Special Education Teachers' Views of Research-Based Practices

International Education Research, 2014

Successful implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools requires an understanding of the factors influencing implementation and adoption. We conducted eight focus groups with school administrators and teachers to explore their views about EBP and the factors influencing EBP use within the school context. Educators believed EBP to mean one of three things: information that is supported by research evidence, by evidence of student performance, or evidence-by-proxy. We identified several factors influencing educator use of EBPs and intention to change practice: a school culture of openness and buy-in for EBP, relevance of EBP to student needs universally, and organizational support for implementation, were catalysts for motivating educators to change their practice. Understanding the practice change preferences of educators is important for effective EBP implementation in schools. Educators have a unique perspective of what constitutes EBP, and they can identify what they need in order to change practice.

2021

AbstractSpecial education teachers\u27 varying levels of awareness of evidence-based practices (EBPs) leads to personalizing practices that can be either positive or negative for student learning outcomes. There is a gap in practice in the research literature regarding special education teachers\u27 perceptions of why and how they personalize EBPs to teach transition-related skills to students with disabilities. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore special education teachers\u27 perceptions of why and how they personalize EBPs to teach transition-related skills to students with disabilities. Guided by Bandura\u27s concept of self-efficacy, which holds that self-efficacy underlies teachers\u27 perceptions of their ability to conduct effective EBP, the research questions focused on high school special education teachers\u27 perceptions of why and how they personalize EBPs. Purposive sampling was used to choose six high school special education teachers who had ta...

2018

Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 2017

Special educators are urged to use research findings to inform their instruction in order to improve student outcomes. However, it can be difficult to tell whether and how research findings apply to one's own students. In this article, we discuss how special educators can consider the samples and the sampling methods in studies to examine the relevance of research findings for their students. We describe two approaches for examining the degree to which research findings apply to one's students-the classical generalization model and the case-tocase transfer model. We also note additional factors and caveats to consider when evaluating the applicability of research findings, examine the implications of samples and sampling in two research studies, and provide a takeaway message that educators should determine the relevance of research findings for their own students by examining studies' samples and the sampling methods. Ms. Jones teaches in a special education class for 4th-and 5th-graders with learning disabilities (LDs) at Mountain Ridge Elementary School. Most of her students are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) and she has noticed that almost all of them are struggling with reading comprehension this year. Ms. Jones wants to use research findings to guide her instructional decision making, so she searches the internet for research on an effective instructional practice that improves reading comprehension for students with LD. She is excited when she finds an experimental study showing that Practice X resulted in meaningful gains in reading comprehension for the 40 study participants with LD, so she decides to implement the practice in her class. However, after a month of using the practice, formative assessments indicate that most of her students are not responding to the new practice. Ms. Jones asks her principal, who has advanced training in educational research, how Practice X could have worked in the study she read, but not with her students. After skimming the study, her principal replies that, even though the study involves students with LD, the researchers used convenience sampling, and participants were middle school students who were not diverse; therefore, the sample is not representative of the population of students with LD, and study participants are not a close match to Ms. Jones' class-so she is not surprised that the practice was not effective for Ms. Jones' students the way it was in the study. Ms. Jones nods, but walks away confused as to why her efforts to base instruction on research were unsuccessful. Special educators are often asked to base their instructional practices on research findings. Indeed, scientific research-though far from perfect-"is the best trick we know for solving educational problems" (Crockett, 2004, Requests for reprints should be sent to Bryan G. Cook, University of Hawaii. Electronic inquiries should be sent to

Journal of Applied School Psychology, 2015

This article presents information on the development and initial validation of the 16-item Response to Intervention (RTI) Beliefs Scale. The scale is designed to measure the extent to which educators working in schools hold beliefs consistent with the tenets of RTI. The authors administered the instrument to 2,430 educators in 62 elementary schools in the fall of 2007 and 2,443 educators in 68 elementary schools in the spring of 2008. Exploratory, single-level confirmatory, and multilevel confirmatory factor analysis procedures were used to examine construct validity. Results supported a correlated 3-factor model (Academic Abilities and Performance of Students with Disabilities, Data-Based Decision Making, and Functions of Core and Supplemental Instruction) at both the school and educator levels of analysis. Furthermore, the factor scores derived from the model demonstrated significant, positive relations to RTI implementation. Reliability estimates for two of the three factor scores exceeded .70. Implications for research on educator beliefs and implementation of RTI as well as implications for school psychologists supporting RTI implementation are discussed. KEYWORDS response to intervention, educator beliefs, multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, professional development, data-based decision making Accountability for student outcomes has been a central topic in education throughout the past decade. Through the reauthorizations of the No Child