Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Clifford Claiborne
Committee Member
Charles Danowski
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic assistance, classroom techniques, educational therapy, faculty development, Indiana, in-service training, instructional faculty, learning disabilities, learning disabled students, non-public schools, professional development, resource rooms, student achievement, student support services, Talent Development Lab, teacher competencies, teacher in-service, teacher interventions, teacher responsibility, teacher strategies, teacher training
Abstract
This applied dissertation describes a setting in an Indiana non-public school with a student enrollment of 590 students and 40 instructional faculty members. Approximately 13.3% of the student population struggled with some degree of learning deficiencies or disabilities and performed poorly in the traditional classroom.
The school does have a resource room called the Talent Development Lab where students receive academic assistance. Although students have experienced great and quantifiable success in the Talent Development Lab, there is a gap between what happens in the Lab and what happens in the classroom. The problem is that teachers have not accepted their personal responsibility to adjust to the special learning needs of students in their classroom. The Talent Development Program and students with learning disabilities are relatively new in this school. As a result, a paradigm still exists that “if Johnny does not achieve, that is his problem not mine, and perhaps he should not be at this school”.
In this applied dissertation, an in-service training program was created and implemented to increase teacher competencies to enable them to effectively address the needs of learning disabled students in their classroom. Teacher interventions were taught to provide the professional tools necessary to effectively address the needs of learning disabled students.