Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Transformative Action in Education

First Advisor

Dr. Anne Zeman

Second Advisor

Dr. Louise Santiago

First Committee Member

Dr. Laura Aguada-Hallberg

Second Committee Member

Dr. Jonathan Toccoli

Abstract

Teacher attrition and resulting shortages have become severely problematic across the United States. This is especially true within special education. This study employs role theory (Kahn et al., 1964) to isolate the case manager role carried by special education teachers, investigate it through the stories of current practitioners, and establish it within academia. Burnout theory (Maslach, 1993) provides a lens through which to evaluate the strain of working conditions surrounding the case manager role. Elements of narrative inquiry (Clandinin, 2006; Creswell & Guetterman, 2019) in the form of 1-1 interviews with current IEP case managers from across California provided the means for data collection. Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) applied to the stories yielded five supporting categories and six subthemes grouped under four main themes; Unreasonable Expectations, Power Dynamics, Teamwork & Coordination, and a Strong Sense of Why/Purpose. The case manager role infringes upon the teacher role. The entire timeline of special education policy is reviewed to present day, implications pertaining to the current political-educational landscape are discussed, and considerations for future research are proposed. This was insider research conducted by a fellow practitioner to achieve rich contextual details (Bhattacharya, 2017) and enhanced depth of findings.

Pages

134

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