Teachers' Initial and Sustained Use of an Instructional Assistive Technology Tool: Exploring the Mitigating Factors

摘要

Students with disabilities are increasingly being served in general education courses (U.S. Department of Education, 2004; Whorton, Siders, Fowler, & Naylor, 2000). The in crease of inclusion is undoubtedly a combination of shifting philosophies and current federal education policies, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004). However, federal education legislation fails to treat all core content areas the same; social studies is not included in NCLB in terms of assessment and accountability (Bailey, Shaw, & Hollifield, 2006; Lintner, 2006). Hence, over the last decade, students with disabilities as well as students in general have not been afforded as much opportunity to learn social studies materials (Lintner & Schweder, 2008). The lack of attention has negative consequences for students and teachers (Cornbleth, 1985; Cuban, 2003; Curtis, 1991; Patton, Polloway, & Cronin, 1987; Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Okolo, 2008) as well as a focus in research on social studies education (Checkley, 2008; Lintner).