UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    PARENTS OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: WHAT THEY KNOW, WHAT THEY THINK THEY KNOW, AND WHAT THEY WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SPECIAL EDUCATION RIGHTS AND PROCESS
    (2024) Kim, Julianna; Wexler, Jade; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Parents of students with disabilities play a vital role in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) planning process. Research has shown that parents’ engagement and advocacy could benefit students’ services. In order for more effective advocacy, parents must know their special education rights and process. Therefore, this dissertation study explored parent’s knowledge and understanding of special education rights and process.Chapter 2 is a research synthesis of how studies have quantifiably measured parents’ knowledge and understanding. Chapter 3 is a mixed-method design study that explores whether parents’ perceived knowledge and actual knowledge are different constructs through a nationwide survey. The second section of the mixed method study is qualitative design through focus groups, and the purpose of the focus groups was to explore what information parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds desire to find and how that information should be presented. The findings from the focus groups were used to write a policy paper in Chapter 4. Finally, Chapter 5 summarizes the findings and shares limitations and implications.