BIZZNA TUTOR

Research regarding teacher perceptions toward mainstreaming is limited. Research regarding special education students’ perceptions toward mainstreaming is extremely limited. What are teacher perceptions towards mainstreaming in their classrooms? Given a choice, would teachers prefer no mainstreamed students in their classroom? What are student perceptions towards mainstreaming? Given a choice, would students prefer the mainstreamed class or a segregated class? More research should be done in order to answer these questions. The purpose of this study will be to compare the perceptions of special education students and their teachers regarding mainstreaming. The null hypothesis will be that there will be no significant statistical differences between the two groups’ perceptions regarding selected aspects of mainstreaming.

Review of Literature

In relation to educating children with special educational needs, the term ‘integration’ has been replaced by the term ‘inclusion.’ Mainstream schooling has been restructured to accommodate the needs of all children regardless of their abilities or disabilities (Rae & McKenzie, 2010). Mainstream schooling or inclusive education is closely associated with an international effort to achieve and sustain an agenda of Education for All (Brady & Opertti, 2011). In recent years, students with disabilities are being educated side by side with their nondisabled peers with increasing frequency. These increases include both students with mild disabilities and students with severe disabilities (Cook, Cameron, & Tankersley, 2007). Research suggests that some teachers feel they haven’t received sufficient training to meet the special needs for this group of children. Not all teachers hold a positive attitude towards inclusion (Rae & McKenzie, 2010).

Teachers’ Attitudes

Attitudes stem from multiple factors. These factors include personal experience, observation of others, and emotional processes. Attitudes have a direct impact on behavior (Rae & McKenzie, 2010). Rae and McKenzie define attitude as a “predisposition to think or act in a particular way in response to a specific stimulus” (2010, p. 14). Implementation of controversial policies, such as mainstreaming of students with disabilities both mild and severe, can be facilitated or hindered by the attitudes of the professionals involved (Rae & McKenzie, 2010). Historically, teachers of general education have not had a favorable reaction to the increased number of students with disabilities mainstreamed into their general education classrooms. Early studies showed the apprehension of teachers about the quality of academic work produced by children with disabilities in these mainstream classes. These early studies also showed teacher concerns about their own levels of preparedness for the mainstreaming of these students with disabilities and the amount of one-on-one time that might be required for each individual disabled student (Bender, Vail, & Scott, 1995). More recent studies have shown that, “In general, teachers have expressed positive feelings toward the general concept of inclusion, but have been less optimistic about the degree to which they are adequately prepared to successfully implement inclusion” (Cook et al., 2007, p. 230). Teachers’ attitudes toward mainstreaming depend highly “on the degree of intensity of mainstreaming and the severity level” (Leyser & Tappendorf, 2001, p. 752). As the inclusive movement gains momentum in our society, teachers’ attitudes tend to become progressively more positive (Jones, Thorn, Chow, & Wild, 2002). Increased training and knowledge in mainstreaming relate to the formation of more positive attitudes. Teachers with a more extensive training in mainstreaming are known to use a more differentiated instruction more frequently than teachers with no or very little training (Leyser & Tappendorf, 2001).

Some teachers show a resistance to any contact with disabled students. This resistance leads to the perception that with the inclusion of these students with disabilities instructional time can be seriously strained (Johnson, 1987). Educators hold four attitudes toward their students. These attitudes are attachment, concern, indifference, and rejection. Based on these attitudes, a series of observational studies established that teacher/student interactions consistently differ (Cook et al., 2007).

Students’ Attitudes

The success of the inclusive movement or mainstream schooling is largely dependent on the attitudes of students, parents, teachers and administrators. In the past, research pertaining to this inclusive movement involved only the attitudes of teachers. To be successful, the attitudes of the students cannot be ignored. Whether or not the special needs student can learn to socialize with the regular education students in the general education classroom must be considered. Whether or not the regular education student will be receptive of students with special needs in the general education classroom setting is important as well. In general, attitudes of special needs students are positive, as well as the attitudes of regular education students. It is said that special needs students receive over 300 percent more social interaction in an inclusive mainstream classroom setting than in a segregated classroom. This social participation is likely the reason for the increased improvement in the academic performance of the special needs student in the inclusive mainstream classroom setting compared to the same special needs student in a segregated classroom setting. This is complemented by the fact that peer tutoring tends to reinforce and significantly boost performance levels of special needs students. These relationships are so important in inclusive classrooms. In order for the inclusive movement or mainstream schooling to be successful, it is imperative for these students, both special needs and regular education to have positive attitudes. Data that pertains to student attitudes seems to indicate a formation of positive social relationships between special needs students, even those with severe disabilities, in the inclusive classroom setting (Jones et al., 2002).

Special needs students have a positive attitude towards a student-centered approach to inclusion. Jones et al. (2002) found that the attitudes of special needs students were significantly more positive than their parents and regular education students. This would indicate that special needs students are “more tuned in to the concept of inclusion than both their parents and the regular classroom students” (Jones et al., 2002, p. 631). Students with multiple disabilities, including deaf-blindness are increasingly being educated in an inclusive mainstream classroom with their nondisabled peers. Research has shown that students with multiple disabilities depend more on their teachers for communication. Also, these students are not very likely to initiate any type of interaction with their nondisabled peers. For students with disabilities to become part of the classroom and school community, all students in that school community, regardless of any weaknesses or their strengths, should be included, even those with multiple disabilities and those with deaf-blindness (Correa-Torres, 2008). Students with multiple disabilities such as those with deaf-blindness have a greater chance to learn socialization skills within the inclusive mainstreamed classroom setting.

To enable students with special needs and physical disabilities to participate more fully and richly in various activities and inclusive classrooms, some schools have adopted the use of assistive technology devices (ATD). These devices can be high tech or low tech. Research has shown that assistive technology devices are not being used by students in a postsecondary education. Students’ feel the devices attract unwanted attention from their peers and therefore threaten their sense of fitting in. Hemmingsson, Lidstrom and Nygard (2009) argued that “A better understanding of the students’ views on and experiences of barriers to and facilitators of ATD use in school will help health professionals to suggest optimal ATDs for each child and situation”. (p. 464). They found that students said they wanted to use ATD’s, but when actually provided with the ATD’s, the students would not use them. The study also showed that students were reluctant to use ATD’s provided to improve their performance later in life. Students were more prone to use the ATD’s when their function was increased. In this same study, observations showed that students’ tried to avoid ATD’s that made them feel different in any way or that might complicate or threaten any social interaction with their peers. Using assistive technology or not, in an inclusive mainstream classroom or not, students with disabilities want to be accepted by their peers socially. Regular education students want the same thing. All students want to be accepted socially by their peers.

Summary and Conclusions

There is a wide range of material available about teacher attitudes of inclusive mainstreaming. The material available about student attitudes is a much smaller range. Teacher attitudes toward mainstreaming did not start out in a favorable way. With training in strategies teaching students with special needs in an inclusive mainstream setting, teacher attitudes have been more positive. Most students with disabilities have a positive attitude about mainstreaming. Students with disabilities are just like any other student in that they want to be accepted socially by their peers and feel a part of the school community. These are students with mild disabilities to students with multiple disabilities such as deaf-blindness. Some of these students use assistive technology and some do not. The success of any program depends on the attitudes of those involved. The program of mainstreaming can only be as good as the attitudes of the students and teachers and others involved.

Methods

This pilot study will be descriptive in nature, giving a snapshot of conditions as they exist rather than using an experimental design with an intervention. It will involve a small sample so that the limited power will be unlikely to detect differences even if they exist. Further, because of time constraints, an abbreviated survey will be used. This pilot study will be exploratory in nature and would precede formal research if such should be indicated following completion.

Subjects

All subjects will be selected from the Fouke, Arkansas High School. Five participants in this survey study will include special education students from grades nine through twelve. The questionnaire will also be administered to five general education teachers who have special education students in their classes. Selection will be random from lists of special education students and general education teachers who meet the criterion stated.

Instrumentation

The researcher will create a questionnaire that focuses on perceptions regarding mainstreaming. The questionnaire will consist of six questions. It will contain three Likert type items on which respondents will answer with strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree. Numerical values of 1 to 5 will be assigned to the responses for purposes of analysis. The questionnaire will also have two yes-no questions and one open response item. It will be validated by fellow experts in the field of education who will include at least two classmates through discussion board interaction and the professor of the research methods class.

Procedure

The researcher will distribute the survey personally to each subject on an individual basis. Each subject will be notified via an informed consent document that the research will be used to gather information on perceptions regarding mainstreaming. There will be an assurance of anonymity in the informed consent. Subjects will complete the six question questionnaire immediately upon receipt. Each subject will provide basic demographic information as directed on the questionnaire. All responses will be collected by the researcher immediately upon completion.

Analysis

Likert-type items. Means and standard deviations for both groups will be calculated for each question. Analysis of differences between the means will be accomplished by means of t-tests, with decisions on significance made at alpha=.05.

Yes/No. A table showing the number of yes and no responses for both groups will be developed for each question. This will be used to calculate the probability of such occurrences through use of the Fischer Exact Probability Test and if the calculated value is less than alpha, .05, it will be considered that a significant group difference for that question has been detected.

Open-ended item. Analysis of the open-ended survey item will be accomplished by standard qualitative methodology. Repetitive themes will be sought and discussed in view of previous research findings.

References

Bender, W. N., Vail, C. O., & Scott, K. (1995, February). Teachers’ attitudes toward increased mainstreaming: implementing effective instruction for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 28(2), 87-94, 120. Retrieved from http://webebscohost.com

Brady, J., & Opertti, R. (2011). Developing inclusive teachers from an inclusive curricular perspective. Prospects, 41, 459-472. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11125-011-9205-7

Cook, B. G., Cameron, D. L., & Tankersley, M. (2007, Winter). Inclusive teachers’ attitudinal ratings of their students with disabilities. Journal of Special Education, 40(4), 230-238. Retrieved from http://webebscohost.com

Correa-Torres, S. M. (2008, May). Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 102(5), 272-283. Retrieved from http://webebscohost.com

Hemmingsson, H., Lidstrom, H., & Nygard, L. (2009, July-August). Use of assistive technology devices in mainstream schools: students’perspective. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63, 463-472. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.saumag.edu

Johnson, A. B. (1987, Spring). Attitudes toward mainstreaming: implications for inservice training and teaching the handicapped. Education. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.comlibproxy.saumag.edu

Jones, M. N., Thorn, C. R., Chow, P., & Wild, C. (2002, Spring). Equifinality: parents’ and students’ attitudes towards a student-centered approach to integration. Education, 122(3), 624-635. Retrieved from http://webebscohost.com

Junkala, J., & Mooney, J. F. (1986, April). Special education students in regular classes: what happened to the pyramid? Journal of Learning Disabilities, 19(4). Retrieved from http://webebscohost.com

Leyser, Y., & Tappendorf, K. (2001, Summer). . Are attitudes and practices regarding mainstreaming changing: a case of teachers in two rural school districts, 121(4), 751-760. Retrieved from http://webebscohost.com