dukes

Charles Dukes, Ed.D., Ph.D.

Dean and Professor

College of Education

Dean's Office | Special Education

cdukes@fau.edu
561-297-3357

Boca Raton Campus | ED 47 - 215

Charles Dukes

Charles Dukes holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Special Education. Dr. Dukes earned a doctorate in Special Education from Florida International University in Miami, Florida in 2002 and a second doctorate in Experimental Psychology from Florida Atlantic University in 2019.

Dr. Dukes teaches classes in Disability Studies, Applied Behavior Analysis, Classroom Management, and Inclusive Education for General Educators. He has also taught special topic courses focusing on the application of evolution to human behavior.

Dr. Dukes is a member of two professional organizations: TASH (formerly known as The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps) and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) since 1999. Charles is active in TASH, serving on the review board for the research journal, Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities (RPSD).

His research interests include: special education teacher education, conceptual change, development of social relationships for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and skill development for adolescents and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

Learn About My Research

My research interests are broad and this is reflected in the diversity of projects that I have conducted over the years. On this page I have included select projects by research topic. Click on the titles below to see the citation, abstract and executive summary of the project.

Special Education Teacher Education

A review of State Department of Education and school district websites was conducted to determine how policy related to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was communicated to teachers of students with severe disabilities. Four states were selected: California, New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. State Department of Education websites and three local school districts within each state were chosen for review using locale codes to ensure representation of city, suburban, and rural districts. A total of 16 websites were analyzed using an original instrument designed to capture information about CCSS implementation efforts. Results indicate that there is little information about students with severe disabilities or instructional/pedagogical guidance for teachers in regard to the CCSS on these sites. Thus, it may be difficult for teachers, based on this sample of websites, to translate standards into educational programming for students.

Dukes, C., Darling, S. M., &Bielskus-Barone, K. (2017). State’s description of common core state standards to support students with severe disabilities. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 143-154.

(Click on poster to download PDF)

The theoretical base that supports human universals served as a model for proposing special education teacher education universals. The human universals model is explained and put forth as a basis for identifying special education teacher education universals. Twenty-four English language journals from different countries representing four continents were searched for special education teacher education universals, represented by four broadly defined categories: (a) policy, (b) practice, (c) pedagogy, and (d) teacher preparation/co-curricular activities. Each journal was searched from 2004 to 2015, and articles were coded using the aforementioned categories. Results indicated an overwhelming presence of teacher preparation/co-curricular descriptions, representing 51% of the total (n = 815) articles categorized. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to defining and describing special education teacher preparation universals.

Darling, S. M., Dukes, C., & Hall, K. (2016). What unites us all: Establishing special education teacher education universals. Teacher Education and Special Education, 39(3), 209-216. doi 10.1177/0888406416650729.

(Click on poster to download PDF)

Skill Development for Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

An often-asked question regarding research with human subjects is: What benefits do the participants of research gain from being involved in experimental research? This poster summarizes a series of studies by educational researchers in which the participants of research realize direct benefits from their participation as research subjects. As researchers pursue the systematic study of educational phenomena, some people can and do experience improvements in their skills and performance. This poster presents three studies in which adults and children saw improvements in their learning and performance as outcomes of the experimental studies. Studies include: fire safety skills for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), social communication skills in the context of making purchases in community settings for adolescents with ASD and on line safety or social media safety kills for young adults with ASD.

(Click on poster to download PDF)

Example Syllabi

Get Involved in my Research

Development of Social Relationships

Dinner and a movie... the typical date? But, there are questions, so many questions... who do you date and how do you find this person? Of course, there is social media, on line dating and a host of other outlets... that most certainly results in finding the perfect date, right? Let’s be serious, it isn’t easy and perhaps even more difficult for those who may have physical, cognitive and/or social skill deficits.

Do you think you might date or even marry a person with a disability? Share your attitudes about dating and marrying a person with a disability here, Looking for a date or a mate?

Research Interests

My research focuses on inclusive education and living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, with the most extensive support needs. I investigate nature/needs and strategies to foster social relationships, independent living skills, and the intersection of culture and disability. I am also interested in teacher preparation and improving outcomes for students with the most extensive support needs across settings.

Research Interest Keywords

Inclusive Education, Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities (IDD), Social Relationships, Independent Living Skills, Culture And Disability, Special Education Teacher Preparation

Research Methods Keywords

Single-case Design, Secondary Data Analysis, Data Mining

Software Used in Your Research

SPSS

College of Education

Since 1964, The College of Education has been educating tomorrow’s teachers, researchers, school leaders and clinicians.

Contact Us

location_on
Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL 33431