| Currently no valid or reliable self-assessment instrument exists in the literature for school administrators to use in developing and evaluating assistive technology (AT) services. AT is a term used to describe technology used by individuals with disabilities to engage in activities that may be difficult or impossible for them to accomplish. In 2004, the Administrator's Desktop Guide to Assistive Technology, authored by Gayle Bowser and Dr. Penny Reed, was published to support school leadership in developing effective AT services. Bowser and Reed are considered national experts in the field of study. The guide was created to assist school leadership to self-assess the status of AT services and to develop specific actions to allocate resources to meet legal requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The study focused specifically on the 31-item self-assessment component of the Administrator's Guide and 18 demographic items. Two national experts in the field selected from the National Assistive Technology Research Institute Advisory Board established content validity. The internal consistency reliability was very strong, based on the calculated Cronbach's coefficient alpha, indicating that the 31-item self-assessment component of the Administrator's Guide is a reliable tool. To further investigate the content validity, a factor analysis was completed and found that only 5 factors had eigenvalues greater than 1 and that together, these factors explained 65% of the total variation of the original questions. Because the communalities were extremely low, the 5 factors were sufficient, and additional factors would not add significantly to the solution. The factor analysis did not provide strong support for the leadership, management, supervision, and program development of effective AT services, as measured by the 31-item self-assessment component of the Administrator's Guide. |
