Jillian Martinez

Professor Macias

LBS 303 (42886)

Sept. 19, 2017

LBS 303: Research Evaluation

The research article I chose that relates to teaching diverse learners is called

Collaborating with Parents of Students with Disabilities by authors Marie Cianca and

Michael Wischnowski. Author Marie Cianca is the assistant professor in a leadership

program at Wilson Jr. School of Education at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.

Author Michael Wischnowski serves as an interim dean. Both of these authors are

scholars in this specific field of study and report results of original research and

experimentation.

The volunteer parents of students with disabilities are the subjects of study in this

research article. Graduate students’, who are preparing to become student teachers, work

and collaborate with these parents so they can learn how to build productive relationships

with students’ families and learn more about their specific child, their story, family

backgrounds, and their disabilities.

The future teachers at St. John Fisher College read about written case studies and

how they can develop positive approaches with parents and their children when there are

issues or concerns. The students explained how the research conducted was informative,

but it was also one-sided and was removed from real practice. Once the students

concluded that these written studies only showed one side of the issue, they decided to

work with parents hands on to develop real experiences, form real practices, and to learn
how to teach empathy and understanding in a more realistic manner. The research method

conducted was a combination of both qualitative and quantitative practices. The students

start with written case studies, realize the bias and one-dimensional problems, and then

switch over to working in a course that collaborates students and teachers to provide a

successful, accurate model and experience.

St. John Fisher’s Faculty and Advocacy Center partnered pre-service teachers and

parents of students with disabilities together to collect accurate data for this specific

subject of study. These parents provided the future teachers with copies of their child’s

Individualized Education Program (IEP) to use as a source of data. Students got assigned

a specific child/family, reviewed their IEP and took notes. Students realized that once

they met with the child the IEP was not always accurate and sometimes ‘lopsided’. Once

the teacher read over the IEP and met with the child they wrote down a more accurate

description of the child, their needs, and then referred back to the data in their IEP as

needed. Once this step was completed the teachers then wrote a welcome letter to the

family and requested an arranged visit. The teacher and parent/family members sat down

and got to know each other. They thought of a research topic they wanted to cover. Some

research topics included home support for literacy, inclusive community reaction, sibling

support groups, transition to kindergarten, assistive technology, job interview skills, etc.

The teachers and families did their own independent research, collected their data,

and came together to analyze and see if they had similar findings. After establishing a

specific research topic and coming back together after collecting data, the teacher and

families collaboratively created a rapport that identified problems and seeking solutions.

There were many different individual research topics and findings, but what was common
between all teacher/family groups was that not all parents are the same, not all disabilities

are the same and all disabilities have the different effects on families and other

individuals. After data was analyzed, the teachers came to the solution that parents can be

a resource in the teaching environment. If teachers are proactive, kind, respectful, and

responsive they are able to take the first step toward squashing any tension between

teachers and parents, which will help create a non-confrontational teacher-parent

environment.

The significance to these findings was that by having future teachers work with

real families they were able to effectively build upon their problem solving and decision

making skills. These findings were significant and beneficial for the families because

they were able to learn about the new information and resources the teacher presented.

These findings are significant because it teaches pre-service teachers a new script/form of

communication when conversing with parents of students with disabilities.

After reading this article I believe that Social Constructivism/The Social Learning

Theory connects to this topic and its data best. Learning in these situations is best through

observation and one-on-one contact/communication. Teachers are also able to understand

that learning does not necessarily change these students’ behaviors, but helps them

become more aware of these students behaviors. Authors Cianca and Wischnowski both

advocate for a strong teacher-parent relationship which helps teachers understand the

students ‘learning growth’ time line/speed as well as creating a more clear

explanation/description behind their specific behaviors.

 References

Cianca, M., & Wischnowski, M. (2012). Collaborating with Parents of Students

with Disabilities. Educational Horizons, 91(1), 26-29.