Keywords

principals' attitudes and inclusion, special education, inclusion

Abstract

School leaders are charged with responding to the challenges presented by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the education of students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. The idea of least restrictive environment moves schools from educating students with disabilities in special education to regular education classrooms, from special education schools to neighborhood schools. Providing inclusive settings poses many obstacles and challenges to school based administrators and in their capacity school leaders can either alleviate or generate barriers for the process; they can inhibit or inspire school personnel to accept the inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. Furthermore, their attitudes are critical in the design and implementation of programs and practices in their schools. Principals' attitudes can either promote or discourage the inclusion practices in their schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors related to school based administrators' attitudes toward inclusive education and the relationship of these attitudes on the placement of students with disabilities. The Principals and Inclusion Survey (PIS) developed by Praisner (2000) was used to collect data from 175 school based principals in a large urban district in the southeastern part of the United States. The results of the study indicate a relationship does exist between principal's attitude toward inclusion and decisions pertaining to student placement. The study also found that those principals with positive experiences with students with disabilities also demonstrated beliefs of serving students with disabilities in less restrictive settings than those principals with negative experiences with students with disabilities.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2010

Advisor

Martin, Suzanne

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Child, Family, and Community Sciences

Degree Program

Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0003139

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0003139

Language

English

Release Date

May 2010

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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