The purpose of this research study was to examine the impact of the
consulting teacher model on referral and verification rates to special
education. A population of schools which implemented the model
(N = 17) was compared with a randomly selected comparison group of
schools which did not (N = 30). All schools were from the Portland,
Oregon, Public School District. The research was designed to cover a
three school year period of time (1987 to 1990). Three different
types of data were collected: the number of children who were
discussed at regular education pre-referral meetings, the number of
children who were referred for special education assessment and the
number of children who verified as eligible for special education
services.
Three primary research questions addressed (a) the impact of the
consulting teacher model on the number of children in the process,
(b) the longitudinal impact of the model on referral rate accuracy and
(c) referral rate accuracy differences between the consulting teacher
and comparison group schools.
Results from the first question indicated a difference in the numbers
of children discussed at the initial regular education pre-referral step;
17 more children were discussed in the consulting teacher schools.
Differences were also found between the 1987-88 school year and
every other year; seven more children were in the process in the first
year of the study than in the later years.
Results from the second question found that length of time on the
model does have a significant effect on referral rate accuracy in the
consulting teacher schools. Two differences were found in this
question: an increase in referral rate accuracy between years three
and four and a decrease in referral rate accuracy between years four
and five.
Results from the third question indicated no differences between the
type of school and school year. Referral rate accuracy remained the
same in both the consulting teacher and comparison group schools
throughout all three years of this study. / Graduation date: 1992
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/37227 |
| Date | 12 July 1991 |
| Creators | Yocom, Dorothy Jean |
| Contributors | Young, Bonnie J. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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