An Administrator and Teacher Perspective on Program Quality Indicators for Students with Severe Disabilities

Abstract

This study investigated the perceptions of 48 teachers and 41 program administrators relative to the importance of 123 items representing program quality for learners with severe disabilities. The purpose of this study was to extend the original validation study (Meyer, Eichinger, & Park-Lee, 1987) of the 123 program quality indicators to include these two groups of service providers considered critical to quality programming. Both groups consistently rated the majority of the 123 items high (between the important and very important anchors). There was only one item that was rated significantly different by the two groups. The unit mean scores for these two groups were compared with those of the six groups in the earlier study (Meyer et al., 1987). The two dimensions considered most important by all eight groups were the criterion of ultimate functioning and professional practices/home-school collaboration. While this study served to further validate these indicators, anecdotal data and ongoing changes in the field served as catalysts for a revision of the Program Quality Indicators checklist (Meyer, Eichinger, & Downing, 1992).