Theoretical implications
One of the significant contributions of this study is the verification of transition practice by examining various components of the hypothesized latent variable model of transition involvement,including the construct meaning of each latent trait and their
李貞儀 美國高中特殊教育教師之機構問合作態度於參與轉銜服務的模式探討的
bivariate relationships; meanwhile,overall dynamics among the four latent variables were also investigated in the structural model of transition involvement. Too often, researchers in special education view teacher knowledge as effective teaching that is content specific and can be evaluated and validated as a single element. In such narrow and assumed direct relationships, important factors could be left out and a spurious relationship could mask the truth. The methodology applied in this study opens a new possibility in the transition research community to approach what researchers intend to examine. Perhaps most importantly,the findings of this study demonstrated that factors that influence educators' transition involvement are multi-dimensional and dynamic.
This study established the theoretical construct for each latent trait in the model and examined these four latent traitsempirical旬， as ve可 fewstudies have documented the reliability and validity information of instruments administered in the field of transition. This study also demonstrated how educators' personal and professional characteristics positively influence their perceptions of interagency collaboration and their transition involvement through a certain relationship with school characteristics.
The effects of school characteristics on both educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration and transition involvement are associated with the effects of personal and professional characteristics on these two variables. Spurious relationships existed between school characteristics and educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration, as well as educators' transition involvement. When considering or controlling for the effects of personal and professional characteristics on both educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration and transition involvement, the effects of school characteristics on these two variables vanished. A spurious relationship existed as well between educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration and their transition involvement when the direct effect of educators' personal and professional characteristics on their transition involvement was not included. The results of these analyses distinguished the effects of personal and professional characteristics from the effects of school characteristics and educators' perceptions
While findings in prior research have demonstrated that the role of interagency collaboration has an influential impact on successful outcomes of transition programs (Kohler, 1993; Kohler et al., 1994; Morningstar & Kleinhammer-Tramill, 1999; Rusch et al., 1992),this study empirically revealed that educators' personal and professional characteristics,including their transition professional background and special education commitment, playa more significant role in educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration and their involvement in these transition programs. The results of this study should not be construed that school characteristics are not important to assist educators' interagency collaboration or that educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration is not important to impact educators' transition involvement, but the relationships among these factors are dominated by educators' personal and professional characteristics,which demonstrated a stronger impacts on educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration as well as their transition involvement. The discovery of this study expands on the fmdings of previous studies and provides information concerning the powerful influence of educators' personal perspectives on the success oftransition programs.
This study contributes to the theoretical advancement in the field of transition by expanding on the findings that have been proposed in previous studies,explaining the success of transition practice. Personal characteristics, an important element to educators' transition involvement,were identified as a critical factor overshadowing the relationship between educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration and transition involvement. When educators perceive higher levels of transition professional training, they have higher levels of understanding of interagency collaboration and are more competent to be involved in collaborative activities and,finally,may demonstrate better practice in providing transition services for students with disabilities. The findings demonstrate that personal and professional characteristics are key in contributing to educators' recommended best transition practice.
The model developed and tested in this research provides a theoretical enrichment for the study of recommended best transition practice. Many factors contri
李貞儀 美國高中特殊教育教師之機構問合作態度於參與轉街服務的模式探討 69
to the success of transition programming emerged from several investigations, both empirically and theoretically. This model can be utilized to examine different mediating factors and compare their commonalities to determine changes in the interplay among elements in transition involvement. For example, the Taxonomy for Transition Programming revealed five important indicators to “best" transition practice (Kohler,1996),including interagency collaboration,student-focused planning, student development,family involvement,and program evaluation. Like the factor of interagency collaboration examined in this study, the other four factors can be investigated by using this model. The theoretical model may be helpful in directing
臼ture research in two aspects. First,each element relates to components in the model that should be examined and evaluated to provide reliability and validity information;
once these are identified and provided, then the research may further proceed to investigate the dynamic relationships among components,including their roles and influences in the model.
Practical implications
The other implications for practice in secondary schools and personnel preparation programs are addressed in this section. First of all,this study revealed that secondary special educators surveyed only participated in the activities of interagency collaboration occasionally and slightly agreed that they have had adequate training in interagency collaboration. Through respondents' demographic information, some participants reported their positions as consultants. A special educator usually plays the role of consultant in the school-based team and works cooperatively with regular classroom teachers to develop interventions for educational problems. In such a consultation model, special educators provide their expertise to assist in problem solving.
However,as illustrated by Halpern (1994),transition for students with disabilities involves a variety of changing roles that is in need of many resources and expertise from different professionals. Special educators involved in transition practice not only provide their expertise as consultants but also seek expertise from a variety of sources
and coordinate the application of such expertise across systems,including school and non-school systems. The role of the special educator as a consultant is expanded when the special educator is involved in interagency collaboration in the transition process.
As a result,educators must become knowledgeable about the services and expertise each system can provide, and how to access and coordinate the services, and expertise from different systems. Many participants, by writing supplemental notes on theirsurve抖， indicated that they were learning by doing, and their transition competencies were the results of on-the-job training as well as engagement in conferences and workshops. Obviously, with the complex nature of interagency collaboration, lack of adequate training may explain educators' low involvement in activities of interagency collaboration. The results suggest that special educators continue to develop their knowledge and skills in interagency collaboration. Besides in-service training activities such as conferences and workshops,schools may encourage educators to pursue advanced degrees or training (e.g.,endorsements,transition specialist certificates,masters,and doctorate degrees).
In addition to in-service training, the findings of this study also indicated a need for special educators' pre-service training. Personnel preparation programs need to provide more professional training on both collaboration knowledge and skills for special educators. Unfortunately, the professional preparation of special educators has been found not to focus on development of collaboration skills and knowledge (Anderson et aI., 2003; Beard, 1991; Bull,Montgomery,Beard,& Az,1994; Mellard
& Clark, 1993). With the recognition of the importance of collaborative work in
educational practice,researchers continue to advocate the enhancement of collaboration knowledge and skills in professional preparation programs (Foley & Mundschenck, 1997; Morningstar & Clark, 2003; Simpson et aI., 1993). The results of this study echo the views of prior research and suggest that pre-service special educators may benefit from coursework that emphasizes prerequisite knowledge and skills,such as the
pu中ose of interagency collaboration, types of structure for collaboration,barriers to effective interagency collaboration,resource exploring skills,and comm
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Practicum experiences can provide a good opportunity for special educators to practice learned collaboration skills in an integrated setting and refine their collaboration competencIes.
Besides educators' personal and professional characteristics,the findings of this study indicated that the school characteristics are associated with the relationships between educators' personal and professional characteristics and educators' perceptions of interagency collaboration as well as their transition involvement. The knowledge and skill level of school leaders such as principals, and administrators to guide the development and implementation of collaborative activities in the transition process may have an effect on the support provided to educators. Such knowledge and skills need to include positive beliefs of school leaders in the transition delivery system,as well as professional demands to engage in the collaborative activities. Therefore, it is suggested that school leaders become involved in professional development activities related to interagency collaboration and act as liaisons between educators and the community to facilitate interagency collaboration.