A Quantitative Study of Teachers Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education at an Urban Middle School in Northern New Jersey

DeTrizio, Anna

Dissertation

A Quantitative Study of Teachers Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education at an Urban Middle School in Northern New Jersey

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Abstract

Co-teaching in inclusive classrooms has become more common over the past 3 decades. Legislation and previous literature have led us to recognize that all students should be provided with the same curriculum regardless of special needs. However, this feat is not easy for many teachers. They have expressed frustration with the implementation of co-teaching due to scheduling issues, different co-teaching styles, lack of planning time, and not having the proper training to implement co-teaching models effectively. This study investigated whether different types of professional development can be provided to teachers to change current attitudes about co-teaching in an inclusive classroom. The data is representative of the initial beliefs of two separate groups according to a pre-survey. After completing the survey, one group participated in the online required in-district professional development. The other participated in an online small group coaching three-month intervention focusing on co-teaching. After the intervention, both groups were asked to complete the survey again. The most relevant questions were chosen to analyze through SPSS crosstabulation and Chi-square testing to see if either group had more positive attitudes toward co-teaching in an inclusive classroom after the online professional developments were provided. The findings of this study suggest that neither type of professional development was significant in changing the teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion. Therefore, more research should be conducted with in-person professional development to confirm whether the interventions would yield a different result. In addition, more investigating must also take place to assess what specific types of professional development teachers would find effective and supportive to them.

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