Teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the delivery of specially designed instruction in inclusive settings

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which teachers and administrators have knowledge of specially designed instruction, to determine the degree to which they implement specially designed instruction in the general education setting, and to identify barriers for implementation. Therefore, three research questions guided this study 1. What do special education teachers, general education teachers, and administrators perceive to be their level of knowledge on the identified categories of specially designed instruction? 2. What do special education teachers, general education teachers, and administrators perceive to be their level of implementation for providing identified categories of specially designed instruction? 3. How do special education teachers, general education teachers, and administrators rank identified barriers for implementing specially designed instruction in the general education setting?

A pilot study utilizing focus group methodology was conducted to obtain the teachers' and administrators' perceptions on the delivery of specially designed instruction in inclusive settings and any perceived roadblocks they encountered in the implementation process. Focusing on the individuals' perceptions through the focus interview captured educational practices in the participants' own words.

Using a non-experimental research design, survey methodology was chosen to provide descriptive data on educators' perceptions of their level of knowledge and level of implementation for providing specially designed instruction in the general education setting, and roadblocks for implementation. The survey was developed based on information gained from the focus groups, principles found in the framework of universal design for learning based on the work of Wehmeyer (2006), who targeted students with mild mental retardation, and findings on evidence based instructional practices from research syntheses in the field of learning disabilities and mild mental retardation.

Several important findings regarding teachers' and administrators' level knowledge and level of implementation of specially designed instruction are revealed, along with roadblocks for implementation. A critical implication suggests a focus on how to evaluate the effectiveness of educator training programs to ensure teachers and administrators possess high levels of knowledge of what constitutes specially designed instruction.