Date of Completion

4-20-2020

Embargo Period

4-20-2020

Keywords

transition, special education, college and career readiness, expectations

Major Advisor

Allison Lombardi

Associate Advisor

Joseph Madaus

Associate Advisor

Jane Rogers

Field of Study

Educational Psychology

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Open Access

Open Access

Abstract

For many students with disabilities (SWD) earning a degree is a common aspiration, yet many SWD report difficulty with enrolling and earning credits in postsecondary education and securing and maintaining competitive employment (Lipscomb et al., 2017). In order to address the needs of students who aspire to obtain postsecondary education and competitive employment, federal legislation has highlighted the importance of College and Career Readiness (CCR) and holding high expectations for all students, including those with disabilities (ESSA, 2015). However, there is a paucity of research examining teachers’ post-school expectations of SWD. Therefore the purpose of this study was to develop and validate the CCR-TES, an instrument that measures the post school expectations that educators have for SWD and those without. The CCR-TES has one factor, CCR, which include academic and non-academic skills. The instrument functions similarly for general education and special education teachers. The overall CCR-TES score for items pertaining to SWD showed that teachers “slightly agree” that SWD can acquire these CCR skills. Finally, the following covariates did not act as predictors of CCR expectations: school setting, level of student support need, highest level of teacher education, and number of years the teacher had been teaching. Implications for teachers, researchers, and policymakers are discussed.

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