All children in the United States have a right to effective education. While an optimal learning environment is important for all students, children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to barriers to accessing high-quality learning environments. Many parents of children receiving special education services want to be strong advocates for their children; however, they struggle to navigate the special education process effectively on their own. Some parents hire private special education advocates to help them through the process; however, hiring private advocates can be cost-prohibitive for many families and may strain school-parent relationships. In an ideal system, all families would receive the support necessary for their child to access effective education without the need to hire a private advocate. The current mixed methods research study investigated associations between parent perspectives while navigating the special education process and the pursuit or lack of pursuit of private advocacy services in an attempt to inform recommendations for school professionals to enhance support for families. By completing a web-based survey, parents answered questions related to the parent and child's background, relationship with school staff, history of hiring private advocates, and the parent's perspective and experiences with special education. Results indicated several significant differences between groups (i.e., parents who previously used a private advocate and those who had not), as well as several themes within the qualitative results. These results can help inform preventive measures that school professionals can take to strengthen partnerships with families to reduce stress, increase satisfaction, and avoid the need for parents to seek costly private advocates to access high-quality education for their child. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]