An evaluation of a public high school special education class program for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities

The education of high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders continues to be a challenging endeavor for all school professionals. Frequently, such students are educated in restrictive special education placements, outside of public school settings. In an effort to provide a less restrictive educational and valuable experience for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities, as well as in an attempt to contain educational costs, an increasing number of school districts have designed programs to serve this population within the public school setting. This dissertation documents the process of planning and conducting an evaluation of a special education classroom-based program designed to meet the needs of suburban high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders within the public school setting. The evaluation phase of Maher's program planning and evaluation framework (2000) was utilized as basis for providing evaluative information to the director of special services of the suburban school district in which the program had been implemented. The results of the program evaluation are presented along with the conclusions that were drawn regarding the program's ability to address the needs of its students, the implementation of the program in relation to its design, the reactions of people involved with the program, and academic outcomes for participants. Recommendations for continued program development and improvement are provided, along with suggested areas for further investigation. Reflections on the process of utilizing the program planning and evaluation framework are included as well as the benefits, challenges, and limitations of being a participant-observer in the evaluation process.