Term

Fall 2024

Capstone

Dissertation

Degree Name

EdD

Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair

Trish Harvey

Abstract

A student dual-identified to receive English learning and special education services is legally entitled to receive both services. Although there are recommendations for how to provide these services, there is little evidence of what has demonstrated success, despite there being schools which have been able to create such programs. This mixed methods research focused on identifying schools in Minnesota that successfully provided measurable growth in their dual-identified student population. Data were gathered from educators in those schools to understand how they found this success for their dual-identitfied students. This research began with a quantitative secondary data analysis of ACCESS for ELLs results of dual-identified students from 2022 and 2023. Nine total Minnesota schools with a minimum of 100 English learners with the greatest growth were selected as demonstrating success. Three of these schools were Minneapolis-St. Paul (urban) schools, three were seven-county metropolitan area (suburban) schools, and three were greater Minnesota (outstate) schools. Authorization was granted in six of those nine schools to gather data from questionnaires and interviews about the practices educators used with dual-identified students. Those educators included English learning professionals, special educators, school counselors, and school administrators. A total of 64 educators from six different schools completed online questionnaires. Upon completing the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to participate in an online meeting to gain more specific information about their programs. Ten total educators from four different schools provided additional information. Findings suggested that all of the schools in the study used very similar approaches in serving this student population. Educators provided intentional instructional practices that used combinations of both co-taught and sheltered instruction with a combination of special education and English learning teachers using formalized decision-making tools and collaboration and communication between the two departments. Further research might include longitudinal study across multiple school years, other indicators of success in addition to ACCESS for ELLs, as well as gaining information about processes with dual-identified students who have more profound academic needs, such as new-to-country students and students in federal setting three special education programs.

Keywords

ESL/ ELLs, Interdisciplinary Teaching, Special Education, Teachers/ Teaching

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

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