Experiences and Practices of General Education Teachers Supporting Students with Emotional Disturbance

This study describes the classroom practices of middle school general education teachers working with students with and without emotional disturbance (ED), including the predictability of those teacher behaviors for both groups of students. The data collected in this study describe the ways in which the beliefs and experiences of this group of teachers aligns with their observed behaviors when working with students with and without ED. Seven seventh and eighth grade literacy, math, and social science general education teachers, and 14 seventh and eighth grade students with and without ED participated in this study. Teachers’ instructional and classroom management interactions with target students was coded across 600 minutes of systematic, direct observation. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each teacher, specific to the target students. Additionally, lag sequential analysis was run to identify conditional probabilities for specific teacher and student behaviors. Teachers also completed a single Likert survey about their beliefs when working with students with ED. Data from surveys and observations describe the ways in which teachers' beliefs and experiences align to their classroom behaviors. The results of this study show similar rates of opportunities to respond and use of instructional groupings, as well as low levels of teacher responses, for students with and without ED. Where teacher behavior are different for both groups of student—including rates of praise, use of corrective actions, and predictability of feedback—the patterns that emerge are mostly consistent with existing research: teachers used low levels of praise, are more likely to have negative interactions with students with ED, and have unpredictable feedback for students (Van Acker, Grant, & Henry, 1996; Wehby, Symons, & Shores, 1995). The data collected and analyzed in this study suggest that, for all students, what has proven successful in general education classrooms is not being effectively implemented. Implications for teacher practices and future research are also explored.