Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Special educators who serve students with emotional and/or behavioral disabilities (ED/EBD) must be knowledgeable about various interventions, academic supports and modifications, and behavior management techniques that are appropriate and effective in meeting the diverse needs of this student population. This study examined special education teachers perceptions of their preservice training, school factors (e.g., job responsibilities, collegial involvement, and collegial support), and programming for students with ED/EBD. Through an online survey and Skype interviews, quantitative and qualitative data were collected to explore a variety of factors that potentially impact special educators perceived personal and program effectiveness. Due to a small sample size (35 participants who completed the entire survey and four interviewees), many of the results were nonsignificant. Findings indicated that participants perceptions of program effectiveness was a significant predictor of their perceived personal effectiveness, the degree of participants perceived overall collegial involvement was positively related to perceived overall collegial support, and administrator involvement and general educator support was positively related to perceived program effectiveness for students with ED/EBD. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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