Transitioning Students with Disabilities in a Rural Native Hawaiian Community: One Teacher's Perspective

Abstract Special education teachers in rural settings face unique social and cultural challenges. Geographic and economic constraints, cultural and lifestyle differences, and social boundaries between local residents and newcomers may significantly affect the transition process of youth with disabilities. This qualitative case study explored the experiences and influence of a Caucasian transition and reading teaching in her first year in an isolated primarily Native Hawaiian community. Despite the 1990 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandating transition planning for special education students, research indicates that rural special education students exhibit poor post-school outcomes (Sheehey & Black, 2003). One reason is the unique challenges transition teachers in rural settings face, which result in high teacher turnover rates. In 1999, the American Association of School Administrators identified teacher recruitment and retention as the biggest problem faced by rural school districts (McClure, 2003). Cultural and lifestyle characteristics of rural inhabitants, in combination with geographic and economic constraints, affect the educational and transition process of youth with disabilities. Rural families tend to have strong emotional and economic ties to their land and frequently feel a personal or spiritual connection with it. They are more likely than non-rural families to have several generations cohabiting in the same household. Rural youth often feel a heightened sense of connectedness and obligation to family and community (Lynch & Hanson, 1998). Yet, rural environments typically offer fewer educational and employment resources and opportunities than more populated locations making it difficult for local youth to pursue higher education or to find jobs (Coleman, Thompson-Smith, Pruitt, & Richards, 1999). This problem is compounded by the fact that the traditional system of education often does not fit the limited employment and lifestyle options that are available within the community (Williams, 2003). Students frequently view their school experience as irrelevant to their futures. Upon graduation, many students are faced with the choice of staying in the area, with its limited economic and educational infrastructure, or leaving in search of a wider range of educational and career opportunities. This is a complex dilemma in which "leavers" are often seen as more capable and motivated but abdicating community and family responsibilities, while "stayers" may be viewed as lacking initiative but upholding traditional values (Harmon, 2001; Shatter & Seyfrit, 2000). Rural communities are often comprised primarily of minority or indigenous groups (Coleman et al., 1999; Shaffer & Seyfrit, 2000). Certain groups of minority students tend to exhibit poorer academic (Lynch & Hanson, 1998) and adult (Ramasamy, 1996) outcomes than their mainstream counterparts. Native Hawaiian students regularly score below the norm on standardized tests (Lynch & Hanson, 1998) and are disproportionately represented in special education (Sileo & Prater, 1998). Factors affecting minority students' learning include content and style of classroom interactions, students' beliefs and attitudes regarding education, and quality of teacher-student relationships (Au & Kawakami, 1994; Erickson, 1993). Finally, rural dwellers tend to uphold a strong distinction between long-time community residents and newcomers. Rural residents often have strong social and emotional ties to family and community, but distrust newcomers. This insider-outsider dichotomy creates a distinct social framework in which residents maintain social and cultural boundaries through implicit rules and subtle behaviors that serve to segregate outsiders (Shaffer & Seyfrit, 2000). Given that new teachers frequently come from outside the region, they can feel alienated and relationships with students and families are often problematical. …