Factors influencing American Indian, special education students' education and intended retention in high school

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence the educational experience, and intended retention in high school, for fifth through twelfth grade American Indian, special education students from a central Arizona tribe who attend a local public school. Educators, parents and representatives from both communities are concerned about the low achievement and high attrition rate for the American Indian students, in general. When special education classification is a consideration, the students are at added risk for dropping out.; Archival data on eighty American Indian students were reanalyzed to compare responses of American Indian special and regular education students on the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM). In addition, new information was collected via the Classroom Environment Scale (CES) regarding the students' perceived school support, a factor believed to be critical for achievement and school retention.; No statistically significant differences were found for the six hypotheses which investigated differences between the special education and regular education, American Indian students, as well as considering correlations between variables solely for the disabled students. Descriptive item analyses on the variables of sense of purpose, sense of competence, self-esteem, intent to complete high school and teacher support did reveal differences between the American Indian, special education students and regular education students. Past research findings were supported through the descriptive presentation of data in respect to special education students' uncertainty regarding their sense of purpose and high school graduation. These students were more negative in their self-esteem than their nondisabled peers, but their overall view of special education classes and teachers was positive.; Based upon these results, future research should consider investigating the general concept of cultural differences between the American Indian minority group and the majority group to gain further understanding of the former students' educational experience and retention in high school. Specifically, the Fort McDowell students' acculturation into the majority population's educational setting should be studied to determine whether they developed positive, or negative, acculturation strategies. Instruction regarding the characteristics of the Fort McDowell tribe, as well as effective special education strategies, should also be incorporated into teacher training programs.