2024 Doctoral Capstone Projects

Districts across the nation are grappling with rising costs and staff shortages, leading many to adopt co-teaching models as their primary strategy to meet the needs of students
with disabilities. This shift is driven by legal mandates that fully advocate for the education of students in the "least restrictive environment" possible. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of secondary teachers who utilize co-teaching practices, examining the benefits, challenges, and limitations of this instructional model. Employing a concurrent mixed-methods research design, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from secondary teachers currently or previously involved in co-taught
classes within the last school year via an anonymous online survey. Results indicate that while overall perceptions of co-teaching are positive, several concerns and critical factors
influencing its success were identified, including the need for adequate planning time, consistent professional development, and strong administrative support. The conclusions
suggest that addressing these areas is essential for enhancing the efficacy of the coteaching model, ultimately fostering more inclusive and supportive learning environments. Further research recommendations are also discussed.

Currently, the Knoch School District lacks effective professional development opportunities for our staff and suffers from a high call-off rate on in-service days. This Capstone Research Project sets out to understand effective professional development strategies that can be implemented within the school district. This includes reviewing how the district currently provides professional development for teachers and determining which of these opportunities are effective. It sets out to answer four questions: 1) What topics does the staff believe are most important when it comes to receiving professional development? 2) What would make staff more likely to participate in professional development that is offered by the district? 3) What style of professional development opportunities do teachers believe impacted their classroom instruction? 4) How does the professional development meet the objectives of the district’s vision? Data collection tools that will be applied include surveys, feedback forms, and call-off rates on the professional development days. These tools will provide both qualitative and quantitative data for review. At least three different models of professional development will be implemented throughout the school year. After each of these, a feedback from will be completed by participants. Both the surveys and professional development feedback forms include Likert scale-type and multiple-choice questions and will allow for some open-ended responses. Moving forward, all of the data collected will be used to create a district-wide professional development plan.