Blue Ribbon Schools: Knowledge and Attitudes of Principals Towards Inclusive Practice

130 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997.Surveys were sent to 125 elementary and 125 secondary (junior high/middle and high) schools representing each area of the country. Responses were received from 179 of the 250 schools (72%). The principals' responses to items identifying service delivery options, descriptors of inclusion, populations, and attitude statements indicated that the principals of Blue Ribbon Schools are not in agreement on the definition of inclusion and do not feel that all children should be included in regular education classrooms. These principals appear to spend more time in the general activities necessary for leadership for effective education, and a moderate amount of time dealing with specific issues related to students with disabilities. Statistically significant differences were found between the extent many of the supports, strategies, and practices were used and their perceived effectiveness in facilitating the inclusion of students with disabilities. In summary, the principals of Blue Ribbon Schools do not appear to differ from principals in other schools in terms of their support for inclusive education.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD