Award Date

1-1-2003

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Special Education

First Committee Member

Thomas Pierce

Number of Pages

113

Abstract

Special education teachers are needed nationally. For several reasons, there are not enough special education teachers to accommodate the growing number of students with special education needs. The Clark County School District (CCSD), in Las Vegas, Nevada, suffers from this teacher shortage; The need for special education teachers in CCSD has grown tremendously with the population growth in the past decade. The Alternative Route to Licensure (ARL) Program in Special Education was a response to this need. The ARL program provides CCSD with teachers to fill vacancies in the resource room setting that otherwise may be filled by long-term or day-to-day substitute teachers. From 1999 to the present, the ARL program has produced a total of one hundred twenty-six teachers to fill resource room vacancies. One hundred seven of those teachers are still teaching in the field of special education in our school district; This program evaluation involved surveying teachers from the first five ARL groups who have completed their teacher preparation programs and have been teaching in the school district from one semester to five years. Traditionally certified teachers also were surveyed to serve as a comparison group. Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Program administrators and mentor teachers were interviewed to investigate the perspectives of those who run the program. The data were analyzed qualitatively; Results of this study indicated no significant differences between groups in the areas of job satisfaction, job knowledge, and in satisfaction of teacher preparation programs. However, significant differences were found in demographic variables between groups. Teachers in both groups indicated several positive aspects of their specific programs and also areas in which improvements were desired. Data collected from program administrators and mentors indicated areas of strengths and weaknesses of the program. Suggestions for maintenance and improvement are provided in the discussion section.

Keywords

Alternative; Alternative Route To Licensure; Education; Evaluation; Licensure; Programs; Route; Special; Special Education

Controlled Subject

Special education; Teachers--Training of

File Format

pdf

File Size

4280.32 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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