INSTITUTIONAL AND FACULTY INFLUENCES ON THE REPUTATION OF DOCTORATE-GRANTING PROGRAMS IN SPECIAL-EDUCATION

This study is based on a survey of all faculty members in 66 qualifyin g doctorate-granting special education programs in the United States. Seventy-two percent of the faculty responded to the survey. Faculty me mbers were asked to rate the quality of each program except their own. The top 10 programs are reported in the study. Additionally, data on several productivity and output variables were gathered, including pub lication records from a computer data base for each of the 700 faculty members. Using multiple regression analysis, it was determined that 7 3% (R = .85, p < .001) of the variance in program reputation could be explained by four variables, where research productivity contributed m ost to the prediction. The implications of these results are discussed .