Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Felicia Blacher-Wilson

Abstract

Collaboration is one of the most significant components of inclusive education, according to professional literature. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of intervention specialists in terms of collaboration with general education teachers in elementary school inclusive classrooms and administrative support of collaboration. The collaboration and the community of practice theories were used for the conceptual framework in this study to understand how collaboration is an ongoing interaction between people to achieve a common goal. Research questions were designed to understand the perceptions of intervention specialists who work in inclusive classrooms regarding collaboration and administrative support by documenting their experiences through interviews. In this basic qualitative study, 9 intervention specialists were interviewed. Interview data were analyzed using thematic coding. The results of this study indicated that each participant was a part of a weekly collaboration meeting with teachers, an administrator, and an instructional coach. Most participants reported that they had to complete a 5-step form, and it was not a good source of time because it did not directly focus on students' needs. Most participants also reported that they did not receive training in college or professional development at work on how to collaborate or work in inclusive classroom settings. Participants reported that their administrators were supportive, but some classroom teachers were not. The implications of social change for this study include insight on the importance of collaboration in inclusive classrooms and insight on how administrators can create training programs for the collaboration of all teachers who work in inclusive classrooms.

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