Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
John Reynolds
Committee Member
Polly Ebbs
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
centralized eligibility staffing committee, disabilities, eligibility criteria, emotionally handicapped, emotionally disturbed students, Hillsborough County Public Schools, identification methods, intervention assistance team, intervention processes, minority students, placement patterns, prereferral intervention, referral, special education, state board rules, student eligibility, student placement, unified documentation procedures, evaluation data, regular and special education relationship
Abstract
This report describes a series of interventions designed to provide appropriate identification methods and services to emotionally handicapped (EH) and severely emotionally disturbed (SED) students to resolve the problem of uncontrolled growth in the EH/SED program in Hillsborough County Public Schools. This problem posed serious concerns for the school system, including restricted state funding; limited resources, both capital and human; and the potential for serious legal problems due to parents’ pressures for testing and special education services.
Planned intervention processes included (a) designing a unified and standardized format for the documentation of prereferral activities using an intervention assistance team (I-Team) model; (b) developing a procedure for the processing of prereferral, referral, and evaluation data, (c) training area Centralized Eligibility Staffing Committee members on the I-Team model and state board rules, including eligibility criteria; and (d) establishing area teams to determine eligibility of students for the EH/SED program. Data were collected and analyzed from all schools within the district’s 6 administrative areas. Dissemination of the results of this study included preintervention, intervention, and postintervention data.
The results demonstrated a 19.6% reduction in the total number of students found eligible and served in the district’s EH/SED program over a 3-year period. Although the referral rate for minority students for EH/SED evaluation and their eligibility rate decreased, the referral/placement patterns still reflected an overrepresentation of minority students.