The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Adrain Christopher

for the degree of Doctor of Education

October 10, 2017 at 12:00 pm in 405 Ball Hall

Major Advisor: William Hunter, EdD

Examining the effects of Numbered Heads Together upon On-Task Behavior and Quiz Scores on Employability Skills content of Students Identified with Intellectual Disabilities in a Post-Secondary Education Program

ABSTRACT: Enrollment in post-secondary education (PSE) programs is vital for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) in order to decrease the unemployment and underemployment of this population. Traditional teaching methods (e.g., lecture and note-taking) are often used during instruction in PSE classrooms despite the challenges these methods present for students with ID. Researchers suggest that there are positive correlations between increased active student engagement and percentage of time on-task, as well as academic performance. To date, strategies like Number Heads Together (NHT), a peer- mediated instructional strategy (PMI), has shown to be a more effective strategy than the commonly used method of traditional instruction (i.e., lecture and note-taking). The current study compared the effects of NHT to lecture with Guided Notes (GN) during an employability skills content lesson in a segregated post-secondary education (PSE) classroom. Three students diagnosed with ID participated in the study. An alternating treatment design was used to determine the effectiveness of NHT and/or lecture with GN upon on-task behavior and the scores of teacher-created quizzes on employability skills content. The current study extended the previous literature by investigating a new population (students with ID), a new setting (post-secondary education program), and a new content area (employability skills). Results of this study suggest that Number Heads Together was a more effective strategy than lecture with GN in regard to increasing percentage of time on-task and percentage correct on teacher-created quizzes on employability skills content, which verifies and extends the findings of previous studies. Social validity surveys and treatment integrity checklists for the participating teacher and students are included with the results. A discussion of the study limitations, implications, and future research is also included.