Date of Conferral

7-15-2025

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Tammy Hoffman

Abstract

The problem addressed through this study was that special education (SPED) teachers struggle to implement curriculum-based standards into their instruction of high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a Mid-Atlantic state’s system of nonpublic schools. Guided by Billingsley’s schematic representation and Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore high school teachers’ perceptions on their successes, challenges, and resources provided for implementing the state-mandated curriculum-based standards for students with ASD in the Mid-Atlantic state’s nonpublic schools. For this basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 high school SPED teachers from the Mid-Atlantic state’s nonpublic schools. Through axial coding, the following themes emerged: (a) professional development promotes higher efficacy; (b) current curriculum implementation initiatives present pedagogical challenges; and (c) in general, a curriculum as a pedagogical framework is appropriate, but needs to be specific for students with ASD. These themes demonstrate that curriculum reform is necessary to promote equitable instruction and that curriculum adaptation among state leadership would promote more effective pedagogical practices for SPED teachers. Professional development aligned with curriculum exploration and reformation for state educational leadership might promote higher efficacy in teacher implementation of instruction aligned with curriculum-based standards. The results of this study might promote positive social change by providing state educational leadership with the knowledge necessary to explore curriculum reform efforts and subsequently improve the pedagogical practices of teachers, leading to higher quality of instruction.

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