Graduation Year
2006
Document Type
Ed. Specalist
Degree
Ed.S.
Degree Granting Department
Psychological and Social Foundations
Major Professor
Kelly A. Powell-Smith, Ph.D.
Keywords
Curriculum-based measurement, Reintegration, Special education teachers, Reading, Decision-making, Elementary students
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to obtain information about special educators' perceptions of the reintegration of special education students into general education classrooms and factors affecting their reintegration decisions. Reintegration is the process of determining when it is appropriate to fade and eventually remove special education services for a student. Special educators often are in a good position to both initiate and facilitate this process. The current study surveyed special educators. Participants read vignettes depicting special education students with mild disabilities and answered a set of survey questions regarding their perceptions about reintegrating the students into the general education classroom. Specifically, two research questions were investigated: (1) Does performance data on achievement affect special educators' willingness to reintegrate students for reading instruction beyond their willingness based only on anecdotal information and, (2) What type of student performance data were most influential in special educators' ratings of willingness to reintegrate special education students?This study found that data on academic performance does affect special educators' willingness to reintegrate students with disabilities into general education classrooms. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate what factors were most influential in the decision-making process. Results of these analyses varied as a function of disability category of the student depicted in the vignette. In two of the four vignettes, pre-data willingness, or anecdotal information accounted for the largest percentage of unique variance indicating that non-academic data is very influential in reintegration decision-making. Implications of the findings for practice, including promotion of the use of CBM data in reintegration decision-making are discussed.
Scholar Commons Citation
Tanner, Brandi L., "Factors influencing special educators' perceptives regarding the reintegration of special education students" (2006). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/2721
