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The Challenges Of Inclusion: Perceptions Of Superintendents, Principals, And Teachers In Mississippi Alternative Schools, Gary Lynn Tune

Dissertations

Alternative schools serve a population of students who have come in conflict with the codes of conduct of their home school district. Students with disabilities are subject to the same codes of conduct and occasionally are referred to alternative schools. These referrals constitute a change in placement mandating alternative schools to provide academic and educational services and supports commensurate to the home school. This includes educating students with disabilities in regular classes. This research sought to ascertain perceptions of superintendents, alternative school principals, and regular and special education teachers regarding how well alternative schools in Mississippi meet the challenges of …

Examining The Relationships Between Secondary General Education Teachers' Attitudes Toward Inclusion, Professional Development, And Support From Special Education Personnel, Lynn Wogamon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This correlational research study examined the relationships between secondary general education teachers' attitudes toward inclusion, hours of professional development in topics related to special education and hours of support from special education personnel addressing the needs of students with disabilities received weekly. The research also investigated whether this information could be used to predict secondary general education teachers' attitudes towards inclusion. General education teachers in six South Carolina high schools completed the Scale of Teacher Attitudes Toward Inclusive Classrooms (STATIC) and a demographic survey that asked about hours of professional development in special education topics and hours of support received …

The Relationship Between Selected Leadership Behaviors And Attitudes Toward Behavioral And Social Inclusive Practices Among Middle School Principals In North Carolina, Mary A. Houser, Genniver Bell, Virginia Dickens, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between selected leadership behaviors (transformational and transactional) and attitudes toward selectedinclusive practices (behavioral and social) for students with disabilities. Determining how transformational and transactional leadership behaviors are related to principals’ attitudes toward inclusive practices is needed because such understanding will assist administrators and other professionals in deciding what type of leader is best suited for leading inclusive schools. There are few studies related to administrators’ leadership behaviors and their attitudes toward inclusion in any form. The results of this study provide an opportunity to examine North Carolina principals’ leadership behaviors …

The Research-To-Practice Gap: Practical Strategies For Common Core In The Inclusive Classroom, Jillian M. Gentry

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

School For Global Inclusion And Social Development: Expanding The Umass Boston Community On A Regional, National, And International Level, David Temelini, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The School for Global Inclusion and Social Development (SGISD) is the newest graduate school at UMass Boston. We are the first graduate program in the world to focus on wellness, disability, and economic development from an international perspective. The first students in our master's program will start classes in January 2014, with our PhD program to launch in September 2014. SGISD's emphasis is on groups of people who are excluded from communities here in the U.S. and abroad, due to disability or other conditions. Instruction will be delivered on campus, online, and through international exchange programs.

The Relation Between High School Teacher Sense Of Teaching Efficacy And Self-Reported Attitudes Toward The Inclusive Classroom Settings, Heather Wright

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate if collective sense of teaching efficacy, general sense of teaching efficacy, or personal sense of teacher efficacy influenced teacher attitude toward inclusive classroom settings. Additionally, the study sought to determine if teacher attitude toward inclusive classroom settings differed when taking into account primary student disability type. Prior research indicates that there is a direct link between teacher sense of efficacy and student disability type when determining teacher attitude toward inclusive classroom settings. The sample population for the survey consisted of a convenience sample that represented only a select number of teachers, thus …

The Perceptions Of Urban School Principles Regarding The Education Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Jean-Dominique Herve Anoh

Educational Studies Dissertations

This research investigated the perceptions and attitudes of principals and headmasters about the inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), the factors supporting or inhibiting school leaders in their effort to implement inclusive practices, and the approaches they use to initiate, facilitate, support and sustain the inclusion of students with EBD. Grounded in a mixed-method research, this investigator surveyed 71 school leaders and interviewed five of them. Descriptive and correlational findings supported by qualitative results reveal that principals and headmasters exhibit positive attitudes toward the inclusion of students with EBD. Overwhelmingly, attitudinal predictive variables such as school characteristics …

Educating Students With Learning Disabilities In Inclusive Classrooms, Jeremy Ford

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

There is great debate over including students with disabilities, in particular students with learning disabilities, in inclusive classrooms. Several strategies are available to support educating students with learning disabilities in inclusive classrooms including: co-teaching, differentiated instruction, and peer-mediated instruction and interventions. Theory suggests the practice of inclusion is congruent with social justice, but evidence suggests mixed results regarding academic achievement typically occur. However, results of providing separate pullout instructional services are not necessarily more likely to achieve desired results. Therefore, educators will need to make placement decisions considering the resources available in their school, in addition to the skill level …

Supervision As A Prevention And Support To Teachers In Inclusive Education, Petra Potmesilova, Milon Potmesil, Marcela Fojtikova Roubalova

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The presented research was focused on the field of sentiments, attitudes and concerns of educators potentially working with pupils with impairment under inclusive settings.

This study was aimed at discovering whether the above stated parameters change after achieving qualification in special needs education. The results of research encompassing a period of two years aimed at describing a group of 794 educators from the point of view of the development of their attitudes, opinions and concerns while being focused on the process of inclusion. In accordance with the obtained results, supervision as a special psychological support is badly needed.

Heroes: Creating Classroom Environments, Presentations, And Activities That Positively Affect Student Motivation, Inclusion, And Retention, Virginia Heslinga

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

To help students of diverse needs learn, retain what they learn, collaborate in problem-solving, see value with inclusion, and grow in a desire to learn, teachers need to create environments conducive to active learning and filled with hope. Environments emerge from the time a student stands in the doorway of a classroom and continue through every element on display and encountered in interactions. Educators who understand they affect the environment will set the tone, present inclusively, provide meaningful activities, and do a heroic job of leading students. This article presents heroes with classic values in schools and communities through the …

Increasing Disability Awareness Through Comics Literature, Ewa Mcgrail, Alicja Rieger

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

When faced with negative attitudes and experiences in communication and interaction in general education classrooms, students with disabilities can exhibit high levels of stress and frustration or even depression, low self-esteem and impaired self-acceptance. These undesirable and destructive feelings, in turn, may affect these students’ social and cognitive development skills and well-being, as well as their academic performance in such environments. The recent scholarship on empathy supports the effectiveness of comics for identifying and fighting negative and stereotypical attitudes towards those with disabilities. This article discusses strategies for educating students about disability and disability issues with the help of comics …

Family Portraits: Past And Present Representations Of Parents In Special Education Text Books, Dianne L. Ferguson, Philip M. Ferguson, Joanne Kim, Corrine Li

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This paper analyses the descriptions of families of children with disabilities as contained in introductory special education texts over the last 50 years. These text books are typically used in pre-service teacher education courses as surveys of the education of ‘exceptional children’. The textbooks reflect the mainstream professional assumptions of the era about topics such as disability, special education, inclusion, and family/school linkages. However, they also shape the assumptions of the next generation of educators about these same topics. The paper summarises the results of a qualitative document analysis of a sample of these textbooks from two different eras. The …

Allied Educators (Learning And Behavioural) In Singapore’S Mainstream Schools: First Steps Towards Inclusivity?, Sirene Lim, Meng Wong, Denise Tan

Sirene Lim

It is arguable whether Singapore's mainstream schools are moving towards ‘inclusion’ by providing support for students with mild to moderate disabilities through the provision of a newly created para-professional called the Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioural) [AED(LBS)]. Since 2005, the government has provided an incremental supply of these trained para-professionals to offer both in-class support and withdrawal sessions. Many primary and secondary schools have one such para-professional catering to an unpredictable number of children with and without assessed learning needs. This paper draws upon data from a study investigating how a group of 30 newly qualified AED(LBS) para-professionals shaped their …