Special education GOALS program : a case study of great expectations
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Date
2002
Authors
Miller, David Glen
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2002
Abstract
Accountability to the students in special education classrooms is critical and in today's
uncertain political climate it becomes mandatory to ensure that these programs are
successful. How then is it possible to evaluate these programs to determine whether or
not they are successful, given their complexity? Specifically, would an evaluation of the
GOALS (Generating Occupations Academics and Living Skills) program, a special
education classroom designed for students considered EMH (Educable Mentally
Handicapped) demonstrate that the program was successful? An evaluation of this
program was undertaken using triangulation and the hermeneutic phenomenological
human science research method. In this particular triangulation, multiple observers of the
same object are used: the "object" in this case being the ex-students from the GOALS
program. Interviews were conducted with four of the students who passed through the
program; interviews were conducted with significant others of these students; and
research on successful practices employed in special education classrooms was conducted
and the research was compared to the practices employed in the GOALS program.
Finally, the ex-students are narratively researched by the author as teacher, in the stories
written. These narratives are presented in order to speak to "the groundless ground of
ambiguity that marks the human condition, a site of vibrant original difficulty, at times
agonizingly difficult" and the "question of how life together can go on in such a way that
even in difficulties, new life is possible" (Aoki, 1996). The author determined that the
students leaving the program enjoy a high quality of life, and they consider themselves successful. They appreciated the programming provided in the classroom and the
relationship they had with the teacher in the program. The significant others of the
students interviewed felt the relationship with the teacher was the most important aspect
of the program. The research indicates that the teachers in GOALS are using special
education best practices successfully in the program. As a result of these findings the
author finds that GOALS is a successful, meaningful program.
Description
vi, 149 leaves ; 29 cm. --
Keywords
Children with disabilities -- Vocational education , Special education -- Activity programs -- Evaluation