A study of a teacher development program and change in teacher attitudes toward exceptional children

Purpose. One purpose of this study was to determine whether regular classroom teachers had favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward exceptional children. A second purpose was to determine whether these attitudes could be improved through planned educational programs for teachers. A final purpose was to determine whether certain factors could be identified which might relate to the attitudes held by classroom teachers. Four hypotheses were posed: 1. It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in attitudes toward exceptional children among classroom teachers before attending the Teacher Development Center, and after one semester of training at the Teacher Development Center and implementation of Plan 'A'. 2. It was hypothesized that the attitudes of regular classroom teachers participating in training at the Teacher Development Center and in implementation of Plan 'A', would be significantly more desirable than the attitudes of regular classroom teachers not participating in training at the Teacher Development Center and in implementation of Plan 'A'. 3. It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in attitudes toward exceptional children among classroom teachers due to sex, age, race, and previous experience in working with exceptional children. 4. It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in attitudes of teachers toward exceptional children among classroom teachers who had at least one three hour college course in special education as opposed to those teachers who had no college courses in special education. [...]Education, College o