| The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) is a piece of federal legislation that directs schools and districts to provide students with disabilities a "free appropriate public education." It contains numerous legal tools that parents can use to compel schools to develop appropriate educational programming for their children. But does parent-initiated legal action actually cause schools and districts to change their behavior? And if so, does the change in behavior affect the educational outcomes of students with disabilities? This dissertation attempts to answer those questions and determine whether law influences organizational behavior and if it does, whether it positively influences outcomes.;I employ a mixed-methods research design that combines quantitative analysis of a large sample of cases with qualitative analysis of a smaller subset of those cases. I disseminated a survey to special education administrators in 69 school districts and principals of 177 public high schools in 15 Illinois counties. After analyzing survey responses from 31 principals and 38 administrators, I conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews with four principals and six special education directors.;My quantitative analysis yielded positive results between some forms of legal action and organizational behavior, suggesting that parents can use the law to change the organizational practices of their child's school. Due to operationalization problems, I was unable to empirically examine whether the behavior change affects the educational outcomes of students with disabilities. However, my qualitative analysis yielded interesting relationships among all variables in both schools and districts.;My project contributes to the discipline of political science in a number of ways. First, my systematic collection of data from 69 organizations exceeds that collected in previous studies. Second, my study infuses the policy implementation literature into the study of rights-based practices. Third, I examine the interactive effect of law and organizational behavior at three distinct levels of analysis: schools, districts, and special education cooperatives. Finally, my findings of relationships between legal action and organizational responses have the potential to advance the understanding of practices that will enhance the education of students with disabilities. |
