A survey of the attitudes of administrators, regular and special education teachers regarding changes in educational methodology in special education

This study was designed to determine and study the attitudes of administrators, regular and special education teachers regarding changes in educational methodology in special education. These changes are primarily reflected in the implementation of Plan A special education programs. The primary consideration was to determine the positive or negative attitude toward this new plan and to determine what factors contributed to this attitude. Fifty-four administrators, 47 regular classroom teachers and 53 special education teachers responded to a questionnaire designed to elicit positive and negative responses on 40 questions regarding both Plan A and Plan B. The population was drawn from the six school districts in Region IV operating Plan A programs. The data obtained from this questionnaire was converted to numerical data, punched into cards and analyzed using a factor analysis computer program. The results of this program indicated that all groups of respondents were very positive regarding Plan B programs (percentage of positive response ranged from 67.5 to 82.5). However, regarding Plan A, only special education teachers expressed a high degree of positive responses, with regular teachers expressing 50 percent positive and 50 percent negative. The most significant result was that administrators expressed only 5.0 percent positive attitudes for Plan A and 95.0 percent negative. The analysis of the data indicates that several factors contributed to this attitude. These were: (1) concern over returning the special student to the regular classroom; (2) concern over the academic achievement of regular and special students in combined classrooms; (3) concern over general down-grading of the regular academic program and; (4) concern over administrative problems associated with Plan A.