Annette McKenzie Anderson, Administration and Supervision

Parents of children with disabilities play a significant role in their children's education. Engaging them effectively in school-based decision making (SBDM) that emphasizes collaborative partnerships is a legal imperative mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (P. L. 105-17). Despite legislation, the extent of parental participation in the decision making process and the level of parental knowledge about special education policies and laws, continue to be an existing problem. The purpose of this study is to assess both the degree of parental involvement in SBDM and the levels of parents' knowledge of special education policies and laws. There will be a need to identify the strength of the relationship between involvement and knowledge. This study will be conducted using a cross-sectional survey design. Subjects will include 100 parents of children with disabilities, enrolled in an urban, public special education day school during 1998-1999. The Parents' Rights for Active Involvement in Special Education Survey, a questionnaire, is the instrument for data collection. Pearson's product-moment correlation and analysis of variance will test the null hypothesis and answer research questions. The results could serve as a valuable tool for restructuring school policy and measuring the effectiveness of existing practices.