experience.

This study examined the process of integrating special education students into a regular education program. The study focused on needs, successful strategies, role changes, supervision of teachers, and outcomes of the integration process for a school engaged in transition from more restrictive toward more integrated placement for students in self-contained special education classes. Qualitative interviews were used to elicit self-perceptions of the director of special education, county task force members, principals, teachers of regular and special education, and ancillary staff. These interviews were triangulated with relevant documentation and observations of activities during school days. The study found two distinct styles of supervision in place: 1) a bottom-up approach used by the special education director to guide the county task force as it developed district guidelines; and 2) a top-down approach used by the principal to guide implementation of increased integration at the school level. The study found that progress in implementation of integration was impeded by the fact that teachers of regular education were not represented on the county task force. Other factors which contributed to and impeded integration during the first year of implementation were: 1) a lack of a clear definition of integration at the school level; 2) a perception that positive outcomes of integration are primarily social benefits for students in both regular and special education; and 3) a premise held by all study participants that full inclusion was not feasible in their school. These findings from the local setting are generally consistent with findings from key studies in the literature. Other suggestions were made by participants to formalize integration procedures, to allow teacher choice in acceptance of students with disabilities, to mix classroom placements within the school, and to give a smaller class size to teachers who integrated students into their class. One further recommendation reducing the wide range of abilities within each integrated classroom, was found in the literature reviewed to be a barrier to integration success. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to identify, examine and analyze judicial decisions, legislation, and agency regulations, state and federal, for those principles of law that govern the legal rights and responsibilities of Indiana public school educators. The study delineated legal principles and the process of legal reasoning in the following primary areas: (1) Tort liability of school districts and personnel; (2) Legal responsibilities regarding students; (3) Education of children with disabilities; (4) Terms and conditions of teacher employment. Three primary research methods were used in this study: The "descriptive word" or "words and phrases" approach, the topical approach, and the case method. The computer-assisted legal research service, WestLaw was used extensively in this study. The study produced the following selected general conclusions: (1) Indiana educators possess very limited protection under the doctrine of sovereign immunity and may be held personally liable for their own tortious acts. Educators are only immune from acts that constitute significant policy and political decisions generally attributable to the essence of governing. Indiana educators are personally protected from monetary loss by a "save harmless" statute. Indiana public school corporations are not protected by the doctrine of governmental immunity. School authorities may be found liable in their individual capacities for a constitutional tort if they personally violate clearly established constitutional rights of individuals. (2) Persons of school age are obligated under Indiana compulsory education laws to attend school or receive instruction equivalent to that given in the public schools. The judiciary uniformly recognizes the right and duty of school boards and school authorities to maintain order and control in the classroom and in the public schools. Students who violate school rules and regulations may be suspended or expelled from school but not without procedural due process. Students are entitled to other constitutional rights with respect to the first, fourth and fourteenth amendments. (3) The Individuals with Disabilities Act requires that children with disabilities be provided a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. The right to a free appropriate education is undergirded by complex and comprehensive procedural rights afforded to parents under the IDEA. Indiana law expands procedural due process protections for children with disabilities beyond that provided by federal statute. A disabled child may be expelled from school where the misconduct is not handicap-related but educational services cannot be completely terminated. (4) Every teacher in Indiana employed by a school corporation must hold a license issued by the state and make a written teaching contract with the local governing body. A tenured teacher may be dismissed or suspended with cause but must be afforded due process in connection with the cancellation of an indefinite contract. School boards and school officials are granted broad discretion in matters relating to the method of teaching, decisions regarding the curriculum, and the selection of books to be used in the public schools. Indiana educators enjoy a liberty interest in their employment as well as other constitutional rights which are balanced by the state's interest in controlling and furthering the education mission of the public schools. / Ed. D.

No description available.

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, P.L. 94, 142, resulted in many benefits accruing to learners with handicaps and their families. However, there were disputes between and among people from various sectors of the educational community regarding the implementation of the Act. In the past the local teacher union bargaining process has been used as a means through which some disputes may be rectified. Authors have suggested that disputes regarding the delivery of services to learners with handicaps might be resolved through teacher unions’ collective bargaining. The primary purpose of this study was to identify existing special education related language in “Pre” and "Post" P.L. 94-142 teacher union contracts. The secondary purpose was to examine the perceived needs of educational professionals for the development of formal school board policies and procedures on selected special education service delivery issues. Three data collection procedures were developed. Data were analyzed, in part, by descriptive statistics. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data obtained from three sources revealed the following three major findings: The majority of "Pre" and "Post" P.L. 94-142 teacher union contracts contained virtually no specific special education related language. Second, all teachers’ perceptions surveyed indicated that the majority of educators perceived the need for selected special education policies as either “highly valuable" or “essential” regardless of teaching assignment (special or regular education) or employment site (urban or rural). Third, teachers consistently perceived a greater degree of need for local school boards to develop selected formal special education and service delivery policies and procedures then did special education program administrators. Recommendations for further research included a series of national surveys of unionized educational professionals to determine if these individuals can provide 1) an explanation for the inconsistency identified here between practitioners perceived need for selected special education policies and procedures and the virtual absence of any special education related contractual language in the contracts analyzed in this study; 2) what specific effect, if any, the implementation of the Regular Education Initiative (REI) has had in unionized school districts; and 3) if there is any linkage between membership on the pre-bargaining and bargaining committees and the final content of the negotiated teacher union contract. / Ed. D.