Date of Award
6-12-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Mahauganee Bonds
Committee Members
Matthew Nichols; Randy Caffey
Call Number
ISBN 9798280759473
Abstract
Autism is a spectrum disorder involving individualized disabilities in social interactions, self-expression, and behavior control. Those diagnosed typically exhibit challenges in at least two of these areas. Many individuals with autism are identified through evaluations in public schools. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, public schools must provide disabled students with a free and appropriate public education through special education. In Texas, autism is one of 13 disabilities that qualify a student for special education services. Once in special education, students receive an individualized education plan, which includes goals for life after high school. The Texas Education Agency tracks post-secondary readiness using the career, college, and military readiness indicator within the state accountability system. The indicator's results can be requested through public records requests and disaggregated by disability status, including autism. The purpose of this research was to determine whether students with autism are meeting post-secondary readiness requirements comparable to their non-disabled peers. Using the Chi-square test of homogeneity and One-way ANOVA statistical test, the data analysis found that not a single student identified with only autism met the requirements for career or college readiness. This result held across all school districts in Dallas and Tarrant counties, regardless of district size or funding levels. This result shows that individuals with autism are not achieving post-secondary readiness comparable to their non-disabled peers. This highlights the need for school districts to revise their curriculum to include courses that will assist students with autism to achieve post-secondary readiness. Future research should focus on identifying which revised curriculum components and which topics and skills would be most beneficial for students with autism. Once new curriculum strategies are implemented, ongoing monitoring of career, college, and military readiness data should be used to evaluate curriculum effectiveness, especially for students with autism.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Hobbs, James Daniel, "College and Career Readiness of Students with Autism in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area" (2025). Student Theses and Dissertations. 1071.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/1071
