Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Donald D. Gainey
Committee Member
James Davis
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
access to education, administrators, applied dissertation, archival records, board of education, compliance, disabilities, dropout rates, educational assessment, educational change, educational community, educational program evaluation, federal regulations, Grades 4 and 8, high school diploma, high school exams, inclusive schools, integration, internal evaluator, observational data, organizational climate, parents, program assessment, program quality, qualitative methods, regular education classroom, special education, state education department, state regulations, state tests, students with disabilities, surveys, triangulation, weakness areas
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to evaluate the current education program for students with disabilities. The key performance indicators established by the state education department indicated that the program was weak. Specific areas of weakness were the lack of success of students with disabilities on state tests at Grades 4 and 8, lack of passing scores on the high school level exams, high incidence of dropout rate, and low percentage of students with disabilities earning a high school diploma and lack of integration into the regular education classroom. A specific assessment was needed to determine the root causes of these problems.
The writer developed a plan to investigate the cause of the weakness areas. This led to questions on both the level of compliance to mandated state and federal regulations of the special education practices and procedures and the quality of the special education program. Qualitative methods were used with triangulation of data sources. As an internal evaluator, it was important for this writer to utilize strategies that control for bias. The sources of data included archival records, observations and conversations and surveys.
The result of this applied dissertation was a research based plan that provides specific recommendations for the support the special education program. The evaluation and subsequent plan considered the perspectives of the students, staff, administrators, board of education, parents, and the broader educational community. The issues of compliance and quality that emerged as problems in the program assessment are addressed in the program plan.