The paper aims to collect and analyze all kinds of research and reports and conduct various experimental studies to obtain the necessary objective conclusions on special education services in New York City public schools. The research question is devoted to considering the challenges parents and their children with disabilities and special needs face in receiving special education services in New York City public schools. The focus of the work is how the city’s educational system fails such students.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides an Individualized Education Program (IEP). It is specialized guidance and educational support services for children with disabilities and individual differences (Maag et al., 2019). There is also Individualized Education Plans (IFSP), which is a program that outlines efforts to boost the child’s progress up to the age of three. The IEP must meet the student’s unique needs and create a comfortable environment concerning chronic health conditions.
However, most public schools are not adapted to accommodate children with disabilities. There is a negative attitude towards them, sometimes resulting in bullying (Yell et al., 2016). Even though schools follow an IEP, this work is performed to determine the obstacles to adequate special education services for children with disabilities and special needs and their parents encounter within the New York City public school system. This paper also concerns the policy-related issues faced by policy-makers in this field. SMART technology is useful for classification characteristics under study (Nardi, 2018). The descriptive study design identifies the object and formulates a hypothesis about the social object’s structural-functional relations.
S – Specific
Considering the goal’s feature “specific,” this research proposes to survey the parents of children with disabilities and special needs to obtain information about particular challenges they face in accessing education. It also intends to conduct interviews with the New York City Department of Education representatives responsible for implementing specific education policies. There are several following objectives to meet this goal; first of all, it is needed to collect data from the students’ families eligible for special education in New York. Secondly, estimation of the percentage of students with disabilities facing challenges is required compared to the students with disabilities that do not face any obstacles among randomly sampled participants for the study. Thirdly, it is crucial to categorize particular challenges the students eligible for special education and their families face.
The research purpose can be achieved the grading the difficulties identified from most frequent to less frequent based on the reported data. When preparing the work, the researcher confirms the general competencies, including the level of knowledge of the culture of communication, and the ability to generalize, analyze, perceive information, set goals, and choose ways to achieve them (Snyder, 2019). Through data collection from the New York City Department of Education representatives, some policy implementation obstacles should be considered as they might obstruct the delivery of educational services to children with disabilities and special needs.
M – Measurable
With regard to the characteristic “measurable,” the question can be assessed through a standardized surveying procedure being conducted to collect data from the participants. The goal is measurable through specific indicators and standard, objective measurement procedures such as multiple-choice questions. This method contains quantitative and qualitative inquiries concerning the character and frequency of occurring challenges.
Multiple choice questions will be constructed based on current scholarly literature to include all possible challenges. Therefore, the survey and experimental studies of the results obtained are of great scientific and practical importance for solving the problem (Mummolo & Peterson, 2019). An opportunity for the participants to form a different opinion will be provided. Such an approach will allow for structured and measurable data for analysis.
For determining the participants’ sample, the survey collects data from one to two hundred randomly recruited eligible participants from different New York City-based public schools. The percentile of participants having challenges with those not having challenges will be calculated. The answers will be analyzed, and categories of challenges will be calculated, categorized, and graded from most frequent to less frequent. Obstacles and problems identified in the interview course, the number of which is planned to be at least three, will be analyzed as per relating to particular categories.
A – Attainable (Achievable)
This research question can be answered as there are all the necessary tools and skills to achieve the goal. For instance, the Survey Monkey tool is available to capture the views of the parents of children with disabilities and special needs. Achieving this goal is within the researcher’s capabilities because of readiness to work 8 hours every week for three months. Moreover, the researcher has sufficient access to resources and information to conduct the research. The research analysis shows that approaches to the organization of education of children with disabilities are being developed in sociology science.
R – Realistic
The paper’s purpose can be considered realistic and relevant as the resources are mainly available to answer and evaluate the research question. In addition, the representatives of nonprofit organizations for children with disabilities intend to participate in and promote research by being ready to conduct surveys and interviews. It will facilitate the realization of the project, along with access to the data on children eligible for special education for participant recruitment.
T – Time-Bound
The research should be limited in time, which means that there should be a final deadline, which indicates that the plan has been met. Setting time frames and boundaries for achieving a purpose makes the management process controllable (Bjerke & Renger, 2017). The question’s time frame is defined; the research process’s estimated duration is approximately three months. Three to four weeks will be spent on survey designing and participant search. Three weeks are allotted for data collection, two weeks for interviewing the representatives of the Department of Education, and three to four weeks for data analysis and interpretation.
References
Bjerke, M. B., & Renger, R. (2017). Being smart about writing SMART objectives. Evaluation and Program Planning, 61, 125-127. Web.
Nardi, P. M. (2018). Doing survey research: A guide to quantitative methods. Routledge.
Maag, J. W., Kauffman, J. M., & Simpson, R. L. (2019). The amalgamation of special education? On practices and policies that may render it unrecognizable. Exceptionality, 27(3), 185-200. Web.
Mummolo, J., & Peterson, E. (2019). Demand effects in survey experiments: An empirical assessment. American Political Science Review, 113(2), 517-529. Web.
Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333-339. Web.
Yell, M., Katsiyannis, A., Rose, C., & Houchins, D. (2016). Bullying and harassment of students with disabilities in schools: Legal considerations and policy formation. Remedial and Special Education, 37(5), 274-284. Web.