Master's Theses

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Date of Award

Spring 2008

Degree Name

Education Specialist (Ed.S)

Department

Advanced Education Programs

Advisor

Heath Marrs

Abstract

The focus of the current study was to examine elementary teachers' attitudes about inclusion across the state of Kansas. One purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which practicing rural, suburban, and urban regular education elementary teachers agreed with the main concept of inclusion. Other purposes of this study were to examine how characteristics such as district size, whether teachers have special education certification, years of classroom teaching experience, hours of in-service training in inclusion issues, class size, and numbers of students with disabilities in their classrooms affect teachers' attitudes towards inclusion. A total of 300 certified regular education teachers (K-6) from across the state of Kansas were contacted by e-mall and asked to complete the Teacher Beliefs Survey (Persinger, 1998) regarding the practice of inclusion. A total of 49 teachers responded to the survey for a response rate of 16 percent. In looking at school classifications there were no significant differences between rural, suburban, and urban teachers on the Teacher Belief Survey. No significant differences were found between teachers with special education certification compared to their colleagues without special education certification. Also, there were no statistically significant relationships between the Teacher Beliefs Survey and years of classroom experience, hours of in-service training, district size, or numbers of students with disabilities within the classroom.

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Rights

© 2008 Brianne Rome.

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