research

Upsilon State
Iowa
The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International

Member Research Projects

Title and Brief Description of Research:

Perceived Importance of Factors Used by Ohio Individual Education Plan
Teams To Place Students with Mental Retardation in the Least Restrictive
Environment
Kim J. Rost, M.S., N.C.S.P.

The basis of this study is the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
provision of the Individual With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The
purpose of the study is to examine and prioritize factors which Individual
Education Plan (IEP) teams use to assist them in placing children with
mental retardation in the LRE. All special education directors and others
assigned special education placement tasks in the state of Ohio were
surveyed, with a 53% return. Data has been gathered and analysis is in
progress.
The results of this research will assist IEP teams in making
placement decisions for children with mental disabilities. Appropriate
placement within the continuum of placements described in the IDEA is a
goal for all educators. Understanding this research will affect regular
class teachers, special class teachers, principals and other
administrators, all of whom currently participate in IEP team
decision-making.

Kim may be contacted at 11100 - 240th Avenue, Spirit Lake, IA 51360.

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Title and Brief Description of Research:

TRACING THE JOURNEY OF HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS WHO GRADUATE FROM A RURAL MIDWESTERN ALTERNATIVE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM

Judith A. Olson
School of Education
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado

The purpose of this study is to better understand students lived experiences who have dropped out of high school, returned to an alternative school, and graduated from that alternative program. The present study will be guided by the following basic research questions:

Research Question 1: What are the reasons and experiences that contributed to the participants dropping out of high school?
Research Question 2: What caused participants who dropped out of high school to return to an alternative high school program?
Research Question 3: What experiences contributed to the participants graduating from an alternative high school program?

I am using a qualitative, naturalistic inquiry approach using in-depth interviews during the process of data collection. The data analysis method that I am using as the means for analyzing the interview protocols is the Phenomenological Descriptive Methodology: (a) acquiring a sense of the whole; (b) extracting significant statements; (c) formulating meanings; (d) clustering themes; (e) compiling exhaustive description; and (f) verifying final validation (Colaizzi, 1978).

The results of this study will provide an understanding of the experiences of the participants through gathering data directly from the voices of high school dropouts as they share their journeys. These results could affect policy and curriculum decisions that may impact potential high school dropouts in our school districts.

Judith may be contacted at 1200 Craig's Court, Spencer, IA 51301 or at the following email address: jaolson@ncn.net.

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Last updated May 15, 2004