Perspective and experiences of special education alternative route teachers working in culturally linguistically diverse classrooms

Terrill, William Peter Austin (2023) Perspective and experiences of special education alternative route teachers working in culturally linguistically diverse classrooms. Doctoral thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

This research investigated the teaching experiences of alternative route special education teachers working in urban Title I schools with a high population of students from a culturally and linguistically diverse background. Five alternative route special education teachers along with five school-based administrators who supervise ARL special education teachers who work in Title I schools within a large urban school district located in the southwestern portion of the United States were interviewed. Data were collected in the form of a semi-structured, six-question interview. Phenomenology was used, along with narrative analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), to analyze the data collected from the responses given during the interviews. Answers from the interviews were coded and categorized based on themes that emerged from the responses, which showed that ARL special education teachers felt supported by their school-based administrators, however they did not feel like they were prepared to teach when starting their career. School-based administrators reported that ARL teachers lacked pedagogy, however they did not feel that the route taken made on impact on student achievement. Common themes between participant groups showed that there was a need for more support and more hands-on experience.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Alternative Route teachers; cultucultrally and linguistically diverse; special education
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects of education
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Education > Teaching and Learning
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2025 17:33
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2025 17:33
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6218

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