Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Arlene Brett Gordon
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Rochelle Green
Keywords
attitudes, chronic health conditions, district survey, educators, IDEA, in-service training, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, knowledge, school district, Section 504, special education, special education law, special needs, students with special needs, teacher attitudes, teacher training, teachers
Abstract
This applied dissertation was developed to provide a solution to the problem of the lack of training for teachers, regular and special education, related to students with special needs. Though the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act specifies that training should be provided to staff working with students having special needs, on-going trainings were not occurring in this writer’s district. Teachers expressed frustration and negativity related to having students in their class who have special needs. Often this was due to the fact that they had not received any training in their undergraduate courses.
To address this problem, an in-service of eight hours was developed to be offered to educators in the school district. The contents of the training were constructed based on the areas of need that the teachers identified in a district survey. The curriculum covered special education law, Section 504, teachers’ responsibilities and rights and basic knowledge of common chronic health conditions of students.
Analysis of the training data showed a significant increase in basic knowledge. Teachers demonstrated a generally positive attitude at the beginning of the training and did not show a significant change as a result of the training. The qualitative analysis illustrated that the teachers felt that the training was worthwhile and should be offered to all district teachers.