Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Kenneth H. Bush
Committee Member
Gloria Wolfson
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
Alabama, Andalusia, Andalusia High School, behavior intervention plans, behavioral assessments, classroom discipline, comparison assessments, disciplinary referrals, evaluation forms, functional behavioral assessments, Grades 9-12, high schools, IDEA law, IDEA mandates, individualized behavior intervention plans, intervention planning, intervention strategies, regular education, special education, staff development training, student comparison assessments, student populations, teacher training
Abstract
This report describes a program to reduce disciplinary referrals of special education students at Andalusia High School (AHS) in Andalusia, Alabama. With a total student population of 557 students in Grades 9-12, the office received 878 disciplinary referrals in 1998-1999. Of this number, 244 referrals were for 32 special education students who averaged 13 referrals each. All 32 special education students had at least 2 disciplinary referrals (with a range from a high of 17 to a low of 2).
Possible causes of the problem were identified. First, the role of the regular education teacher in working with special education students was not clearly defined. Second, the type of discipline process in place in each classroom did not reflect general theory of behavior planning. Third, it was evident that there was a lack of intervention strategies for improving student behavior.
The planned solution strategy was to implement a schoolwide discipline plan that included the following components: (a) functional behavioral assessments, (b) student comparison assessments, and (c) individualized behavior intervention plans. The intervention involved all 39 regular education and 3 special education teachers in staff development training to develop their awareness of the law governing the education and discipline of special education students. Training was provided to assist teachers in being able to use behavioral assessments and to construct and use individualized behavior intervention plans.
The interventions helped to reduce the referral rate of special education students by 28% and regular education students by 72%. Regular education teachers scored themselves an average rating of 3 (basic knowledge of the IDEA law), and 66% of the regular education teachers had a behavior intervention plan in place at the end of the project period. Therefore, all 3 objectives were achieved.