Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Dr. David Weintraub

Abstract

AbstractThere is a nationwide concern among students, parents, and educators regarding high school administrators’ inequitable disciplinary practices and students with disabilities (SWD) policies in the U.S. The problem addressed in this study was that high school SWDs in a local Midwestern urban school district have higher rates of suspension from school than their nondisabled peers. Guided by Bandura’s social learning theory, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand local administrators’ perceptions of their knowledge of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) related to disciplining SWDs to gain insight into their decisions to suspend. The research questions examined administrators’ perceptions on their training and knowledge of IDEA, their decision-making process to suspend and the additional training administrators identified as needed to support a decrease in suspension rates of SWDs. A purposeful sample of eight high school administrators responsible for dispensing school discipline participated virtually in semistructured interviews. By creating codes, which led to themes, the findings revealed that administrators felt unprepared and had a lack of understanding of the relationship between disability and behavior, which led them to misunderstand laws protecting SWDs during the discipline process. Administrators reported a need for ongoing professional development (PD) about the areas of disability and how students’ behavior may be impacted. A 3-day PD training session was developed to educate administrators about IDEA, disabilities, and laws related to disciplining SWDs, to avoid inappropriate suspension of SWDs, thereby decreasing punitive student discipline and promoting positive social change over time.

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