Date
5-20-2026
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Breck Perry
Keywords
special education, litigation, Herzberg, 504, IEP, FAPE
Disciplines
Education | Law
Recommended Citation
Head, William Joseph, "A Qualitative Case Study on How Educators Are Motivated To Mitigate Tension in Special Education Between Schools v. Courts" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8530.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8530
Abstract
The purpose of this case study was to examine the motivations of special education educators in one Texas Education Regional Area who have avoided formal negligence claims regarding FAPE implementation. The theory guiding this study was Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, Work and the Nature of Man, under the assumption that educators may be liable under negligence per se for statutory compliance with special education law. The Central Research Question was, “How do motivation factors for special education educators implementing procedurally substantive FAPE content limit formal complaints of negligence?” A single-issue, qualitative method was selected to illustrate the legal perspective on complex, problematic intervention issues in five performing public schools and to examine how motivational factors influence compliance efforts among professional participants. Triangulated data were collected and synthesized from the literature, court documents, in-depth interviews with 16 campus-based faculty implementing special education, and three follow-up focus groups. The study analyzed data to determine how motivational factors influence non-litigated educators to implement substantive FAPEs for students. The study examined the rationales for why and how some educators avoid post-Endrew special education litigation. Participant implementation of a reasonable FAPE appears to be driven solely by personal and professional intrinsic motivations regarding the love of students and education, not by extrinsic factors intended to deter litigation.
