Date

5-1-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Rachel Piferi

Keywords

ADHD, secondary teachers, professional development, ADHD knowledge, behavior management strategies, interventions

Disciplines

Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Psychology

Abstract

This dissertation examines how prepared secondary teachers in Texas rural public schools are to work with students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who are placed in their classrooms. I investigated the professional development and higher educational training experiences of secondary teachers regarding contributions to both their knowledge of the etiology of ADHD and interventions and behavior management strategies. This dissertation was motivated by a curiosity to understand how secondary teachers in rural schools describe the knowledge they obtained regarding ADHD etiology and interventions through their higher education programs and professional development opportunities. As well as a desire to understand how secondary teachers in rural schools describe the behavior management strategies and interventions frequently used with ADHD students in their classrooms and the resources they have available to them to meet the needs of students with ADHD in their classrooms. Ten secondary teachers in rural Texas participated in semi-structured interviews in which they were asked to describe their experiences learning about ADHD in their higher education programs and through professional development opportunities. The teachers were also asked to describe behavior management strategies and interventions they are familiar with and utilize for students diagnosed with ADHD in their classrooms. Interviews were conducted via Zoom and member checking occurred for accuracy of information. MAXQDA software was utilized for coding the qualitative data obtained from the teacher interviews. This research discovered that most secondary teachers were neither prepared through their higher education programs nor professional development opportunities to work with the population of adolescent ADHD students. However, all participants were interested in professional training opportunities on the topic of ADHD. This study contributes to the relevance and need for the education of secondary teachers to support the population of students with an ADHD diagnosis.

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