Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Gregory Ulm

Second Advisor

James Jacobs

Third Advisor

Robert Boyd

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the academic and behavioral progress of male special education students in a residential program and determine whether decisions to place them in the program were justified. A comparison of students' archival data that consisted of pre and post assessments for academic adjustment and behavioral adjustment was the method chosen to accomplish this purpose. Eighty students between the ages of 8 years and 1 7 years were selected from an Indiana residential facility for males. They were classified as either residential or day treatment students. Their archival data was collected from assessments that used the Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills (CIBS) and the Vanderbilt Teacher Behavior Evaluation Scale. The Brigance CIBS was used to measure academic skill increases in word recognition, word comprehension, oral reading, and math computation. The Vanderbilt Teacher Behavior Evaluation Scale was used to measure behavior adjustment increases in the areas of attention deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, conduct disorder, and anxiety/depression. Statistical analysis of the data included descriptive statistics, Paired Samples t-tests, and Pearson correlations. Significant increases existed in both the academic achievement and the behavioral adjustment of both residential and day treatment male special education students. The results of the study indicated a discrepancy between the progress of residential students and day treatment students for both academics and behaviors. Significant academic achievement increases were measured in all four areas for residential students, but the only significant increase in academics for day treatment students was in word recognition. The results of the Pearson correlation revealed no significant relationships existing between increases in academic achievement and increases in behavioral adjustment for residential students. There was shown to be only one significant relationship existing between increases in academic achievement and increases in behavioral adjustment for day treatment students. This was in the relationship between word recognition and oppositional defiance. The findings of this study indicate that placing a male special education student in a residential program is effective; however, it was revealed to be more effective in some areas than in others. Analysis of the data demonstrates significant increases in academic achievement and behavioral adjustment. The discrepancies between the measured increases existing between residential students and day treatment students open the door for discussion regarding the contributing factors for these discrepancies. Implications for further research are aimed at identifying these factors and increasing the effectiveness with students in residential programs.

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