Degree Name

Education Specialist (EdS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1986

Thesis Director

David E. Bartz

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this field study was to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the learning disability resource services, the model used to deliver services in Macon, Moweaqua, and Warrensburg-Latham School Districts, from the parents’, regular teachers’, resource learning disability teachers’, and administrators’ perspectives.

Assessing the perspectives currently held of the resource services by regular teachers, parents, resource learning disability teachers, and administrators served as an initial step in planning for future program needs and may help in establishing future goals for learning disability students. Discrepancies in the perceptions of these four groups may represent communication problems and identify areas that require clarification and improvement.

Procedure

Parents of children placed in the resource learning disability programs along with regular teachers, administrators, and resource learning disability teachers in the districts surveyed completed a questionnaire to determine their perspectives about the quality of education children receive in the resource learning disability program. Interviews with the director of the Macon-Piatt Special Education District and review of the current goals and objectives of the learning disability program were utilized in the development of the questionnaire. The questionnaires were presented to parents at the completion of their child’s annual review. Administrators and regular teachers received the questionnaire through the school mail. The results of the survey were scored by the computer center at Eastern Illinois University.

The school districts of Macon, Moweaqua, and Warrensburg-Latham participated in the field study. All three districts are rural districts in central Illinois with a combined student population of 2,540. Surveyed in this study were 119 regular teachers, 8 administrators, 6 resource learning disability teachers, and 96 parents of children currently in the resource learning disability program.

Data analysis of the survey questions for each group participating in the study indicated five factors common to all four groups surveyed. Chapter III examines each of the five factors and presents data to support the conclusions of this researcher.

Results

The study found areas of disagreement and agreement between the four groups surveyed. There was general agreement that the resource program helped the learning disability student to be successful in the regular program. Regular teachers and resource learning disability teachers, in general, found that communication and cooperation between the two groups are areas needing improvement.

Fifty-nine percent of the regular teachers responding to the survey indicated that they were not sure or did not understand the test data used to place a child in the resource learning disability program. Parents, resource learning disability teachers, and administrators indicated a 90-100% response that they agreed or strongly agreed that they understood the test data used to place a child in the learning disability program.

Fifty-six percent of the regular teachers responding to the survey indicated a general satisfaction with the learning disability program. Parents, resource learning disability teachers, and administrators indicated that they agreed or strongly agreed that they were generally satisfied with the resource learning disability program.

Parents responded in the survey that they believed their children received sufficient services from the resource learning disability teacher. Regular teachers, administrators, and resource learning disability teachers were undecided on the issue that there were sufficient services available for the learning disability student.

The field study found that parents, resource learning disability teachers, and administrators responded to the survey questions in a similar manner, while regular teachers were prone to respond as not sure on many of the factors.

The field study identified perceptions of parents, resource learning disability teachers, regular teachers, and administrators on five factors that related to the perceived effectiveness of the resource learning disability program in the districts surveyed. Perceptions of the groups surveyed should serve as an initial step in planning future goals and objectives for the learning disability program.

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