Browsing by Subject "General education"
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Item Empirically based components related to students with disabilities in tier I research institutions' educational administration preparation programs(2010-05) Cusson, Megan Melanie; Yates, James R.The passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 gave the public schools a clear responsibility to appropriately educate students with disabilities. This responsibility emerged from a combination of philosophy, law, policy, and procedures oriented towards the "normalization" of services to persons with disabilities. These services have developed as a general responsibility of the whole system and not as a separate component of the educational enterprise. In order to meet federal mandates, the complementary disciplines of general and special education leadership have had to integrate or link, in order to address the responsibility for the delivery of services to students with disabilities. In doing so, general education administrators have become responsible for the education and success of all students, including those students with disabilities. Yet, many of these administrators have not been prepared or trained to serve special population groups, so their task of educating all students becomes more complex. A literature synthesis suggested 12 components that all educational administrators should be trained in to serve students with disabilities: (a) relationship building and communication; (b) leadership and vision; (c) budget and capital; (d) laws and policies; (e) curriculum and instruction; (f) personnel; (g) evaluation of data, programs, students, and teachers; (h) collaboration and consultation; (i) special education programming; (j) organization; (k) professional development; and (l) advocacy. To determine if such training is occurring in elite institutions, 293 professors at University Council for Educational Administration member institutions completed an online survey. Results indicated that relationship building and communication as well as leadership and vision were being taught at the highest percentages. The components of budget and capital, advocacy, and special education programming were incorporated the least. Interestingly, the results showed that the component being required learning in the institution's program or the professor believing the component to be essential for future administrators had little impact on whether it was taught. The major factors in professors regularly teaching a component was their expertise in the area and whether it was part of their research agenda.Item Examining the attitudes, perceptions, and concerns of Kenyan teachers toward the inclusion of children with disabilities in general education classrooms(2012-05) Odongo, George; Davidson, Roseanna C.; Siwatu, Kamau O.; Parker, Amy T.Since the government of Kenya made inclusive education as apolicy requirement in the provision of education to all children including those with disabilities, educators have explored ways of making this requirement a reality. All children with disabilities should be educated with non-disabled children of the same and to have access to the general education curriculum. The philosophy of inclusive education aims at enabling all children to learn in the regular education classrooms. It is widely believed that the successful implementation of any inclusive policy is largely influenced by the teachers being positive about the expectations. Grounded in Positioning Theory, this study was conducted to examine the attitudes, perceptions and concerns of Kenyan teachers toward the inclusion of children with disabilities in the regular education classrooms. The study participants were 142 Primary School teachers from 10 schools in a school district in Western Kenya deliberately selected from schools identified as actively implementing inclusive education programs. A concurrent mixed methods design was used to collect, analyze and intepret data for this study. The overal findings indicate that the teachers have a positive attitude towards inclusion of children with disabilities in regular classrooms. However, the teachers also identified what they considered as obstacles to successful implementation of the inclusive philosophy.Item General education in Texas: From coordinating board to campus, perspectives(2012-05) Spurrier, Jennifer; Jones, Stephanie J.; Shonrock, Michael D.; Brink, James E.The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the phenomenon of general education in four Texas public higher education institutions and to determine if the legislated requirements, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board core curriculum requirements, were consistent among the institutions in the selected arena. The focus was on four public higher education institutions' fulfillment of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s core curriculum requirements. The institutions were selected based on Carnegie classifications. The schools were representative of the following: community college, regional school, emerging university, and state flagship. This research study used qualitative methodology. The study used the following sources for investigation: legislation, documents from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and institution catalogs. To a limited extent, documents from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools were used. Additionally, data were collected via interviews. Those interviewed were responsible in some way for core curriculum at each institution. While catalogs were readily available, they presented only one translation or interpretation of the core curriculum at an institution. Interviews offered a venue to determine not just the theory (or philosophy) regarding general education, but the underlying practices, procedures, and attitudes related to the phenomenon of general education. The data collection was completed in spring 2011. By using a combination of data, general education in Texas was studied from perspectives beginning with the intent of the core curriculum (as relayed by the THECB and catalogs) to the perspectives of the four public institutions (via the catalogs and the interviews). Once the core curriculum was investigated via the case studies, a comparison of general education from the cases was conducted. This was done in an attempt to determine if the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board requirements were consistent among the public institutions as part of the general education curriculum. Data were used to answer the research questions and to proffer some generalizations about the status of the phenomenon of general education in public Texas higher education institutions. The findings indicated that while consistencies existed, so did inconsistencies.Item The effects of culture on general education: A historical analysis of a great books model(2005-12) Herzog, Sherry L.; Simpson, Douglas J.; Cejda, Brent D.; Murray, John P.; Price, Margaret A.A revival of general education can be defined as an increased awareness of the need for and the value of general education leading to changes in the curriculum. Revival has a goal of adding to the existing competencies developed by general education curriculum. Three periods of general education revival have been identified in the United States. This qualitative study was conducted on a great books model of general education at a liberal arts college in the Southwestern United States, Great Books College (a pseudonym). A period of 28 years was reviewed. Since Great Books College does not have courses as in the traditional distribution/core model program, a longitudinal listing of great books studied at the College during the review period was developed and used to analyze the curriculum. This data was obtained from college catalogs. Other data sources included archival research, a site visit, nonparticipant observations, and interviews. Data collected was used to identify curricular reforms that were caused or influenced by societal interactions. Due to the subtleness of the reforms, the most useful method of identification was to identify great book additions or deletions that might have been related to societal interactions. These research threads were followed both backward and forward in the archival data to determine if related social interactions existed. The study found that similarities exist between distribution/core models of general education and the great books model of general education at Great Books College relating to the effects of culture on general education reform. The main similarity identified was the types of interactions, both internal and external to the institution, that affect reform. Student influence on general education reform at Great Books College was found to be a major factor. This is not surprising based on the high level of student involvement in leading the educational process observed during the nonparticipant observations. An example of the differences between traditional distribution/core model general education and great books model general education was evident in the results of this study. When student-writing skills were identified as a weakness, Great Books College went to great measures to address this through peer-writing tutorials, implementing writing standards, peer critiquing of papers, and consistency in quality of writing. This is an example of an "across-the-curriculum" method used in great books model general education verses fragmenting the corrective action into a series of courses, the traditional method used by distribution/core model general education programs. The results of this research are important considerations for Great Books College in planning of curricular reform and analyzing issues of accountability.Item The effects of culture on general education: a historical analysis of a great books model(Texas Tech University, 2005-12) Herzog, Sherry L.; Simpson, Douglas J.; Cejda, Brent D.; Murray, John P.; Price, Margaret A.A revival of general education can be defined as an increased awareness of the need for and the value of general education leading to changes in the curriculum. Revival has a goal of adding to the existing competencies developed by general education curriculum. Three periods of general education revival have been identified in the United States. This qualitative study was conducted on a great books model of general education at a liberal arts college in the Southwestern United States, Great Books College (a pseudonym). A period of 28 years was reviewed. Since Great Books College does not have courses as in the traditional distribution/core model program, a longitudinal listing of great books studied at the College during the review period was developed and used to analyze the curriculum. This data was obtained from college catalogs. Other data sources included archival research, a site visit, nonparticipant observations, and interviews. Data collected was used to identify curricular reforms that were caused or influenced by societal interactions. Due to the subtleness of the reforms, the most useful method of identification was to identify great book additions or deletions that might have been related to societal interactions. These research threads were followed both backward and forward in the archival data to determine if related social interactions existed. The study found that similarities exist between distribution/core models of general education and the great books model of general education at Great Books College relating to the effects of culture on general education reform. The main similarity identified was the types of interactions, both internal and external to the institution, that affect reform. Student influence on general education reform at Great Books College was found to be a major factor. This is not surprising based on the high level of student involvement in leading the educational process observed during the nonparticipant observations. An example of the differences between traditional distribution/core model general education and great books model general education was evident in the results of this study. When student-writing skills were identified as a weakness, Great Books College went to great measures to address this through peer-writing tutorials, implementing writing standards, peer critiquing of papers, and consistency in quality of writing. This is an example of an “across-the-curriculum” method used in great books model general education verses fragmenting the corrective action into a series of courses, the traditional method used by distribution/core model general education programs. The results of this research are important considerations for Great Books College in planning of curricular reform and analyzing issues of accountability.