Degree Name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Program

Educational Leadership

Date of Award

May 1986

Abstract

The problem of this study was to determine if a difference existed between selected classroom teachers' attitudes toward mainstreaming. The Attitudes Toward Mainstreaming Scale (ATMS) was the instrument selected as appropriate for the study. Permission was obtained from Joan Berryman at the University of Georgia, Athens, to reproduce and administer the ATMS. A stratified random sample was conducted as representative of the total population of classroom teachers in North Carolina. A demographic data sheet and the ATMS were mailed to 280 classroom teachers. A 75% return was obtained. The data sheet asked for the sex, present level of teaching position, area of assignment, level of formal preparation, years experience, hours taken in special education, and whether or not the teacher served mainstreamed students. Nine null hypotheses were formulated to be tested at the .05 level of significance. The t-test was used to test for significant differences for hypotheses 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, and 9. The analysis of variance was used for hypotheses 4, 5, and 6 to determine if differences existed between attitudes and years of teaching experience. If a significant difference was revealed, the Newman-Keuls procedure was used to determine where specific differences lay. Three null hypotheses were rejected. Major findings revealed that female teachers had more positive attitudes than did male teachers. Teachers with 1-5 years of experience had more positive attitudes than did teachers with more than 10 years experience, and non-content area teachers had more positive attitudes than did content area teachers.

Document Type

Dissertation - unrestricted

Share

COinS