The Journal for Vocational Special Needs Education 3 Social Skills and Problem Behavior Assessment of General and Special Education Career and Technical Education Students By Michael P. Monahan, Ph. D., University of North Texas Abstract Introduction In 1990, The Carl D. Per- kins Vocational and Applied Low employment and underem- The number of youth who are Technology Education Act (P.L. ployment rates for students with becoming unemployed or under- 101-392; 1990) amended the disabilities have drawn national employed has been a concern Carl D. Perkins Vocational Act attention resulting in federal leg- for educators for much of the and emphasized the develop- islation. The research literature in- 20th century (Oakland, 1992). Es- ment of programs to better pre- dicates a strong relationship be- timates of unemployment rates pare public school students for tween job success and interper- for persons with disabilities vary work; covering services for in- sonal factors, especially for em- between 50 to 75%, as compared dividuals from special popula- ployees with disabilities. This to a 7.5% rate for persons with- tions. This act defined special study investigated social skills out disabilities (Digest of Edu- populations as individuals with and problem behaviors of general cation Statistics, 2000). Statis- disabilities; individuals from and special education career and tics such as those mentioned economically disadvantaged technical education students us- above have led teachers, coun- families, including foster chil- ing the Social Skills Rating Sys- selors, families, and other per- dren; individuals preparing for tem instrument. Findings indi- sonnel to push for legislation to nontraditional training and cated that social skills and prob- ensure the educational rights of employment; single parents, lem behaviors were not addressed individuals from special popula- including single pregnant in the individual transition plans, tions. Individual planning for women; displaced homemak- a statistically significant differ- employment for individuals with ers; and individuals with other ence was found between general disabilities as prescribed in the barriers to educational achieve- and special education students on legislation and accompanying ment, including individuals empathy, and employers rated regulations developed into tran- with limited English profi- special education employees sition services programs. ciency. States were required to higher on cooperation. (Blalock & Patton, 1996). ensure equal access and pro- The Vocational Education vide supplementary services for Act (P.L. 88-210; 1963) was the these students. Also in 1990, capstone for a career and tech- Congress amended the Educa- nical education movement. tion of All Handicapped Children This act recognized that persons Act (P.L. 94-142; 1975). This new with special needs required law, renamed the Individuals help in order to reach success With Disabilities Education Act in regular technical education (IDEA) (P.L. 101-476; 1990) ex- programs. In 1968, The Voca- panded the definition of special tional Education Amendments education to include instruc- (P.L. 90-576; 1968) were passed. tion in the workplace and train- This placed further emphasis on ing sites. Consequently, schools the need to provide technical had to assume a leadership role education experience for stu- in the development of transition dents with special needs. The plans for students. These plans next major vocational act was are implemented through the the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Individual Education Plan (IEP) Education Act (P.L. 98-524; process, and place greater em- 1984). This Act had two broad phasis on career development themes: to make career and instead of remedial education technical education programs (Binkley, 1998). available to students; and im- In 1991, the U.S. Depart- prove the quality of technical ment of Labor published What education programs to give the Work Requires of Schools: A nation’s workforce the skills SCANS Report for America 2000, needed to increase productivity the Secretary’s Commission on and promote economic growth. 4 Volume 25, Number 2, Winter, 2003/Volume 25, Number 3, Spring 2003 Achieving Necessary Skills important part of the prepara- employment; (a) attends to in- (SCANS) identified the skills tion for an independent life. The struction and (b) complies with needed for productive and career and technical education directions. Forness & Kavale meaningful employment. The programs help to identify those (1996) suggest students with report stated that all students skills needed to be successful in learning disabilities have prob- going directly to work after high the world of work. Sitlington lems following instructions and school and those planning fur- (1996) has shown a strong rela- directions due to the students’ ther education needed prepara- tionship between job success own perception of their abilities. tion in areas of foundation and interpersonal factors for The students often are not ac- skills, personal qualities and students with disabilities. Con- cepted by their peers, which can competencies. Not only do stu- versely, it is well documented lead to having fewer chances of dents need basic skills such as that there is a strong relation- interaction with them. reading, writing, mathematics, ship between a lack of social Most recently, the federal speaking and listening, but the skills and unsuccessful employ- government authorized and report listed seven other skills ment for persons with disabili- funded a National Longitudinal and competencies identified by ties (Black, 1996; Chadsey- Transition Study (NLTS) to pro- SCANS. One of these competen- Rusch, 1992; Elksnin, Elksnin, vide a methodologically sound cies was interpersonal skills. & Sabornie, 1994). A growing benchmark for evaluating the Interpersonal skills includes body of research supports the postschool outcomes of special the ability to work on teams, to assertion that students with dis- education programs. From this teach others, to serve custom- abilities are not as advanced as study, Wagner, Blackorby, ers, to negotiate, and to work their nondisabled peers in Cameto, and Newman (1993) re- well with people from culturally many interpersonal skills in- ported that recent special edu- diverse backgrounds. cluding the interpretation of so- cation graduates had poor job re- In 1994, The School to Work cial situations (Sabornie & tention rates with several em- Opportunities Act (STWOA) (P.L. Beard, 1990). ployment positions of short du- 103-239; 1994) was passed. The In 1997, the Individuals ration). In another recent study, STWOA provided states and lo- with Disabilities Education Act Blackorby and Wagner (1996) cal school systems incentives to Amendments of 1997 (P.L. 105- reported the percentage of com- build systems that would help all 17; 1997) were passed, streng- petitively employed youth cat- students prepare for, and make, thening the academic expecta- egorized by disability character- the transition from school to tions and accountability for the istics. They found 70% of youth work, postsecondary education, nation’s 5.8 million children with learning disabilities, 47% or advanced training. The with disabilities. The Act helped of youth with serious emotional STWOA called for partnerships bridge the gap that had existed disturbance, and 37% of youth between secondary schools, col- between what youth with dis- with mental retardation, who leges, employers and the com- abilities learn and what is re- were out of school 3 to 5 years, munity. By working together, quired in the regular curricu- were competitively employed. partnership bridges were to be lum (Yell & Shriner, 1997). The Wagner, Blackorby, Cameto, built between the classroom legislation broadened the con- Hebbeler, and Newman (1993) and the workplace, academic cept of transition to include found that 54% of students with and vocational learning, and the community experiences, devel- disabilities were out of school for high school and post secondary opment of employment and up to two years and unemployed, training. Moreover, students other postschool adult living ob- while 43% of those out of school were to be coupled with commu- jectives, and acquisition of daily up to 5 years were not employed. nity services to ensure that a living skills and functional ca- Research has documented successful transition from reer evaluation when appropri- individuals with mental retar- school to work took place (Krieg, ate (Frank & Sitlington, 1997; dation lack social competence, Brown, & Ballard, 1995). IDEA, 1997; Yell & Shriner, 1997). which poses a major obstacle The STWOA made specific Binkley (1998) surveyed 29 to successful employment reference to students with dis- employers to find out which so- (Chadsey-Rusch, 1992). In addi- abilities, recognizing the impor- cial skills are important to ob- tion, research has shown co- tance of including these indi- tain and retain employment. workers’ perceptions of a work- viduals in school to work initia- This study found two social ers’ competence does include tives. Students with disabilities skills were consistently rated in nontask related social skills for and their parents consider ca- the top five most important so- persons with mental retarda- reer and technical education an cial skills to obtain and retain tion (Butterworth & Strauch, The Journal for Vocational Special Needs Education 5 1994). Also the students’ inap- schools, while the author met scores can range from 0 to 78. propriate social behavior is the with the individual student em- Separate standardized tables major factor of job loss for stu- ployers from the Denton County are provided for interpreting el- dents with disabilities (Elksnin, area at their place of work. ementary and secondary fe- Elksnin, & Sabornie, 1994). males and males’ social skill Instrumentation Therefore, social skills and scores. A higher score reflects The author recorded any social problem behavior related to em- above average social skills, skill and problem behavior of ployment of students with dis- while a lower score indicates students noted on their indi- abilities needs to be further re- below average social skills. vidual transition plans (ITPs). In searched and understood. The Social Skills Rating Sys- addition, the Social Skills Rating The present study perform- tem-Teacher (Gresham & Elliott, System (SSRS) instrument was ed a content analysis of stu- 1990), a secondary level teacher used to collect data on the so- dents with disabilities’ individual version, was used to obtain cial skill and problem behaviors transition plans to see what teacher and employer ratings of of participants (Gresham & types of specific social skills the career and technical edu- Elliot, 1990). The SSRS is a stan- and/or problem behavior goals cation student’s social skills and dardized, norm-referenced in- had been delineated for the stu- problem behaviors. The social strument designed to provide dents. The study also compared skills score was obtained by professionals with a means to the self-reported social skill rat- combining three subscales, i.e., screen and classify student so- ings of career and technical edu- cooperation, assertion, and self- cial behavior. Gresham and cation students with and with- control, for a total of 30 items. Elliot reported internal consis- out disabilities, and compared The social skills score can tency and test-retest reliability the teachers and employers’ rat- range from 0 to 60. A higher coefficients for scores obtained ings of career and technical edu- score reflects above average so- from the SSRS. Coefficient alpha cation students’ social skills and cial skills, while a lower score for all forms ranged from .83 to problem behaviors. indicates below average social .94, test-retest coefficients for skills. The problem behavior Methodology teacher ratings were .85, and score is obtained by combining student self-ratings were .68. two subscales, i.e., external and Participants In regard to validity, the au- internal, for a total of 12 items. Forty-eight (48) career and tech- thors addressed content, crite- The problem behavior score can nical education students par- rion, and construct validity in range from 0 to 24. A higher ticipated in this study. The par- the SSRS manual. Content va- score indicates problem behav- ticipants were in grades nine lidity was demonstrated by in- ior proneness, while a lower through twelve from two high dicating that the SSRS items score indicates acceptable be- schools in Denton County, were developed based on exten- havior. Given the opposite scal- Texas. Twenty-four (24) students sive research and supported by ing for social skill scores and without disabilities were from standardization analyses. Crite- problem behavior scores on the the general education career rion validity was established by SSRS-T, one should expect a and technical education pro- showing how the SSRS corre- negative correlation between gram, and twenty-four (24) stu- lated significantly with other the two sets of scores. This dents were from the special edu- similar measures. Finally, the would imply that acceptable be- cation career and technical results of construct validity havior correlates with above education program. The special studies and the consistent find- average social skills. education career and technical ings of the SSRS suggest strong education students were char- evidence in support of construct Research Questions acterized as learning disabled. validity. Four research questions di- The author met with the gen- The Social Skills Rating Sys- rected the study of social skills eral education students and the tem-Student (Gresham & Elliott, and problem behaviors of gen- special education students as 1990), a secondary level student eral and special education ca- two separate groups in their version, was used to obtain self- reer and technical education classrooms at two different high report social skill measures students. The research ques- schools. Career and technical from students on four subscales, tions were: education teachers from the i.e., cooperation, assertion, self- participating schools met with control, empathy, which com- -Does a content analysis of the the author in the faculty con- bine to yield a total social skill special education students ference rooms at the high score from 39 items. Social skill ITP reveal social skills and problem behaviors? 6 Volume 25, Number 2, Winter, 2003/Volume 25, Number 3, Spring 2003 sion forms within a week. The Career and technical edu- -Is the mean social skill score author met with the general cation teachers who partici- for the general education stu- education students as two sepa- pated in the study were given dents significantly higher rate groups in their respective the SSRS-T to complete for each than the mean social skill classrooms at each high school student in their classes who score for the special educa- to administer the SSRS-S. The had participated in the study. tion students? SSRS-S took approximately 30 The teacher assessed the stu- -Do employers and teachers in minutes to complete. When the dent on 30 social skills and 12 career and technical educa- general education career and problem behavior items. Career tion differ significantly in technical education students and technical education teach- their social skills and prob- finished, the forms were col- ers received five dollars for each lem behavior ratings of gen- lected and scored by hand. The completed SSRS-T (Gresham & eral education students? names, locations, and contact Elliott, 1990). Teachers were persons for each of the student’s given one week to complete the -Do employers and teachers in employers were obtained. The student assessments. career and technical educa- general education students in- Each student informed his tion differ significantly in dicated employment at a total of or her respective employer that their social skills and prob- 25 businesses. they were participating in a re- lem behavior ratings of spe- The author administered search study. The author vis- cial education students? the SSRS-S to the special edu- ited the students’ place of em- Procedures cation career and technical ployment and had the em- education students as two sepa- ployer/supervisor read and sign Approval for conducting the rate groups in their classrooms an informed consent letter. The study was obtained from the at the high schools. The SSRS-S employer/supervisor was then school districts in which both forms (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) given a copy of the SSRS-T and high schools were located. were read to the special educa- asked to assess the 30 social Teacher and employer approv- tion students by the author to skills and 12 problem behavior als were obtained for the study. allow the students to ask ques- items based upon their obser- A list of career and technical tions concerning unfamiliar vance of the student employee. education students was ob- words. When the special educa- Although the instrument was tained from the main office of tion career and technical stu- designed for teachers, each em- each high school where confi- dents were finished, the forms ployer was informed that they dentiality was maintained. Stu- were collected and scored by would need to view the form as dents were mailed an informed hand. The names, locations, if it were based on employment consent letter, a parent permis- and contact persons for each of factors, e.g., coworker equals sion form, and a student per- the student’s employers were ob- peer and classroom equals work- mission form. Students were tained. The special education place. Each employer received given a two-dollar monetary in- students indicated employment five dollars for completing the centive if they returned both at a total of 25 businesses. SSRS-T instrument. the parent and student permis- Table 1 Social Skills Subscale Score Reliability Social Skills Subscales Participant Cooperation Assertion Self-Control Empathy General Education Students .70 .69 .70 .79 Special Education Students .86 .74 .61 .72 Teachers .92 .84 .92 n/a Employers .90 .79 .83 n/a The Journal for Vocational Special Needs Education 7 mean differences was signifi- cant. The SSRS-S subscale Table 2 means, standard deviations, and univariate F-tests are reported Problem Behavior Subscale Score Reliability in Table 3. The general educa- Problem Behavior Subscales tion students reported a higher mean empathy score than the Participant External Internal special education students (F = 7.08, df = 1,45, p = .01, h2 = .14). Teachers .89 .80 The Levene tests were nonsig- nificant, so equal variances be- Employers .81 .74 tween the groups were assumed for all univariate F-tests. An independent t-test of the Table 3 mean differences between teachers and employers of gen- SSRS-S Subscale Means, Standards Deviations, and eral education students on the Univariate F-tests SSRS-T indicated no statistically (General and Special Education Students) significant difference (t = -1.36, df = 44, p = .18). A Levene’s test Social Skills General Special Univariate p n2 of equal variances (F = .02, p = Subscales M S M S F .90) was nonsignificant, so equal group variances were assumed. Assertion 13 3 12 4 1.25 .27 .03 A two-group multivariate analysis of variance for mean Cooperation 15 3 12 4 .17 .68 .01 differences between teachers and employers of general edu- Empathy 17 3 14 4 7.08 .27 .01 cation students on SSRS-T subscales (assertion, coopera- Self-Control 11 3 11 3 .01 .98 .001 tion, and self-control) was not statistically significant (F = .76, df = 3,42, p = .53). The SSRS-T Findings cial skills or problem behaviors subscale means, standard de- that needed to be addressed. The internal consistency reli- viations, and univariate F-tests This finding implies a lack of ability coefficients (Cronbach are reported in Table 4. The awareness and concern for plac- Alpha) for the SSRS-S and SSRS- Levene tests were nonsignifi- ing social skills and problem be- T by participants are presented cant, so equal variances be- haviors in transition plans of in Table 1. The reliability co- tween the groups were assumed special education students. efficients are consistent with for all univariate F-tests. An independent t-test of the those reported in the inven- An independent t-test of the mean differences between gen- tory manuals and related re- mean differences between eral and special education stu- search literature. teachers and employers of gen- dents on the SSRS-S indicated The internal consistency re- eral education students on prob- no statistically significant dif- liability coefficients (Cronbach lem behaviors indicated no sta- ference (t = 1.17, df = 46, p = .25). Alpha) for the SSRS-T problem tistically significant difference A Levene’s test of equal vari- behavior subscales by partici- (t = 1.79, df = 44, p = .08). A ances (F = .17, p= .69) was non- pant are presented in Table 2. Levene’s test of equal variances significant, so equal group vari- These reliability coefficients (F = .05, p = .83) was nonsignifi- ances were assumed. are consistent with those re- cant, so equal group variances A two-group multivariate ported in the inventory manuals were assumed. analysis for mean differences and related research literature. A two-group multivariate between general and special A content analysis of indi- analysis of variance for mean education students on SSRS-S vidual transition plans (ITP) for differences between teachers subscales (assertion, coopera- the special education career and employers of general edu- tion, empathy, and self-control) and technical education stu- cation students on problem be- was statistically significant (F = dents revealed none of the tran- havior subscales (external, in- 2.52, df = 4,42, p = .05) indicat- sition plans indicated any so- ternal) was not statistically sig- ing at least one of the subscale 8 Volume 25, Number 2, Winter, 2003/Volume 25, Number 3, Spring 2003 .90) was nonsignificant, so equal group variances were assumed. Table 4 A two-group multivariate analysis of variance for mean SSRS-T Subscale Means, Standards Deviations, and differences between teachers Univariate F-tests (Teacher and Employer rating of general and employers of special educa- education students) tion students on SSRS-T sub- scales (assertion, cooperation, Social Skills General Special Univariate p n2 and self-control) was statisti- Subscales M S M S F cally significant (F = 2.59, df = 2,42, p = .05) indicating that at Assertion 13 3 12 4 1.25 .27 .03 least one of the subscale mean differences was statistically sig- Cooperation 15 3 12 4 .17 .68 .01 nificant. The SSRS-T subscale means, standard deviations, Empathy 17 3 14 4 7.08 .27 .01 and univariate F-tests are re- ported in Table 6. The Levene Self-Control 11 3 11 3 .01 .98 .001 tests were nonsignificant, so equal variances between the groups were assumed for all Table 5 univariate F-tests. Findings in- dicated that employers rated Problem Behavior Subscale Mean, Standard Deviation, special education vocational Univariate F-test (Teacher and Employer ratings of general students higher on average in education students) cooperation than teachers (F = 4.57, p = .04, h2 = .09). Subscales Teacher Employer Univariate p n2 An independent t-test of the M S M S F mean differences between teachers and employers of spe- External 3.04 2.74 1.83 1.97 3.00 .09 .06 cial education students on prob- lem behaviors indicated no sta- Internal 3.83 2.67 2.87 1.89 1.96 .17 .04 tistically significant difference (t = 1.50, df = 46, p = .14). A Levene’s test of equal variances Table 6 (F = . 01, p = .92) was nonsig- nificant, so equal group vari- SSRS-T Subscale Means, Standard Deviations, and ances were assumed. Univariate F-tests (Teacher and Employer rating of special A two-group multivariate education students) analysis of variance for mean differences between teachers Subscales Teacher Employer Univariate p n2 and employers of special educa- M S M S F tion students on problem behav- ior subscales (external, inter- Assertion 12 5 14 5 .96 .33 .02 nal) was not statistically signifi- cant (F = 1.32, df = 2,45, p = .28). Cooperation 11 3 13 4 4.57 .04 .09 The subscale means, standard deviations, and univariate F- Self-Control 13 6 14 5 .29 .59 .01 tests are reported in Table 7. The Levene tests were nonsig- nificant, so equal variances be- nificant (F = 1.79, df = 2,43, p = An independent t-test of the tween the groups were assumed .18). The subscale means, stan- mean differences between for all univariate F-tests. dard deviations, and univariate teachers and employers of spe- F-tests are reported in Table 5. cial education students on the Conclusions The Levene tests were nonsig- SSRS-T indicated no statistically This study was conducted to nificant, so equal variances be- significant difference (t = -1.42, analyze special education stu- tween the groups were assumed df = 46, p = .16). A Levene’s test dents’ specific ITP-related social for all univariate F-tests. of equal variances (F = .02, p = skills and problem behaviors, The Journal for Vocational Special Needs Education 9 Teachers and employers rated special education career Table 7 and technical education stu- dents on assertion, cooperation, Problem Behavior Subscale Mean, Standard Deviation, and self-control subscales of the Univariate F-test (Teacher and Employer ratings of special SSRS-T. Employers rated special education students) education students significantly higher than the teachers on the Subscales Teacher Employer Univariate p n2 cooperation subscale. This find- M S M S F ing pointed to an important dis- tinction related to special edu- cation students desire to be External 3.25 3.29 2.08 2.80 1.75 .19 .04 more cooperative and not dis- ruptive in the workplace than Internal 3.79 2.48 2.83 2.30 1.93 .17 .04 general education students. In the review of literature, general and special education education students’ social skills the connection between social students’ self-reported social subscale ratings for assertion, skills and vocational education skills, and the relationship be- cooperation, and self-control has been clearly established. In tween teacher and employer were not statistically different. transitioning students from ratings of general education and A univariate F-test revealed school-to-work, it is important special education students’ so- that general education students that social skill, problem behav- cial skills and problem behav- rated themselves higher in em- iors, and vocational education iors. Findings indicated that pathy than special education be addressed. Research indi- special education students’ in- students. This indicated that cates that youth with disabili- dividual transition plans did not general education students ties have difficulty finding and contain information regarding were more concerned about keeping a job. social skills or problem behav- another’s emotions, thoughts, To this end, transitional iors. This finding was surpris- or feelings; possibly a high planning must be implemented ing and pointed out a lack of school students desire to “fit in” in order to overcome these ob- awareness and concern for the with peers. The similarity of so- stacles. The author further sug- impact social skills and problem cial skill ratings on assertion, gests that additional research is behaviors can have on employ- cooperation, and self-control be- needed to establish the link be- ment when planning transition tween general and special edu- tween better social skills and services for special education cation career and technical job success. Follow-up studies students. The prior research lit- education students is an impor- could ascertain job longevity or erature indicated social skills tant finding. This implies that retention, promotion, dismissal, and problem behaviors were im- general education and special and/or job transition related is- portant characteristics that an education students in the work- sues to determine if social employer considers when hiring place are functioning at compa- skills training transfers to the an employee. Black and Langone rable levels. employment setting. Finally, an (1997) have suggested that edu- Teachers and employers evaluation of career and tech- cators and coworkers should rated general education career nical education programs that strive to provide opportunities and technical education stu- prepare students for the work- in the school and in the com- dents the same on social skills place could be conducted to de- munity for disabled students to and problem behaviors. Findings termine whether these issues develop social skills. The con- indicated no statistically sig- are being assessed. tent analysis finding affords a nificant mean differences in rat- compelling argument for requir- ings on social skills, social References ing educators to include social skills subscales, problem be- Benz, M. R., & Halpern, A. S. skills and problem behavior as- haviors, and problem behavior (1993). Vocational and transition sessment in ITPs. This appears subscale scores. This finding services needed and received by to be a major concern educators pointed out a general consensus student with disabilities during have overlooked in completing between teachers and employ- their last year of high school. Career Development for Exceptional ITPs (Benz & Halpern, 1993). ers on the social skills and prob- Individuals, 16, 197-211. The general and special edu- lem behaviors of general educa- cation career and technical tion student employees. 10 Volume 25, Number 2, Winter, 2003/Volume 25, Number 3, Spring 2003 Binkley, K. E. 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