Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
10-2025
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3175-0212
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
J. Scott Self
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Julie M. Lane
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Tracy Spencer
Abstract
Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) are often unemployed or underemployed compared to students who do not have ID. Transition or postsecondary programming for students with ID has increased in recent years in response to the U.S. federal requirement for special education professionals to complete transition plans before students turn 16. The requirement for transition planning in Texas is age 14, and the ARD committee including the student and parent come together to develop goals for future planning. Transition plans include information on future employment, future independent living skills, and agency connections that students with ID may need to access to after they graduate from high school. Due to changes in planning requirements, transition programs have emerged on college campuses across the United States, but vary in their approach. Transition programs differ in their structure from full inclusion, where students take courses with their typically developing peers, while others remain segregated and focus only on job skills. This qualitative single case study analyzed professor perspectives and beliefs of college inclusion practices. The researcher collected data using a semistructured interview protocol, member checking, and offered an option to be identified in the literature using a pseudonym. The areas of focus should be the level of inclusion offered in transition programming based on campus offerings, identified needs of students, professors, faculty, and families, to provide the college experience for all students. Keywords: Inclusion, postsecondary education programs, transition services, intellectual disability
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Massey, Melissa, "Professor Perspectives: Inclusion of Students With an Intellectual Disability in Transition Programming on a College Campus" (2025). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 949.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/949
Included in
Accessibility Commons, Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching Commons, Community-Based Learning Commons, Community College Leadership Commons, Holistic Education Commons, Special Education Administration Commons, Special Education and Teaching Commons, Vocational Education Commons