David Blaiklock

Ph.D Portfolio

George Mason University

Reflections

Spring 2009

    At the beginning of the first class session, the professor asked how we knew things.  I raised my hand immediately and when called upon responded by stating that knowledge was only gained through rigid empirical study.  I learned by the next class session how wrong that answer was and was reinforced weekly as I gained insight into different ways of knowing.  Over the course of the semester I learned that knowledge requires reference points, knowledge is fluid as paradigms change over time with new innovations, and knowledge is a subjective experience based on our prior experiences.  I also learned different ways that knowledge can be established to include the aforementioned empirical study but also through experience, social construction, and narrative inquiry.

    The experiences in Ways of Knowing taught me the importance of making meaning of information.  We are able to do this by using reference points from our past of similar experiences.  Knowledge can be developed through sharing our experiences with others, making meaning of those experiences and evaluating those experience to find universals amongst them.  Sharing these experiences will create a truth amongst the group that is sharing experiences though each member will interpret that truth differently.  However, there are no absolute truths and knowledge is constantly in flux.  The knowledge that is developed by the group can be challenged by an anomalous experience that will require the truth to be changed to account for the anomalous experience.

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    Research and Scholarship in Education taught me a great deal about the importance of developing Communities of Practice.  Being a member of a Community of Practice is beneficial in that it allows you to network and collaborate with others.  Knowledge can be shared amongst the community to socially construct knowledge.  It is important to have members from a variety of backgrounds to serve as a check and balance of differing opinions.  Bringing in new members on occasion is also helpful to endure that the collective knowledge of the group does not become stale and that new ideas are coming in.  Naturally, different Communities of Practice can work with each other to accomplish the same goal on a larger scale.

    Research and Scholarship in Education taught me to recognize and evaluate the groups and communities to which I belong.  Whether it is a professional community or a community I belong to in my personal life, I now evaluate the composition in terms of areas of expertise and how frequently the community brings in new members.  A variety of expertise allows for a broader knowledge set to accomplish the goals set forth by the group.  Fluidity in membership allows the group to have new ideas and prevents it from being stagnant and unable to move forth from the status quo.

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Summer 2009

    There are many different components to the area of teacher education policy as the policy attempts to drive the field to develop a skilled work force of effective teachers.  There is much debate in the field as to the best way to prepare teachers for the classroom.  On one side of the debate, people believe that instruction in classroom pedagogy is essential and on the other side, people believe that strong content knowledge is enough to prepare an effective teacher.  There is research supporting both sides of this debate.   Some of the other issues that exist within the realm of teacher education policy is how to recruit and develop capacity for effective teachers in the schools where they are most needed, the vast difference in standards for teacher licensure from state to state, how to measure teacher effectiveness, the accreditation process for teacher preparation programs, and where the need for teachers will be in the future.  Policymakers work with all of these issues to develop policy that will prepare the most effective teachers.

    Developing a highly qualified teacher workforce is essential to providing a quality education to the students in this country.  Providing a quality education to all students could potentially decrease dropout rates and increase graduation rates.  Improving dropout and graduation rates will provide a more educated workforce that may help us be more competitive on a global scale.  Without the proper policies in place, students who need the best teachers the most may continue to get the least qualified teachers and will continue to struggle with their education.

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Fall 2009

    Leadership Seminar covered a range of leadership styles and issues to include the authoritarian style of Machiavelli, the mindful style of Hanh, and the nontraditional style of Wheatley.  Throughout these styles and the styles of Fullan and Gardner lay some overlapping themes.  Among them were the idea of leading with a moral purpose, building and sharing knowledge, understanding the perspective of others, and exerting less control to allow processes and to develop.  Leaders exist in both a visible and invisible state and can either be a leader through title or a regular person that others will follow.  The most important lesson learned was that are many subtle nuances to leadership that depend on the context of a situation.  There is no one size fits all to leadership.

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    Problems and Methods of Educational Research focused on the research strategies associated with educational research.  The different components of a journal article and how to create them were discussed in detail.  The methods associated with experimental design were at the center of the course.  The importance of ethics in dealing with human subjects was taught along with the proper way to compose a human subjects review board proposal.  These methods were discussed in terms of both qualitative and quantitative designs.  The course also spent some time focusing on how to use a statistical software package.

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Spring 2010

    Quantitative Methods in Education Research focused on the different types of variables and the statistical techniques associated with analyzing them.  The specific statistical techniques taught were z-tests, t-tests, correlation, multiple regression, and analysis of variance.  Each of these tests can be used to demonstrate if numerical differences between different samples are a coincidence or if the probability of any differences is small enough that a variable being studied contributed to the difference.  This is accomplished by stating both a null (what the population looks like) and alternative hypothesis (how the sample may be different from the population), identifying the critical value associated with the statistical technique being used. running the statistical test, and either retaining or rejecting the null hypothesis.

    Quantitative methods has taught me the specific processes behind different statistical techniques.  Each technique can be used for a different type of question and can measure whether something has occurred due to chance or because an identified variable (either manipulated or not) has a specific impact on the dependent variable.  I have also learned that in the creation of knowledge, statistical procedures tell us that we reject our null hypothesis but not to accept the alternative one.  If a null hypothesis is rejected then additional evidence should be sought in favor of the alternative hypothesis.  Finally, I learned about the specific conditions necessary to optimize different statistical tests such as sample size, number of variables, treatment conditions, etc.

    Knowing how to conduct studies that utilize statistical procedures is important for using experimental and quasi-experimental methods.  The ability to perform statistical procedures allows for sample data to be used to make generalizations about the population with characteristics that are similar to the sample.  Statistical techniques are one way to help increase the knowledge of the field in determining how different phenomena interact with each other.  Learning about statistical methods is also important for reading and evaluating the research of others.  Understanding the data analysis in an article allows me to have a deeper understanding of the research.  Rather than simply knowing if there was a significant interaction, I can analyze the extent of the significance by looking at the probability and post hoc measures.     

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    The focus of Applied Research Methods in Special Education has been on the most commonly used methods for special education research.  These methods are single subject design, qualitative design, survey design, and group experimental design.  The methods were evaluated in the context of whether they were ideographic (an attempt to understand the environment) or nomothetic (an attempt to be able to predict and control the environment).  Each method that was studied included a reading on the quality indicators for that method and several articles that used the method being studied.

    This class has taught me both how to design and evaluate single subject, qualitative, survey, and group experimental designs.  I have learned to study how the literature review develops evidence that supports the research problem.  I have also learned to focus on the intricacies of different studies to include how the sample was recruited, how reliability was established, and how threats to both internal and external validity were controlled.  Most importantly, I learned that single subject, qualitative, survey, and group experimental designs each answer different types of research questions.  The single subject and qualitative methods section that were written for the class each deal with a different issue surrounding reading instruction.  The single subject method attempts establish the effectiveness of an intervention strategy while the qualitative study attempts to explore how special education teachers engage their students during reading instruction.

    It is important to learn the details of the most prevalent special education research methodologies to be able to understand the research and evaluate the overall validity of the study.  As a scholar, I need to be able to effectively critique research that may be informing policy or practice.  The background information on the quality indicators for each technique will help inform me to differentiate between a quality study and one that uses poor logic.  This is particularly important as I learn to develop literature reviews to identify a research problem and pose a research question.  The ability to identify quality research in special education will ensure that I utilize research that is both internally and externally valid to support my conclusions.

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Summer 2010

    Learning about Qualitative Methods taught me about the importance of studying processes and experiences within the realm of educational research.  The focus was on the implementation of a qualitative method which included developing a conceptual framework, designing interview questions, conducting interviews, transcribing, analyzing the transcripts, and comparing the outcome to the original conceptual framework.  The study also taught the dominant theme in qualitative research where the individual researcher is the research instrument.  Finally, an important part of this class was understanding the lens through which the research was being interpreted and taking responsibility for that bias when making interpretations.

    In addition to the experience of conducting the qualitative study, I learned two specific lessons.  The first lesson was that my perception of the experience of the people I was interviewing was different from what they were experiencing.  I spent a great deal of time trying to get the interview data to fit within my conceptual framework of their experience before I realized the point of the exercise was not to fit their experiences into my preconceived notion but rather to develop a new conceptual framework based on actual experiences.  The second lesson was the importance of qualitative methods in educational research.  Prior to this class, my belief was that truth was discovered solely through hypothesis testing.  However, this class gave me an appreciation for the rich depth of knowledge that can be gained through interviews and observations.  In many ways, learning this methodology opened my eyes to a whole new way to approach research and provided the tools to explore different phenomena within the field of education.

    Qualitative research is important in generating theories and learning about the experiences of people.  These theories can be tested for generalization with hypothesis testing.  However, the important part of gaining knowledge through this method is recognizing the context in which the experiences occur.  Though the research may not always be generalizable, it does provide a great understanding of the experiences within the context being studied.  The researcher is also able to test their beliefs against the phenomena they are studying in reality to determine if their beliefs about a specific experience is accurate.  Finally, a greater understanding of qualitative research will allow me to read and evaluate qualitative studies with a keener eye.

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    The internship at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) was an incredibly valuable learning experience.  The internship provided insight into policy development and formulation in a real world setting.  Philosophically, Kingdon's multiple streams model was apparent as different interest groups attempted to take advantage of policy windows to incorporate their policy agenda.  Stone's polis model was apparent as different groups worked together in an attempt to resolve differences and accomplish their policy agenda.  At a practical level, a greater understanding of how to gather information, analyze information, and influence policy makers through attending meetings, attending briefings, writing briefs, and meeting with staffers on Capitol Hill.  The basics of policy development (how a bill becomes a law) were reinforced and there was emphasis on how special education policy fits within the context of general education.  Furthermore, there was also instruction on how education fits within larger issues such as the economy and jobs.

    The internship provided a strong understanding of the lack of rationality in policy development.  Policy formulation can occur very rapidly and a policy analyst must not only ensure they know about a policy is being developed but also need to gather information to provide a position on that policy.  For an organization like NASDSE, that includes getting the opinions of their membership in developing their position.  The ability to do this in the policy development process requires strong research and communication skills to gather information and develop a position.  The second lesson gained was an understanding of how an organization representing states' interest function at the federal level.  Given that NASDSE membership is composed of state directors of special education, the tension between nationalization (state's rights) and federalization is very apparent.  Finally, the internship taught me about strength in numbers through joining coalitions of common interests.  Coalitions allow for greater advocacy in that an increased number of associations can advocate the same position.  However, there are times when all members of a coalition may not agree and the coalition may attempt to influence a policy through stating which members support a particular position.

    Gaining applied knowledge of policy development and the mechanisms of influence taught me about the relationship between research and policy development.  Policy development occurs much faster than the ability to study an issue from either an empirical or constructivist stance.  Existing research may be applied to policy development but the research needs to be watered down to such a point that the policy maker can absorb the material quickly.  The outcome of the research is most important and there is no focus on the methodology.  Therefore, there is potential for low quality research to have an impact on policy if it is presented by the right person or interest in the right manner.  Learning about the context of educational issues and the interrelationship with other policy areas demonstrates a generalizability of these concepts beyond education.  Finally, the experience provided firsthand experience of being a policy analyst which is a career I am considering for the future.    

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Fall 2010

    Education Policy: Process, Context, and Politics provided exposure to how education policy is developed and studied at the local, state, and federal level.  The challenges of defining the purpose of education and the influences on the development of education policy were discussed.  Conceptual frameworks for studying policy development such as Multiple Streams and Punctuated Equilibrium can provide insight into the policy development process.  At the local, state, and federal level, policy issues must be framed in measurable terms in order to research the impact and effectiveness of different policies.  The methodology for studying the policy will depend upon how the policy issue is framed.

    Despite previous coursework in policy, this class no only solidified my understanding of the interrelationship between local, state, and federal entities regarding policy development and implementation but also provided an understanding of the relationship between policy and case law.  This class provided me with the tools to conduct research on a policy issue in terms of framing the issue, identifying data sources to measure the issue, and to develop a logic model that will indicate if the policy is/will be effective or not.  The class gave me an appreciation for the importance of mixing methods to provide policy makers with an inferential result that can be generalized and a qualitative result that will have the potential to give greater meaning to the policy maker than statistics can.

    As a novice scholar of education policy it is important to understand objective policy analysis and the ability to communicate results to a policy maker.  The ability to frame and study a policy issue are two important skills necessary to policy analysis.  These skills will be the backbone of my education policy research I conduct from this point forward in my academic career.  Using these skills will allow me to conduct objective policy analysis and research that I can communicate to associations and policy makers.  These same skills can be applied to published research and conference presentations.

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    Intervention Research in Special Education focused on the intervention research designs (Experimental/Quasi-Experimental and Single Subject) most commonly used in the special education community.  Emphasis was placed on learning the major contributors to special education and the particular area of their focus.  Using guidelines from Exceptional Children the ability to evaluate the quality of different studies was also taught.  Finally, the class provided an overview of meta-analysis to understand how to evaluate and synthesize studies.  The final project of the class was to create a small meta-analysis that included an evaluation of study quality and the demonstration of the variance of effect sizes based on the quality of the studies in the sample.

    An understanding of how to evaluate intervention research provides me with the tools to determine the validity of different studies.  Rather than accepting the outcome of a study at face value, the ability to identify methodological weaknesses provides insight into how effective an intervention may be.  In reviewing studies of an intervention that have different outcomes, evaluating the methodology may provide insight into why the outcomes were different.  In reviewing a series of studies, it may be challenging to compare each of them to determine the effectiveness of an intervention and the context in which it is effective.  The ability to synthesize research through meta-analysis provides a methodological tool to combine studies and evaluate different circumstances where it may or may not be effective.

    The ability to evaluate and synthesize research is important particularly when it comes to using interventions in special education.  In an era of evidence-based practice, strong intervention research is needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of strategies.  Study quality is an important aspect to determine if the intervention strategy was responsible for a change or if some other variable made an impact.  Synthesizing high quality studies of effective strategies can help inform school, district, state, and federal officials, of interventions that may be beneficial to students with exceptional learning needs.

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Spring 2011

    Advanced Policy Issues in Education continued the lessons learned in  Education Policy: Process, Context, and Politics.  The course required the application of what was learned in  Education Policy: Process, Context, and Politics to a specific chosen policy issue.  The specific skills learned were framing the issue, documenting the history of the issue, evaluating the research on the issue, designing a conceptual framework, describing solutions already enacted for the issue, researching the funding for those solutions, evaluating the effectiveness of those solutions, researching the opinion of interest groups, and synthesizing the information to develop a new solution based on program evaluation outcomes.  The research was carried out and discussed over the length of the course and presented in a policy brief.

    The skills I learned in this class allowed me to begin focusing on the specific policy surrounding the topic for my dissertation.  Beyond the refinement of skills in framing a policy issue, I now know how to conduct policy research beyond what is in peer-reviewed journals.  I am now able to research specific laws, the reports on laws, the federal budget, and the positions of interest groups.  The other important lesson from this course is recognizing both the micro and macro perspectives of different interests in policy.  At one point in the course, I was only looking at the specific impact of the policy issue on the target audience.  I now know to look at the bigger picture in terms of the macroeconomic implications of different policies and the perspectives of different interests on those.  My special education issue may be beneficial to children with exceptional learning needs but there are groups who are against federal government spending and participation in the resolution of these sorts of issues.

    Similar to  Education Policy: Process, Context, and Politics, the skills learned in this class are important for policy analysis.  Without the ability to frame and issue, develop a conceptual framework, identify data, and evaluate positions, it would not be possible to study education policy from either an empirical or constructive methodology.  Developing the policy brief in this class helped me frame my dissertation topic within a specific piece of policy for further study. 

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    Social Science Research and Education Policy focused on framing policy issues and evaluating the research surrounding them.  The class provided the opportunity to see peer reviewed research as a whole rather than individual parts.  Seeing research as a whole provided a better understanding of how to evaluate the results and conclusions based on the methodology.  The policy implications of each article had to be identified and synthesized into recommendations based on the outcomes of a series of studies.  Finally, the class consisted of giving three hour long presentations with question and answer portions which helped develop skills for conference presentations.

    Prior to this class, I reviewed articles in parts (literature review, method, discussion, conclusion) and did not see the product as a whole.  This class provided me with the insight to look at articles more critically to determine if the research question was studied properly and if the conclusions follow logically from the results.  My belief before this class was that only quality research made it into peer review journals.  I now know to evaluate the methodology and the results to determine the quality of the study to determine the quality of the conclusion.

    The ability to evaluate the quality of research is important in developing literature reviews.  The ability to identify gaps in logic helps create research questions for further study.  Knowing the quality of an article is also beneficial when one is using it to support a particular claim.  Regarding policy analysis, evaluating the quality of research is necessary when reviewing the literature to make a recommendation to a policy maker.  Making a recommendation based on faulty research can result in poor decisions and can also be open to criticism from other in the policy community.  Finally, the ability to evaluate research is beneficial for when I am conducting my own research.  I am aware of potential issues and the awareness of those issues can help me avoid them when designing and writing my own studies.

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Summer 2011

    The Achievement Gap focused on the discrepancies of achievement between different groups of students.  The primary differences were between students from low and high socioeconomic background and between minority and White students.  The families of students of color and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds may lack the social, cultural, intellectual, and economic capital to navigate the school system for their child to receive a quality education.  The lack of quality in education for their children becomes a recapitulating cycle where those students face un/underemployment and lack the aforementioned resources necessary to improve the education of their children.  There are educational models in this country that can overcome these issues by breaking away from the traditional educational model in this country.  However, these models exist within individual schools and have yet to be brought to scale. 

    I am now aware of the variety of educational programs and the innovative attempts that have been made to improve the educational process in this country.  This course has helped me recognizer that the current one-size-fits-all model of education may not be appropriate.  Extending the school day, extending the school year, promoting students based on achievement, are all ways that the achievement gap can be closed in this country.  However, given the issues of cultural, social, intellectual, and economic, capital, the current school choice models assume that those without those resources will be able to navigate the system.  However, it is possible that those without capital will not be able to take advantage of school choice leaving students from those families in failing schools.  The inability to access quality education will further exacerbate the gap between those with the capital resources and those without.  Solving the achievement gap problem will require empowering parents of failing schools by providing them with the resources they need to access a quality education for their children.

    The quality of education in this country has far reaching consequences.  Having an un/underemployed workforce can have significant economic implications which will make it challenging to compete in the global economy.  Though not every student needs to have a college degree to be employed, they do need a quality education and preparation to participate in a workforce that requires a higher level of technical skills and higher order thinking than previous manufacturing positions.  The schools need to close the gap to prepare individuals for this workforce to boost the economy and compete in the global arena.

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    The purpose of Legal Research in Special Education was to create a concrete understanding of the law as it exists in statute and code.  The practice of case law is an interpretation of the law as it applies to a specific set of facts.  Case law exists in a hierarchical court system at both the state and federal level.  The second purpose of this course was to solidify the understanding of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and how it is implemented to benefit students with exceptional learning needs.  The third purpose was to learn the relationship between case law and policy in that case law can influence policy by identifying unintended logical gaps in the policy through litigation.  Finally, legal research skills were taught to synthesize case law into an understanding of how the courts interpret a specific part of IDEA.

    I now know how to conduct legal research and use it as a tool to supplement other methods of inquiry.  I am also able to use case law to identify issues within specific policies that will allow me to make recommendations to policy makers about resolving those issues.  I have a stronger knowledge of the organization of the court system in this country and how the law is applied at both the state and federal level.  I am also able to use a case to identify specific research terms for both legal or other forms of inquiry.

    Learning how to conduct legal research has allowed me to explore the case law surrounding my chosen dissertation topic.  I have been able to balance this case law against the existing research to determine if the issues reported in the research are being pursued in the legal arena.  The prevalence of the issue in the research combined with the lack of presence in case law contributes to my belief that the issues of parental participation in special education decision making has not risen to the surface of policy development.  Though there are cases regarding parental participation many of those relate to parents seeking reimbursement for private schools.  Very few of the parents prevail in these cases as they are typically as rigid as they are accusing the school of being by failing to support a private placement.

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    The Policy Issue in Special Education course was intended to conduct a comprehensive literature review on a specific topic.  The chosen topic was parental perceptions of participation in the special education process.  A literature search was conducted of a research database and specific studies were identified for inclusion in the study.  An ancestral search of the included studies was also conducted to identify additional studies.  A summary of the studies was generated and organized by categories.  The discussion section synthesizes the literature reviewed and makes recommendations for future reauthorizations of IDEA.  The biggest lesson learned from this course was appropriately framing the policy issue so that the issue identified in the research was appropriately defined in IDEA.  There is no specific definition of participation in IDEA though several sections describe what is required.

    This course taught me confidence in conducting a literature review.  I am also now knowledgeable of the different lines of inquiry that have been used to study parental participation in IEP meetings.  Knowing this line of inquiry will be beneficial as I pursue this topic for my dissertation.  It is interesting to see that despite the attempts that have been made in IDEA to increase parental roles in special education, many parents continue to feel marginalized or that they are not able to actively participate in the process.  Beyond the focus of this specific study, I now know how to identify a policy issue, find the literature associated with that issue, and synthesize that information.

    The ability to identify a policy issue and synthesize research on that issue is important in policy analysis.  It is also important to review the research with a critical eye prior to synthesis.  A poorly designed study may yield influential conclusion and should potentially be excluded form a research synthesis when attempting to use it to influence a policy maker.  The ability to synthesize research is also important for developing short position papers that may be used to influence policy decision makers about the benefits or disadvantages of a particular piece of policy.

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    Mixed Research Methods discussed the epistemological and ontological issues associated with mixing research designs.  The assumptions of one method may violate the assumptions of another method making the two methods potentially incompatible.  The course discusses ways to overcome the incompatibility of different assumptions in research.  The second focus of the course was ways to mix methods to gain an understanding of a phenomenon that could not be gained by using two methods in isolation.  Often the mixing of methods can identify new perspectives that can become the subject of future research.  Finally, the course focused on ways to address validity issues in mixed method designs.  Given the potential for different philosophical assumptions with particular methods, both the internal and external validity need to be carefully addressed when conducting mixed methods research.

    I now have a greater appreciation of the philosophical assumptions associated with different research designs.  Taking this course at the end of the program helped solidify the paradigm issues that were discussed in Ways of Knowing. The other piece of valuable knowledge was learning to triangulate methods to answer different perspectives of a research question.  By addressing the different perspectives, one can rule out alternative hypotheses and gain a better understanding of the phenomenon being studied.

    Mixed method research is important in educational policy because it provides the potential to simultaneously study an issue at both the micro and macro level.  The macro level allows policy makers to understand the overall impact and magnitude of a policy on the population as a whole.  The micro level allows the policy maker to gain a deeper understanding of personal experiences based on a policy recipients interaction with a specific policy.  The triangulation of mixed method results allows for a verfication of each set of results which can strengthen the conclusions.