ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9378-5270

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Administrative and Instructional Leadership

First Advisor

James Campbell

Second Advisor

Robert Bernato

Third Advisor

Anthony Annunziato

Abstract

With the increased diversity in our world, the needs of our students are also just as diverse. “Currently, more than half of the K-12 students with special needs are being placed in general education classrooms, demonstrating that the inclusion movement is alive and well in our nation’s public schools” (U.S. Dept. of Ed. 2010). There is a lack of focus on the general education students who also participate in these inclusive settings.

The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent a high school general education student’s participation in an inclusion class impacts their educational needs using the New York State Regents exam scores. The participants who will be studied will be high school students from a suburban high school and his/her New York State Regents exam scores in English, Algebra 1, Living Environment, Global History and United States History.

A quantitative descriptive comparative research design will be used that, “describes differences between groups, but does not try to explain why the differences occur” (Lodico et al., 2006, p.212). A comparative research study will be used because the exams were already taken by the students and scores released. This ex post facto study is not a random selection study. Cohen et al., (2013) states that ex post facto research, “…refers to those studies which investigate possible cause- and- effect relationships by observing an existing condition or state of affairs and searching back in time for plausible causal factors” (p. 303).

Inclusive settings are becoming more popular and the ideas of open enrollment are creating more classroom environments where diversity and differentiation have become more challenging. There is not enough research, especially on the secondary level, showing evidence that inclusion is an effective model for the general education student in these diverse classrooms where the laws and supports are mandated not for the general education student, but more for the special education population in the classroom.

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