The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore ways to include students with significant disabilities in school climate measures. Student perceptions of school climate are generally collected through self-report surveys. These tools may be inaccessible to students with significant cognitive, language, physical or other challenges. This study had two main research objectives: to understand how core school climate constructs apply to the experience of students with significant disabilities and to explore the development of a meaningful tool that could be used to capture their experience. To address the first goal, a series of in-depth interviews were conducted with staff, parents, and students from a private special education day program to learn how the key school climate constructs of Engagement, Safety, and Environment from the US DOE 2019 Safe and Supportive Schools framework applied to the experience of students with significant disabilities. Results from this initial phase of the study included themes related to understanding difference, supporting authentic relationships, meaningful participation and accessibility, independence, and qualities of the physical learning environment. This data was applied in the second phase of the study to develop a rating scale that could potentially be used to include the experience of students with significant disabilities in school climate measures. Using the 2018 Massachusetts Views of Climate and Learning survey as a model and incorporating the interview data, parent and staff versions of the School Climate Rating Scale were created. A focus group and two rounds of cognitive laboratory interviews were conducted to assess how potential respondents would interpret and respond to the rating scale prompts. Feedback was also gathered about the viability of the School Climate Rating Scale as an alternate measurement tool for students with significant disabilities and experiences of school climate. / 2024-01-26T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/43717 |
| Date | 26 January 2022 |
| Creators | Macari, Krista M. |
| Contributors | Weintraub, Robert J. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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