ADMINISTRATORS' AND TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS OF INCLUSION IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES.

TEACHER attitudes; INCLUSIVE education; MAINSTREAMING in special education; STUDENTS with disabilities; SCHOOL administrators; ATTITUDE (Psychology)

An increasing number of students with disabilities are being included in the general education classroom. It is likely that with recent litigation and legislation which supports inclusion and increasing pressure from advocates of inclusion the trend toward including students with disabilities in the general education classroom will continue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of elementary teachers, both general education and special education, and their building administrators toward inclusive education in a school system which had been implementing inclusion for 2 years. A survey designed to address teacher collaborative efforts, instruction of students with disabilities, teacher preparedness for meeting the needs of students with disabilities, and achievement outcomes was administered to 366 teachers and their administrators. The perceptions of the three groups were mixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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