Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine principals knowledge of special Education policy under the guidelines set forth in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) and the method by which knowledge of policy and practice was learned. Specific focus areas included the six pillars of IDEA: (a) free, appropriate public Education, (b) individual Education program, (c) least restrictive environment, (d) nondiscriminatory identification and evaluation, (e) procedural safeguards, and (f) parent participation and shared decision making. Principals in Indiana were surveyed over their implementation knowledge of the six pillars. The research design involved a two-part survey which was emailed to all public school principals in Indiana. Scenarios and questions on each of the focus areas were presented. An overall implementation composite score was generated from the collected scenario data and then compared to (a) school location, (b) type of school building, (c) school enrollment, and (d) special Education teaching experience. Statistical analysis of the data included means, standard deviation, frequencies, and percentages. One-way ANOVAs were utilized to determine if, based on implementation composite scores, significant differences existed among variables. As a result of the analysis, significant differences were found among two variables. In the area of school enrollment, principals from schools with enrollments of 1,500 scored statistically significantly higher on the IDEA implementation composite score than principals from schools with enrollment of 499 or fewer students. In the area of experience, principals who had special Education teaching experience demonstrated statistically significant higher levels of knowledge on the IDEA implementation score than their peers without special Education experience.

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