Teachers' and administrators' attitudes towards inclusion

Advisors: Rosita Lopez.Committee members: Ximena Burgin; Robert Hammon; Steven Wallace; Teresa Wasonga.This study examined attitudes of general education teachers, special education teachers, and building administrators relative to inclusive practices. Using survey methodology, the level of agreement or disagreement of teachers' and administrators' attitude towards inclusive practices was measured in four areas: Planning, Classroom/School Environment, Collaboration/Team Partners, and Resources/Support/Professional Development. A purposeful sampling of participants, including 47 teachers and principals representing 30 elementary schools from a large urban school district in southern Maryland, voluntarily completed an Inclusive Practices Survey. The survey measured teacher and administrator attitude using a 22-item, five-point Likert scale. The quantitative questions were augmented by five qualitative questions that were an extension of select quantitative items. The data was analyzed using t-test, frequency distribution, Chi-Square-Cross Tabulation bivariate statistical test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Analyses revealed a significant difference between special educators and building administrators in reference to Collaboration/Team Partners. Overall, a majority of the responses for both teachers and administrators were in the strongly agree and agree somewhat categories. Comparison of the results for each of the groups separately exposed that building administrators chose the highest rating of strongly agree more frequently than did the total group. General education teachers selected strongly disagree at double the rate of special education teachers and triple the rate of administrators. Results support other researchers' findings, which indicate that principals' attitudes toward inclusion were encouraging and have an influential impact on school-wide policy and practices. Implications surfaced from the findings to signify students with and without disabilities working together collaboratively, general education teachers and special education teachers sharing the responsibility for behavior management and administration, and providing ongoing support to teachers, school teams can provide the foundation for strong inclusive practices, which may positively impact the levels of academic achievement, enhance students social skills, and improve school culture and acceptance of all.Ed.D. (Doctor of Education