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The purpose of this study was to identify the initial steps that a planning principal takes to open a new plus one elementary school. Too often, the focus is on the completion of the bricks and mortar of the facility instead of what takes place in the building once construction is complete (Lane, 2008). "Effective planning for the opening of a new school produces an environment in which teachers can teach and students can learn effectively and efficiently" (Lane, 2008, p. 2). Thus, the opening of a new plus one school requires a well-planned, detailed, organized approach for occupying the facility as the success or failure of the school opening process weighs heavily on the ability of the planning principal (Lane, 2008). New plus one schools are continuing to be built regularly within the United States to address student enrollment increases in existing schools with limited capacity, yet there is no set of instructions to guide a planning principal. With new school construction still needed to address increasing student enrollment in local school districts, the perceptions of the initial steps planning principals take to open a new plus one elementary school are valuable. This study involved interviewing four planning principals in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Interview questions sought the actions that planning principals take to start a new plus one elementary school. All four planning principals indicated that they had no playbook or guide, were self-directed and initiated support when needed, and exercised a high level of autonomy with decision making, specifically with staffing, developing a school vision, and determining the school mascot and school colors. Implications for practitioners were identified including the need for a guide or handbook, a structure of support, and training or professional development. The outcome of the study provided opportunities for future planning principals to identify the key responsibilities, experiences, and guidance recommended for opening new plus one elementary schools. / Doctor of Education / New plus one schools are continuing to be built regularly within the United States to address student enrollment increases in existing schools with limited capacity, yet there is no set of instructions to guide a planning principal. With new school construction still needed to address increasing student enrollment in local school districts, the perceptions of the initial steps planning principals take to open a new plus one elementary school are valuable. This qualitative study interviewed four planning principals from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States that served as a planning principal within the past five years of a public K-5 elementary school, had at least three years of experience as a school administrator, and opened a new plus one school versus a rebuild. The interview questions sought the actions planning principals take to start new plus one elementary schools. All four planning principals indicated that they had no playbook or guide, were self-directed and initiated support when needed, and exercised a high level of autonomy with decision making, specifically with staffing, developing a school vision, and determining the school mascot and school colors. Implications for practitioners were identified including the need for a guide or handbook, a structure of support, and training or professional development. The outcome of the study provided opportunities for future planning principals to identify the key responsibilities, experiences, and guidance recommended for opening new plus one elementary schools. A suggestion for future research would be to expand the sample to secondary planning principals to compare and contrast responsibilities with elementary planning principals.

Video-Based Instruction (VBI) is an evidence-based practice that has been used for teaching new skills to individuals with disabilities for over two decades. VBI involves the use of pre-recorded videos to teach new skills. Benefits of VBI include flexibility in when the instruction is provided to students and allows students to receive instruction while the teacher is working with another person. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the impact of the independent variable of VBI, upon the dependent variables of (a) the percentage of steps completed correctly to make novel calendar entries; (b) the timeliness of arriving for scheduled meetings; and (c) timeliness of completing the scheduled tasks (sending text messages). Three female students aged 25 to 31 with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) living at a residential transition program for adults with ASD and Learning Disabilities participated in the study. One of three participants met criteria (80% accuracy) to correctly make novel calendar entries. Two of the three participants needed an additional prompt to meet criteria (80% accuracy) to correctly make novel calendar entries. One of three participants increased and maintained timeliness for arriving for scheduled meetings. Each participant improved the timeliness of completing the scheduled tasks (sending text messages). This study supports the effectiveness of VBI for the instruction of daily living skills to individuals with ASD. Implications for practitioners, limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Through secondary analyses of quantitative data obtained from the Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) National Coordinating Center database from the first cohort (2010-2015) of model demonstration sites in Florida, this study examined components of the postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disabilities that are correlated with employment upon program exit. This study adds to the emergent knowledge base on inclusive higher education by identifying the programmatic components of the postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disability most correlated with successful transition from college to employment. This information can be used to inform program development and refinement to foster employment upon exit, a worthy outcome that leads to greater quality of life. The academic access program component of inclusive coursework was found to have the strongest correlation with the post-school outcome of paid, competitive employment upon exit. This program component aligns with the established predictors of post-school success for students with disabilities (Mazzotti et al., 2016) and employment for people with intellectual disabilities (Southward & Kyzar, 2017). Areas of agreement are discussed as well as implications for a number of stakeholders.

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This sandwich dissertation examines physical disorder as a type of ‘neighbourhood effect’ on education. My research takes a mixed-methods approach to understanding how physical disorder in areas surrounding schools might affect their educational outcomes, such as achievement, climate and discipline, over and above the demographic characteristics of their students. It also points to two possible mechanisms to therefore determine how these net effects might arise. This original contribution to the neighbourhood effects literature combines citywide, systematic data on physical disorder, neighbourhood demographics and school outcomes, with qualitative data on the views of stakeholders and repeated observations of select neighbourhoods. Through a quantitative and method-intensive paper, Chapter two discusses the procedures for collecting data on disorder, developing different scales of disorder, and how disorder relates to a variety of census measures and other neighbourhood and school measures. This research presents evidence that Systematic Social Observation (SSO) can provide a reliable and cost effective means of neighbourhood assessment. The results show that observed disorder is statistically related to neighbourhood socio-demographics, collective efficacy, and various academic outcomes. What is surprising, however, was that school exterior disorder had little to no explanatory power compared to observed disorder and graffiti in the face blocks surrounding schools. These findings highlight how beyond the recognized effects of socio-demographics, additional mechanisms in neighbourhoods, such as disorder and graffiti, can directly and indirectly influence school outcomes like achievement, discipline, and safety. My third chapter directly studies the impact of characteristics of neighbourhoods by examining the direct and additive effect(s) of observed disorder on academic achievement, discipline, and safety. Two sets of findings were reported. First, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models showed that neighbourhood disorder but not school disorder was strongly associated with neighbourhood poverty. While the former effect was expected, the latter finding is interpreted as demonstrating how institutional processes in education can detach school physical plants from their immediate surroundings. Second, net of neighbourhood poverty and school size and type, higher levels of neighbourhood disorder were associated with lower school achievement, higher suspension rates, and larger proportions of students reporting to feel unsafe, though school disorder had far weaker effects. These findings are interpreted as demonstrating the power of neighbourhood disorder to trigger either student deviance or family self-selection processes, but also demonstrating how institutional processes can weaken the signalling power of disorder on school grounds and property. The fourth chapter provides an in-depth examination of two purported mechanisms to uncover the social processes that generated the broad relationships established in chapters 2 and 3. This research demonstrates that self-selection and reputational processes are likely generators of the net effects that were demonstrated in previous chapters. My qualitative evidence suggests that nearby disorder likely sends negative signals to would-be choosers of schools, creating (and perpetuating) long-lasting perceptions and reputations amongst aspiring, ambitious and achievement-oriented families. Schools with lots of nearby disorder are regarded to have deep-rooted problems, connected to their local populations and building conditions. As a result, aspiring families were recognized to self-select out of these disorderly schools, and re-locate elsewhere. This sandwich dissertation has found an intriguing pattern of effects and non-effects of disorder on schooling. It also highlights how neighbourhood disorder can send strong signals that ultimately shape school processes. Though many neighbourhood researchers have applied hypotheses of disorder to a variety of human capital outcomes there has been little recognition of disorder as a physical ‘neighbourhood effect’ on schooling. From this perspective, it is not only helpful to recognize that disorder in nearby areas seems to affect schooling, but that self-selection and reputation processes can explain how this specific neighbourhood effect might arise. Since a shortcoming of existing work is that neighbourhood attributes are measured primarily using census data, the contribution of this dissertation to sociology is that researchers are now better equipped methodologically to design their own standardized approaches and disorder scales that directly measure neighbourhood conditions. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

“Linking Functional Skills to Educational Goals for Students with Significant Disabilities: A Professional Development Series” is an occupational therapist-developed multi-disciplinary professional development and mentorship series that helps special educators link educational standards to functional life skills to support improved post-school outcomes. The evidence-based and theoretically-grounded professional development series addresses the need for ongoing professional development for educators working with students with significant disabilities and in so doing also attempts to improve the long-standing poor post-school outcomes of this student population. A review of the literature indicated that overall, post-school outcomes continue to be poor for students with significant disabilities as they remain dependent upon their caregivers for daily living activities and are consistently under-employed, if employed at all. Content of the program will help educational staff integrate functional life skills into academic curriculum thereby supporting functional as well as academic outcomes using Alwell and Cobb’s (2009) five domains of life skills. Structure of the program will entail collaborative sessions using matrices that guide goal and curriculum development based on assessment protocols. Monthly job-embedded coaching and mentorship opportunities will align with recommendations in the literature. Local and national grant opportunities will fund the project and dissemination of program results will occur via local, state, and national conference opportunities. Such an occupation- and performance-based curriculum serves to develop young adults whose education truly results in participating and active members of their community, with decreased caregiver burden, as well as increased student self-concept and established and continuously emerging identities and roles.

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No description available.