TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD MAINSTREAMING.   Term Paper ID:19856 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Concerns exceptional children & ways to improve teachers' attitudes. Paper Introduction: RESULTS Teachers' responses to the Teacher Attitude Toward Equal Education Opportunity For Exceptional Children can be divided into three categories: (1) Responses related to the actual special education services provided by their schools; (2) Responses related to teachers' views of the traditional arguments provided to support mainstreaming; and (3) Responses related to actual attitudes toward the mainstreaming process. This section of the study presents the findings observed for each of these categories. Characteristics of Special Education Services Provided by Schools Teachers were required to respond to several items regarding school services for special education students. These data (crosstabulated by both level of school (elementary, junior high, Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Elem. RESULTS Teachers' responses to the Teacher Attitude Toward Equal EducationOpportunity For Exceptional Children can be divided into three categories:(1) Responses related to the actual special education services provided bytheir schools;(2) Responses related to teachers' views of the traditional argumentsprovided to support mainstreaming; and (3) Responses related to actualattitudes toward the mainstreaming process. Elem. H.S. H.S.-----------------------------------------------------------------Regular & SpecialTeachers Talk Informally 68 33 47 2 1 Self-containedClasses 68 78 6 1 1 1 PartiallySelf-contained 88 67 73 7 1 1 Resource Room 12 27 2 1 Itinerant Teachers 8 7 3 1 Homebound Programs 2 12 33 4 1 1 Day Schools 2 22 33 3 1 Formal PlacementMeetings 76 56 27 6 1 Scheduled Follow-Up Meetings 44 56 4 4 1 Written ProgressReports 4 56 27 3 1 No Follow-Up 4 67 3 4 1 Formal Testing 8 22 2 1 1-Yr. J.H. These averages are presented inTable 4. However, the most notable exceptionto this view was that of special education junior high school teachers, notone of whom believed this. Regular Special Elem. As canbe seen from inspection of this table, maximum service delivery (asperceived by teachers) was offered by special education high schools. H.S. Similarly, only about half of the regular highschool teachers agreed with this statement. Findings can besummarized as follows: (1) Special education junior high and senior high school groupsseemed more likely than other teacher groups to believe that: a) undernormal conditions, the regular classroom teacher feels imposed upon to helpspecial education students; and b) special self-contained classes for themildly handicapped are more beneficial than regular classes. J.H. (8) Regular classroom teachers (Average = 47.33%) were more favorabledisposed than special education teachers (Average = 6.67%) to recommend theuse of self-contained classes for the mildly handicapped.Descriptive Analyses: Group As a Whole While comparative descriptive analyses indicated that teachers'attitudes toward mainstreaming differ depending on whether they are regularor special education teachers (and to a smaller extent, depending uponwhether they teach elementary, junior, or senior high) the centralhypothesis of the study was not directed toward comparison. Findings can be summarized as follows: (1) As a whole, most teachers were inclined to believe that: a)regular classroom teachers feel imposed upon by special ed students; b)self-contained classes are more beneficial than regular classes; c) regularteachers would do better if assisted by special education; and d) resourcerooms for the mildly handicapped should be used in the future. H.S.-----------------------------------------------------------------Children placed inself-contained specialed classes are more likelyto be labeled than ifpermitted in regularclasses 8 78 86 7 1 1 A child is sociallyisolated from peerswhen placed in a self-contained specialeducation class 72 1 53 7 1 * Numbers are percentages of "Yes" responsesall teacher groups evidenced fairly high levels of agreement; the lowestlevel of agreement being observed for the elementary school specialeducation teachers (7 %). Elem. To the test the central research hypothesis, percentages of teachersresponding yes to each mainstreaming item were computed across all teachergroups. Table 4 Teachers' Attitudes Toward Mainstreaming: Groups as a Whole Percentage "Yes" Responses-----------------------------------------------------------------Under normal conditions, the regularclassroom teacher feels imposed uponto help special education students 8 .33The regular classroom teacher feelshe/she has the skills to help specialeducation students 29.5 Special self-contained classes seem to beadequately providing academic servicesfor the mildly handicapped 23.5 Special self-contained classes for themildly handicapped have proven to bemore beneficial than regular classes 76.5If there was a movement away from self-contained classes for the mildly handi-capped, regular classroom teachers wouldbe willing to accept special educationstudents into their classes 29.83The regular classroom teacher would feelmore comfortable if special educationwould assist in providing services in theregular class 56.17If time were available to work withspecial ed personnel, regular classroomteachers would take advantage of thisservice 44.5 In the future, I strongly recommend theuse of resource rooms for mildly handicappedchildren 74.67In the future, I strongly recommend the useof self-contained classes for the mildlyhandicapped 27.83----------------------- 12 Regardingthe argument that self-contained special education classes are likely tolead to labelling Table 1 Characteristics of Special Education Services: Teachers' Responses* Regular Special Elem. These data (crosstabulated byboth level of school (elementary, junior high, high school) and type ofteacher (regular vs. H.S.-----------------------------------------------------------------Under normal conditions,the regular classroomteacher feels imposed uponto help special educationstudents 74 78 6 7 1 1 The regular classroomteacher feels he/shehas the skills to helpspecial educationstudents 12 22 33 1 1 Special self-containedclasses seem to beadequately providing academicservices for the mildlyhandicapped 56 22 33 3 Special self-containedclasses for the mildlyhandicapped have proven tobe more beneficial thanregular classes 6 56 73 7 1 1 If there was a movement awayfrom self-contained specialed classes for the mildlyhandicapped, regular classroomteachers would be willing toaccept special education studentsinto their classes 24 45 4 2 5 The regular classroomteacher would feel morecomfortable if specialeducation would assist inproviding services in theregular class 8 78 67 7 5 CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGETable 3 Continued...................... Attitudes Toward MainstreamingComparative Descriptive Findings The research questionnaire was used to assess nine specific attitudestoward mainstreaming. H.S.-----------------------------------------------------------------If time were available towork with special educationpersonnel, regular classroomteachers would take advantageof this service 68 56 53 4 5 In the future, I stronglyrecommend the use ofresource rooms for mildlyhandicappedchildren 76 78 74 7 1 5 In the future, I stronglyrecommend the use ofself-contained classesfor the mildlyhandicapped 49 45 53 2 * numbers equal percentages of teachers answering "Yes"teachers (Average = 33%) did not believe that special self-containedclasses were adequately providing academic services for the mildlyhandicapped with special education teachers being even more stronglyinclined to disbelieve this. Follow-Up 8 34 13 1 OtherFollow-Up 4 22 7 1 1 * Percentage of "Yes" Responses Table 2 Teachers' Views* Of Traditional Mainstreaming Arguments Regular Special Elem. Follow-Up 28 44 7 2 1 6-Mo. (4) Both regular classroom teachers (Average = 36.33%) and specialeducation teachers (Average = 23.33%) did not agree much with the statementthat: If there was a movement away from self-contained special educationclasses, regular classroom teachers would be willing to accept specialeducation students into their classes. (6) Regular teachers (59%) were more inclined than special educationteachers (3 %) to believe that if time were available to work with specialeducation personnel, regular classroom teachers would take advantage ofthis service. J.H. (2) As a whole, most teachers did not believe that: a) regularclassroom teachers felt themselves skilled in working with specialeducation students; b) self-contained classes were provided adequateacademic services; c) regular teachers were willing to accept specialeducation students into their classes; d) regular classroom teachers would,if time were available, work with special education teachers to better carefor mildly handicapped students; and e) self-contained classes should beused in the future. Characteristics of Special Education Services Provided by Schools Teachers were required to respond to several items regarding schoolservices for special education students. J.H. special education)) are presented in Table 1. Teachers also tended to believe that there wassome credence to the notion that a child placed in a self-contained specialeducation class was socially isolated. Elem. This section of the studypresents the findings observed for each of these categories. Rather, thishypothesis stated that in general, most teachers would hold negativeattitudes toward mainstreaming. (3) In general, both special education teachers (Average percentageacross groups = 1 %) and regular classroom Table 3 Teachers' Attitudes* Toward Mainstreaming Crosstabulated By Type of Teacher and Level of Education Regular Special Elem. J.H. (2) All groups (with the single exception of the special educationhigh school teachers) did not much believe that the regular classroomteacher felt he/she had the skills needed to help special educationteachers. H.S. J.H. J.H. (5) Regular classroom teachers (Average = 75%) were more inclinedthan special education teachers (Average = 4 %) to believe that the regularclassroom teacher would feel comfortable if special education would assistin providing services in the regular classroom. Teachers' Views of Traditional Arguments Provided To Support Mainstreaming Table 2 presents teachers' responses to two survey items, each ofwhich listed a fairly traditional argument for mainstreaming. (7) In general, most special education teachers (Average = 73.33%)and regular teachers (Average = 76%) strongly recommended the use ofresource rooms for the mildly handicapped. H.S. J.H. Teachers' responses (crosstabulated by level ofschool and type of teacher) are presented in Table 3. Ofthe regular schools, findings revealed that on the average both elementaryschools and high schools offered more services than did junior highschools. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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