| High school students with learning disabilities face huge challenges in meeting Washington State standards for graduation and becoming successful citizens. Special education teachers also face significant challenges in knowing and implementing instructional practices that help their students achieve these standards. This action research sought to determine whether or not students would identify motivating and engaging practices as important to their learning and to determine the influence of student voice on teachers' attitudes and beliefs regarding instructional practice. By student voice I mean direct feedback provided by students regarding issues that impact them directly. Students' perspectives were gathered in a structured way.;Through a qualitative research approach using interviews, ethnographic observations, and focused discussion groups, students voices and teachers voices described instructional practices that were engaging and motivating. The research for the project occurred in a single, comprehensive high school and involved students with learning disabilities and special education teachers. All of the research occurred within a two month timeline.;The analysis of transcripts from the interviews and focused discussion groups revealed the students desire for motivating learner-centered practices. Their comments consistently clustered around the four conditions of the motivational framework (Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2000) and also fit within the American Psychological Association's principles of learner-centered practices.;Teachers have not traditionally sought "student voice" as a way of increasing their classroom effectiveness. Research has shown, however, that involving student voice can be a significant strategy for reflecting on instructional practice. Analysis of data from the research revealed that feedback from students with learning disabilities was an effective tool that influenced teachers' attitudes and beliefs regarding instructional practice. The final question posed for the research investigated the degree to which teachers would implement new instructional practices as a result of hearing feedback from students. This capstone project was not of sufficient length to determine if teachers implemented alternate instructional practices on a daily or consistent basis. Teachers indicated a desire to implement engaging and motivating practice, but did not commit to implementing those practices, nor were these changes in practices observed by the researcher. |
