Factors That Contribute to Conflicts in Special Education Between Parents and Schools

Maria L. Akl, Ed.D., Education/Special Education

This session comprises a presentation of quantitative research conducted in Southern California validating Lake and Billingsley’s (2000) grounded theory regarding factors causing conflicts in education in general and in special education in particular. This study found that discrepant views of a child or child’s needs, knowledge, service delivery, constraints, valuation, reciprocal power, communication, and trust were associated with the perception of conflicts. The comparison of the models for three subgroups of 200 participants indicated that for parents, service delivery and valuation are significant factors in conflicts; for administrators and service providers, trust is a significant factor in conflicts. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that service delivery, valuation, and trust are associated with conflicts after the partial out of the other constructs.