Attitudes of diverse and nondiverse preservice teachers toward the inclusion of students with disabilities

This study compares the attitudes of diverse and nondiverse populations of preservice teachers who were attending two universities in middle Tennessee. One university had an undergraduate population that was 65% European American. The other, an historically black university (HBCU), had an undergraduate population that was 87% African American. Students enrolled in Foundations of Education courses at both institutions were surveyed using the Scale of Teachers\u27 Attitudes Toward Inclusive Classrooms (STATIC) . Using statistical analyses (p \u3c 0.05 alpha level), it was determined that significant differences were evident between diverse and nondiverse preservice teachers. Furthermore, statistically significant differences were reported between the respondents when grouped by institutions. Age and gender were analyzed as separate variables for all respondents. They were then analyzed using two-way ANOVA for the effects of age and gender respectively between diverse and nondiverse preservice teachers. Statistically significant differences were evident based on the age of respondents. Respondents in the 23–30 age range reported more positive attitudes toward inclusive practices than did respondents in age groups 18–22 and 40–49. No statistically significant differences were found for age based on diverse and nondiverse preservice teachers. Similarly, no significance was noted for gender of all respondents or by gender when examined for diverse versus nondiverse preservice teachers. The study also revealed significance for the effects of prior personal experience with persons with disabilities, type of certification program sought through teacher training, and preference for work setting (inclusive, team-teaching versus having one\u27s own classroom). The type of secondary school attended by respondents yielded no significance