Date of Award/Publication

8-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MS in Special Education

Department

Education

Abstract

On account of controversy surrounding the subject of the most appropriate environment for a student to receive special education and related services, the researcher thought it beneficial to conduct an anonymous survey to discover current educators’ opinions on inclusive education. To collect data on this topic, an anonymous survey was sent electronically to all staff members of one elementary school ranging from grades pre-k to sixth in a large urban school district. The survey was nine questions where all questions focused on the staffs’ knowledge of inclusive education and common practices between classroom teachers and service providers. In completion of the survey 100% of recipients had a general understanding of inclusive classrooms, however the underlying theory of students receiving services within the general education classroom was an idea that most recipients were not comfortable with. It was also found that many classroom teachers and service providers do not cover the same concepts when a student is pulled from the classroom and the educators rarely have occasions to sit down and speak in depth about student growth and need. Therefore it has been found that professional development would be valuable for educators to increase the success rate of students with disabilities. Furthermore it would seem as though educators need set times throughout the school day to have extensive and thorough discussions about students with disabilities so that goals specified on their individualized education plan (IEP) are being met and documented.

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