ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
KNOWLEDGE OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN, KIND
AND AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE, AND ATTITUDES

TOWARD THEIR CLASSROOM INTEGRATION

by Doris Ione Proctor

....

the attitudes1

of certain groups of classroom teachers
toward classroom integration of exceptional children and
to study the relationship of these attitudes to knowledge
of disabilities and to kind and amount of experience in
teaching exceptional children.

The acquisition of normative data about attitudes
toward sub-cultural groups is needed to provide supportive
information for social change. Exceptional children
constitute a minority group in the public school popu-
lation. Thus, research findings about attitudes of
teachers toward integration of exceptional children into

the regular classroom is needed for professional prepar-

ation of teachers.

 

1The study is related to a larger eleven nation
study of attitudes toward education and toward handi-
capped persons being supervised by Dr. John E. Jordan,
College of Education, Michigan State University.

Doris Ione Proctor

The research population consisted of 262 teachers
on the combined staffs of 20 elementary schools in the
Jackson Union School District, an urban community in
Michigan. The ten schools in the sample were chosen to
represent two types of school environments-—five of the
schools had special education programs, while the other
five schools did not have special education programs. It
was theorized that regular class teachers from the five
schools which provided the most opportunity for contact
with exceptional children and special education teacher
would have significantly different attitudes toward class-
room integration of exceptional children than regular class
teachers from the five schools which provided less oppor-
tunity for interaction with exceptional children and with
the teachers of these exceptional children.

The representative sample of 154 respondents, 139
women and 15 men teachers, represented four types of teach-
ing positions: 120 regular class teachers, 18 special
education teachers, 10 ancillary personnel and six stu-
dent teachers.

The three measurable criteria employed in the study
were: (a) attitude toward the educational placement of
exceptional children, (b) knowledge of the disabilities
of exceptional children, and (c) teaching experience with
exceptional children.

The three measuring instruments employed in the

study were: (a) The Classroom Integration Inventory (CII),

Doris Ione Proctor

(b) The General Information Inventory (GII), and (c) The
Personal Data Questionnaire. The first two measuring
instruments were developed and validated by Haring, Stern
and Cruickshank for measuring amount of knowledge and ac—
ceptance of exceptional children as expressed by teachers
attending a workshop pertaining to exceptional children.

The 011 realism scores of the teachers represent the

 

position of the respondents in relation to the positions
taken by Judges (authorities in special education) on the
various placement problems presented in the CII. The GII

knowledge scores represent the amount of agreement found

 

between the answers of the teachers and the GII answers
agreed upon by the Judges. The personal data question-
naire was constructed and administered, along with the
other two instruments, for the purpose of collecting
specific data concerning type and amount of experience with
exceptional children, educational background pertaining to
exceptionalities of children and amount of consultation
experience pertaining to problems of exceptional children.

The resulting data were analyzed by using a one-way
analysis of variance test supplemented by a multiple range
test modified for unequal replications.

Special education teachers and ancillary personnel
were characterized by their extensive coursework back—
grounds pertaining to exceptionalities of children and

were significantly more realistic in their attitudes toward

Doris Ione Proctor

classroom integration of exceptional children than were
teachers reporting "some credit" in courses pertaining
to exceptional children.

Special education teachers were found to be signifi-
cantly more knowledgeable pertaining to exceptionalities
of children than regular class teachers reporting a part-
time responsibility for the educational program of ex-
ceptional children. The ancillary personnel were signifi-
cantly more knowledgeable pertaining to exceptionalities
of children than both the special education teachers and
the regular class teachers. Teachers who gave consultations
were found to be significantly more knowledgeable pertaining
to the information contained in the GII test than teachers
who reported receiving periodic consultations or teachers
who had no consultations concerning the problems of ex-
ceptional children.

Amount of teaching experience rather than type of
experience helps a teacher to achieve a more realistic
attitude toward the educational placement of exceptional
children. Teachers who have had the most course work
pertaining to exceptionalities of children tend to ap-
proach the position of experts in the field of special
education in their choices of educational placement for
exceptional children.

The findings that ancillary and special education

teachers give consultations, whereas regular class teachers

Doris Ione Proctor

are characterized as receiving consultations, suggest
that consultations between these groups make for similar
attitudes toward classroom integration of exceptional
children.

Teachers reporting a closer and more continuous
type of experience, giving of consultations pertaining to
one or more of the exceptionalities and an extensive amount
of coursework dealing with exceptional children, were
found to be significantly more knowledgeable as measured
on the GII than teachers who reported lesser amounts of
these background experiences.

The study provides data with which to strengthen the
concept that orientation programs designed to develop
knowledge and understanding about exceptional children and
more positive teaching approaches to them, is an effective
approach to the improvement of classroom integration for

exceptional children.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
KNOWLEDGE OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN, KIND
AND AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE, AND ATTITUDES

TOWARD THEIR CLASSROOM INTEGRATION

By

Doris Ione Proctor

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Elementary and Special Education

College of Education

1967

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Although every person who contributed to this research
is not acknowledged individually, appreciation is extended to
each one; for without the cooperation of the teachers and
administration of the cooperating schools, this report would
not have been possible. The writer is also indebted to those
university professors who aided in the re—establishment of
the score keys, to certain special education personnel in the
State Department as well as to local school administrators.

I am indebted to the members of the advisement committee
for guidance and assistance on this dissertation: to Dr. John
E. Jordan whose patient guidance and wise counsel stimulated
my interest in scientific research methodology; to Dr. Elsie
Edwards, Dr. Donald Burke and Dr. Gregory Miller for their
encouragement and willingness to support this research project.

I am also grateful to Dr. Norris G. Haring, director of
the Experimental Education Unit at the University of Washing-
ton for his prompt, informative and supportive communications.
Special appreciation is extended to Dr. George G. Stern for
permission to reproduce the two measuring instruments em-
ployed in the study.

I wish to extend my acknowledgment of services to
Bruce Rogers, computer consultant at Michigan State Uni-
versity and to Donald E. Dennerll, school psychologist
and research consultant in the Jackson Union School District.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
LIST OF TABLES o o o o o o o o o o o 0 ix
LIST OF APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . 1
Nature of the Problem . . . . . . 2
Statement of the Problem . . . . . IA
Definition of Terms. . . . . . . 17
Overview of the Thesis. . . . . . 23
II. REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH . . . . . . 25
Attitude Formation and General Nature
of an Attitude . . . . . . . 26
Genesis of Attitudes . . . . . 26
Attitude Formation in Relation to
Certain Minority Groups . . . . 30
Personal Contact. . . . . . . 30
Minority Status of Exceptional
Individuals . . . . . . . 3L“
self-Concept o c o o o o o o 33
Peer Group. . . . . . . . . 3A
Attitudes of Teachers and Pupil
AttitUdeS I c o o o c o o o 37
Attitude and Teacher Behavior . . 38
KnOWIedge O O O O O O 0 O O 38
Instruction . . . . . . . . A2
Experience. . . . . . . . . A5

111

Chapter

Attitudes of Teachers Toward Ex-
ceptional Children . . . .

Acceptance. .
Teaching Preference. .
Understanding Exceptional Children.

Empirical Research--Attitudes of
Teachers Toward Classroom Inte-
gration of Exceptional Children.

Critical Analysis of Dickenstein-
Dripps Research Study . .

Empirical Research on Attitudes of
Educators Toward Exceptional
Children . . . . . . . . .

Attitudes in Relation to Personal-
ity Structure. .

Recent Trends in Attitudes Toward
the Educational Placement of
Exceptional Children . . . .

Summary. . . . . . . . .

The Measurement of Attitudes.

Problems of Attitude Measurement .
Classifications and Subclassifi-
cations. . . . . . . . .
Scale Analysis . . . . . . .
Synthetic Method. . . . . .
Direct vs. Indirect Methods . . .
Summary of Selected Techniques . .

III. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND PROCEDURES .
Experimental Design and Procedures.

Purpose of the Study .
Rationale for Selection of Measur-
ing Instruments . . .
The(Classroom Integration Inventory
CII . . . .
Scoring of the CII test: Basis
for Determining Realism Score
Reliability of the Re-established
Realism Scores . . . . . .

iv

Page

A8

A8
A9
A9

52w

5A

56'

6O

Chapter

Validity of Re-established Realism

Scores
The General Information Inventory
(GII) . .

Scoring of the GII Test. Basis for
Determining the Knowledge
Scores
Subscore Content Comparison
Validation of Instruments.

The Research Population
Selection of Variables.

Dependent Variables. .

Description of Independent Vari-
ables .

The Personal Data Questionnaire.

Collection of Data . . . . . .
Statistical Procedures. . .

Analysis of Data. .

Classroom Integration Scale
Analysis . . . . . .

General Information Inventory
Scale Analysis . . .

Relationship Between Dependent
Variables . . . . . . . .

Mean Difference Analyses

New Multiple Range Test .

Level of Significance .

Major Research Hypotheses. . . .

Hypotheses Related to Type of
Teaching Contacts .
Hypotheses Related to Amount .of
Teaching Experience. .
Hypotheses Related to Amount of
Academic Credit . .
Hypotheses Related to Amount of
Consultation Experience . . .
Hypotheses Related to Correlation
of Attitude and Knowledge
Scores . . . .

Limitation of the Study . . . .

Page

97
98
99
101
103

10A
106

106

107
110

112
113

113
113
115
116
116
117
118

118

118
119
119
120

120

120

Chapter Page

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA . . . . . . . . 123
The Testing of Hypotheses. . . . . 123
Hypotheses Related to Type of
Teaching Contacts . . . . 12A
Hypotheses Related to Amount of
Teaching Experience. . . . 13A
Hypotheses Related to Academic
Credit . . . 1A0
Hypotheses Related to Three Levels
of Amount of Consultation. . . 150

Hypotheses Related to Correlation
of Attitude and Knowledge

Scores . . . 155
Comparative Analysis of Character-
istics of Teachers . . . 161

Comparison of Four Types of Teach—

ing Positions in Relation to

Frequency Distribution and Sex

Characteristics of 15A Teacher

Respondents . . 162
Characteristics of 152 Teacher Re-

spondents Divided According to

Type of Teaching Experience

Position . . . . . . 16A
Characteristics of Respondents

Reporting the Minimal Amount of:

Teaching Experience with Ex-

ceptional Children, Academic

Credit Pertaining to Ex-

ceptionalities of Them and Con-

sultations About Exceptionali—

ties of Children. . . 171
Distribution of Respondents from

Four Types of Teaching Posi-

tions Between Schools Which Of-

fer the Most Opportunity and

Schools Which Offer the Least

Opportunity for Contact with

Special Education Personnel . . 176
Comparison of Correlations for Four

Major Variables in Relation to

Classroom Integration Realism

Scores and General Information

Inventory Knowledge Scores . . 178

vi

Chapter
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS . .

Summary . . . . . . . . . .
Attitude . . . . . . .

Relationship of Attitude to Type
of Teaching Experience .
Attitudes in Relation to Amount
of Teaching Experience .
Attitudes in Relation to Amount
of Academic Credit. . .
Attitudes in Relation to Consul—

tation Experience . .

Knowledge. . . . . . . . . .

Amount of Knowledge in Relation to
Type of Teaching Experience.
Amount of Knowledge in Relation to
Amount of Teaching Experience
Amount of Knowledge in Relation to

Amount of Academic Credit . .
Amount of Knowledge in Relation to
Consultation Experience . .
Correlation of Attitudes and
Amount of Knowledge

Discussion and Conclusions

Attitudes Toward Classroom Inte-
gration of Exceptional-
Children .

Knowledge About and Amount of
Experience with Exceptional
Children . .

Correlation of Attitude Toward
Classroom Integration of Ex-
ceptional Children with Knowl-
edge and Understanding of Ex-
ceptional Children.

Comparison of Teacher Attitudes
Toward Classroom Integration of
Exceptional Children in Two
Types of Schools . .

Relationship Between Amount of
Knowledge and Amount of Contact
with Exceptional Children in
Two Types of Schools .

vii

Page
179

180
18A

18A
185
185
186
186

186
187
188
188
189
189

189

193

198

199

200

Chapter Page

Implications . . . . . . . . . 202
Implications foerducation . . . 202

Implications for Research. . . . 208

REFERENCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

viii

Table

1.

LIST OF TABLES

Means, Standard Deviations, and Mean Rank,
ings of Classroom Integration Inventory
Realism Scores for Five Types of Teach-
ing Experience . . . . . . . .

Analysis-of-Variance of Classroom Inte—
gration Inventory Realism Scores for
Five Types of Teaching ExperienCe. .

Means, Standard Deviations and Mean Rank-
ings of GII Knowledge Scores for Five
Types of Teaching Experience . . .

Analysis-of-Variance of GII Knowledge
Scores for Five Types of Teaching
Experience . . . . . . .

Duncan's New Multiple Range Test Applied
to Means of GII Knowledge Scores for
Five Types of Experience. . . .

Means, Standard Deviations, and Mean Rank-
ings of Classroom Integration Inventory
Scores-for Three Levels of Amount of
Teaching Experience . . . . . .

Analysis-of-Variance Classroom Integration
Inventory Realism Scores for Three

Levels of Amount of Teaching Experience.

Means, Standard Deviations and Mean Rank-
ings for General Information Inventory
Scores for Three Levels of Amount of
Teaching Experience . . . .

Analysis-of~Variance for General Inforh
mation Inventory Knowledge Scores for
Three Levels of Amount of Teaching
Experience . . . . . . .

ix

Page

125

126

128

129

131

135

135

138

138

Table Page

10. Means, Standard Deviations and Mean Rank~
ings of Classroom Integration Inventory
Realism Scores for Three Levels of “
Amount of Academic Credit . . . . . . 1A1

11. Analysis-of-Variance of Classroom Integration
Inventory Realism Scores for Three Levels
of Amount of Academic Credit . . . . . 1A2

12. Duncan's New Multiple Range Test Applied to
Means of Classroom Integration Inventory
Realism Scores for Three Levels of Amount
of Academic Credit . . . . . . . . 1A3

13. Means, Standard Deviations and Mean Rankings
for General Information Inventory Scores
for Three Levels of Amount of Academic
Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . 1A6

1A. Analysis-of-Variance of General Information
Inventory Knowledge Scores for Three
Levels of Amount of Academic Credit. . . 1A7

15. Duncan's New Multiple Range Test Applied to
Means of General Information Inventory
Knowledge Scores for Three Levels of
Amount of Academic Credit . . . . . . 1A8

16. Means, Standard Deviations and Mean Rankings
of Classroom Integration Inventory Real-
ism Scores for Three Levels of Amount of
Consultation . . . . . . . . . . 150

17. Analysis-of-Variance of Classroom Integration
Inventory Realism Scores for Three Levels
of Amount of Consultation . . . . . . 151

18. Means, Standard Deviations and Mean Rankings
of General Information Inventory Knowledge
Scores for Three Levels of Amount of
Consultation Experience. . . . . . . 152

19. Analysis-of-Variance of General Information
Inventory Knowledge Scores for Three
Levels of Amount of Consultation Exper-
ience. . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Table Page

20. Duncan's New Multiple Range Test Applied to
Means of General Information Inventory
Knowledge Scores for Three Levels of
Amount of Consultation Experience . . . 15A

21. Means and Standard Deviations.of Classroom"-
Integration Inventory for Schools With
(8) and Schools Without (R) Special Edu—
cation Programs . . . . . . . . 157

22. Analysis-of-Variance of Classroom Intee
gration Inventory Realism Scores for
Schools With and Schools Without Special
Education Programs . . . . . . . . 158

23. Means and Standard Deviations of Classroom
Integration Inventory for Schools With
Special Education and Schools Without
Special Education Programs . . . . . 159

2A. Analysis-of-Variance of General Information
Knowledge Scores for Schools With
Special Education and Schools Without
Special Education Programs . . . . . 159

25. Distribution of 15A Respondents (Total
Sample) According to Sex and Type of
Teaching Experience . . . . . . . 162

26. Type of Teaching Position and Sex Identifi-
cation for 10 Respondents Reporting "No
Teaching Experience with Exceptional
Children" Divided According to Two
Levels of Number of Years Taught . . . 163

27. Comparison of Group Magnitude, Sex Charac-
teristics, Years of Teaching Experience,
Type of Teaching Experience, Amount of
Academic Credit, and Amount of Consul-
tation Experience for 152 Questionnaire
Respondents When Divided According to
Type of Teaching Experience Position . . 165

xi

Table Page

28. Comparison of Characteristic Background Data
for Respondents-Grouped According to:
"No Years Teaching Experience," "No
Teaching Experience with Exceptional
Children," "No Academic Credit Pertaining
to Exceptionalities of Children," and
"No Consultation Experience About Ex-
ceptionalities of Children" . . . . . 172

29. Distribution of Respondents from Four Types
of Teaching Positions Among Three Environ—
mental Situations--Schools With Special
Education Programs, Schools Without
Special Education Programs and Special
Services . . . . . . . . . . . 176

30. Correlation of Independent Variables with
Dependent Variables. . . . . . . . 177

xii

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix
A. Jackson Union School District
Statement of Educational Philosophy
Report of Special Education Steering
Committee
Special Education Services
B. Memorandums to Participating Schools. .
C. Personal Questionnaire . . . . . .
D. Measuring Instruments
Classroom Integration Inventory
General Information Inventory
Directions for Administering
E. The Code Book
Classroom Integration Inventory Key . .
F. Statistical Material . . . . . . .

Table 31. Highest Correlations Selected
From Eleven Subscore Areas of the
Classroom Integration and the General
Information Inventories, Listed in
Order of Declining Magnitude . . .

Table 32. Correlation of Classroom
Integration Inventory Subscores with
Classroom Integration Inventory Total
Realism Score, Listed in Order of
Declining Magnitude . . . . .

Table 33. Correlation of Classroom
Integration Inventory Subscores with
General Information Inventory Total
Knowledge Score, Listed in Order
of Declining Magnitude . . . . .

xiii

Page

227
232

235

2A1

265

272

273

27A

275

Appendix Page.

Table 3A. Correlation of General
Information Inventory Subscores With
General Information Inventory Total
Knowledge Score, Listed in Order of
Declining Magnitude . . . . . . 276

Table 35. Correlation of General
Information Inventory Subscores With
Classroom Integration Inventory
Total Realism Score, Listed in
Order of Declining Magnitude . . . 277

xiv

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

The people of the United States, despite varying
degrees of controversy over educational” issues, continue.
to look to the schools for a better tomorrow. The strength
of the nation rests upon, and is influenced by the atti—
tudes and actions of each member of our, society. The
most indispensible ingredient for high-quality behavior
in school children is "parents who are willing to assume
responsibility for what their children do in school and
who cooperate with the school in seeking solutions to
problems involving the, behavior of their children."

(N. E~.‘A. Res. Div., 1956, p. 81). Although the primary
responsibility for the development of a. child's character
rests with parents, the. church and the public schools
contribute in no small measure to the, overall development.
The present-day curriculum places emphasis on helping
children to build attitudes conducive to responsible
Citizenship and better personal living.

Major advances in democratic educational practices
have resulted in many new opportunities for exceptional
children. For example, public schools have now accepted

handicapped children as "at least partially" their

1

problem, whereas the former system classified disadvantaged

l The United States Office of

children as welfare cases.
Education biennial surveys indicate an increase in local
school programs for handicapped since the beginning of the
century--9O percent of the children receiving special edu-
cation are now in programs administered by local public
schools (Mackie, 196A). This movement toward the imple-
mentation of special education programs has been national
in scope. A11 forty-eight states, as of 1955, had en-
acted special legislation covering the education of handi-
capped children (Wallin, 1957). It has been estimated that
approximately one out of four school age children in the

United States is being offered special education oppor-
tunities (Kirk, 1962, p. 32).

Nature of the Problem

 

The impersonal, mechanistic nature of present-day
society has prompted school personnel to focus special
attention on the individual child. Each pupil’s charac-
teristics cut across group identifications. In every
group, be it based on physical condition or academic
ability, individual differences in creative talents and
learning abilities are found. Usually classroom under-

achievers require individual attention or special grouping

 

1National Education Association, Special Classes
for Handicapped Children. Research Bulletin, May, 1961,
39, 2, p. AA.

to enable them to progress toward their own particular
achievement potential.

Having recognized the uniqueness of children in the
classroom, many educators have already done much to adapt
the curriculum to the specific needs of the individual.
Recent trends in the use of individualized teaching
methods by classroom teachers have prompted educators to
place an increasing number of exceptional children, either
on part or full time programs, in regular classes. The
development of curriculum coordination and research on
learning have also encouraged the current trend toward
classroom integration for exceptional children. Some of
the interdependent developments noted by research are:

1. The refinement of diagnostic instruments and

procedures

2. The advancements in prosthetic devices for

handicapped children

3 The increased number of preschool training pro-

grams for the handicapped

A. The increased training of specialists and

itinerant personnel

5 The increased awareness on the part of edu-

cators of the educational, social, and
emotional needs of exceptional children
(Haring, 1958, p. 1).

The writer of the present study selected a specific
aspect of the fifth development for special study. The
media of mass communication has made the public more and
more aware of rapid technological and social change.
Thus, educators and social agencies do, and must work to—

gether. For example, one of the newer developments in

audition is the team-served audiology clinic for the

diagnosis and treatment of hearing disorders. There is
also the mobile audiometer unit, some of which are

equipped to test vision. Electronic advances make.

possible extremely light hearing aids, thus enabling
children with impaired hearing to attend regular classes.
Surgical techniques and the use of drugs and diets now
enable the child with a heart defect to not only survive,
but to participate in school programs planned to meet his
particular needs. In underdeveloped areas, medical authori-
ties, using modern techniques, have significantly reduced
the child mortality rate (Davis, 1963, p. 70). Modern
medicine is saving lives of premature infants and children
with acute infections (but) at the cost of permanent physi-
cal disabilities (Meyerson, 1963, p. 1). Accidents, too,
contribute to the increasing number of children who must
live with gross impairments in physique and/or psychological
functioning. The rate of physically disabled persons is
increasing. "There are more people with physical dis-
abilities in the world than ever before" (Meyerson, 1963,

p. 2).

All of these technOlogical developments have focused
new emphasis upon educational placement with teachers who
have been oriented to these newer developments in edu-
cation. As a result of inevitable social and technological
changes educators need scientific data and information

which will help develop comprehensive educational planning

 

for exceptional children. The increasing number of ex-
ceptional children who are eligible for regular grade
placement (Haring, 1958, p. 1) has caused educators to be
specially concerned with the problem of educational place-
ment for these children. Those who participate in planning
appropriate educational programs for exceptional children
find it necessary to evaluate existing placement policies
and practices. There is considerable differentiation in
the "organizational patterns of special education programs"
which, according to Mackie, (1963) are now being used in
the local public school systems of the United States. She
describes the programs as follows:

The array of patterns now includes full-time atten-
dance in a special class, part-time attendance in a
special class, instruction part-time by an itinerant
or resource room teacher, instruction in the pupil's
home, and instruction in a hospital sanitorium, or
convalescent home. . . . To the extent that these are
available within any one school system (or geographi-
cally convenient area) this represents opportunity
for flexible placement of children according to their
special educational needs. The large number of ex-
ceptional children spending part of their school day
with a special teacher and part with a regular teacher
implies, among other things, the need for careful
coordination of the child's educational program and
orientation of the regular teacher in education of
exceptional children (Mackie, 1963, p. 17).

School administrators who plan to use any of the
abOve program patterns should provide preservice or in-
Service programs to correct or avoid misconceptions
regarding exceptional children which are typical of the
culture. Cruickshank (1958, p. 107) recommends "well

developed orientation programs" to help teachers "to

approach positively all types of exceptional children."
This concept is supported by Haring (1958, p. 1) who
states, "The success of any plan of integration depends
largely upon how the teacher feels toward the exceptional
child." If these concepts are observed then there is a
definite need to investigate the knowledge and attitudes
of teachers toward classroom integration of exceptional
children. Haring (1958, p. 6) states that_know1edge of

exceptionalities and attitudes of teachers toward class-

m— ”WA.

room integration of exceptional children are "essential

considerations for investigation" before any handicapped

1,... —.—__....
.“O

+-.a _.khl

or gifted child_ is placed in a regular classroom. It is

an assumption of the writer of the present study that atti-

._ mm... .m—e.—..~.._._.__I
MP“- Fw'

tudes of teachers are vitally related to the emotional and

. awn—u“...— .- .

social adjustment of children. It is also assumed that

.ngW M.
‘ “A-" TMWM.

teacher attitudes toward pupils, parents and ancillary
Apersonnel play an important role in the learning ability of
the pupils concerned. The need for research designed to
uncover the attitudes of teachers who plan to teach ex-
ceptional children is expressed by Haring (1958, p. 1):
"The”attitudes of the regular classroom teachers with whom
these (exceptional) children are to be placed present a
vital consideration which has not been explored."

Because of the success of current programs to aid
the exceptional child, educators are asking for information

that will allow them to initiate special education programs

in their locales. According to Hodgeson, (196A) there is a

serious need to uncover certain basic facts and attitudes
concerning special education programs for children with
exceptionalities. A recent survey shows an apparent need
fln~communication among state department heads, special
education experts and professors of educational adminis-
tration to enable them to come to a better agreement con-
cerning the responsibility of the public school for cer-
tain categories of exceptional children (Hodgeson, 196A,
pp. 197-198).

Directors of vocational rehabilitation have pointed
out the opportunities offered by automation for the handi-
capped. Although automation, in many instances, has simpli-
fied the mental and/or physical requirements of a.job,
there is a keener competition for the openings in such
jobs (Hess, 1963, p. 156). It is important, therefore,
that potential employers do not discriminate, "On the
basis of the presence or absence of capacities unrelated
to the requirements of the job" (Hess, 1963). Faced with
the problem of inevitable change in the social-technologi—
cal process, educators must anticipate the fluidity of the
placement problems of the handicapped and plan accordingly.
It is important that educators, social agencies and parents
work closely together to influence legislative policies
which will help to meet the changing needs of exceptional
children.

The problem of meeting the needs of the exceptional

child is international in scope. A group of Michigan State

University doctoral candicatesl

in the College of Edu—
cation are addressing the problem on an international,

as well as on a national, level. They are investigating

the "technical, methodological, and theoretic consider-
ations relating to the cross-national investigation of
attitudes toward education and toward physical disa-

bility" (Friesen, 1966, p. 8). Jordan (1963, 196Aa)

states: "there are educational leaders in foreign countries
and in the United States who recognize the current and-ex-
panding need for services for the disabled." Although the
United States now provides special education services for
approximately one and two-thirds million, it is estimated
that A.5 million more are on the waiting list (Mackie, 1956,
p- 7).

The commitment of many local communities to the con-
cept of equality of educational opportunity is prompting
the use of research findings as a method to improve school
practices. An attempt was made in the present study to
develop research techniques which will facilitate "verti-
cal" extensions in the collecting, processing and analysis
of data in future studies. The major purpose of the pre-
sent investigation was to study the relationship between
knowledge of exceptionalities, kind and amount of experi-

ence with exceptional children, and regular classroom

 

1The international study is under the direction of
Dr. John E. Jordan, College of Education, Michigan State
University.

integration of them. More specific hypotheses are given
in Chapter 3.

The writer is not unaware of the danger of personal
bias in a study dealing with social phenomena. AS~
VanDalen (1962, p. AA) says, ". . . the findings in
natural science lose their strength only when they are
replaced by better insight into the phenomena," whereas--
"findings in the social sciences can lose their value be-
cause the knowledge they provide can cause humans to
change the social condition." Incidentally, the above
statement lends sanction to the assumption that knowledge
affects attitudes (see p. 10). The fact that the writer
of the present study is also a member of the subject matter
under observation makes it impossible to be an impartial
observer of attitudes toward exceptional children. It is
more difficult to be objective about human reactions than
chemical reactions because of the complex human relation-
ships.

Teacher training programs emphasize "acceptance" and
"understanding" as essential characteristics of a success-
ful teacher. If it were possible to get an objective
measurement of the attitudes of teachers toward classroom
integration of exceptional children, then educational
placement of them would be facilitated. By knowing the
attitudes of a group of teachers the administration can
estimate the support or resistance that will occur among

the group members toward a proposed integration program

10

or other issue. Felty (1965, p. 2) says, ". . . the
acquisition of normative data about attitudes of various
'interest groups' toward special education and rehabili—
tation is fundamental to 'cooperative exchanges among
professionals' on the international as well as on the
national level."

It would appear that a need exists for research
studies designed to evaluate the similarities and differ-
ences in attitudes of Specific educational groups toward
the classroom integration of exceptional children. Such
a study as the present one appears to be important because
successful classroom integration depends upon a theory,
carefully constructed and developed by research findings.

Regular classroom experience is highly desirable for
any exceptional child. This was recognized in a special
education report of the Jackson Special Education Planning
Committee (Appendix A). It implies that classroom inte-
gration may help the exceptional child to adjust more
effectively in a world of "normal" individuals. The com-
mittee also adopted the philosophy that the educational
program of each exceptional child should be based on
similarities to his peers rather than on his differences
(Baker, 1953, p. 8). Since psychological integration is
not attained by mere presence in the classroom it is of
vital importance to a child's personality adjustment and
educational achievement that he be placed with a teacher

and peers who accept and understand him. Kirk (1962, p. 8)

11

points out that "The similarities in characteristics be-
tween the exceptional child and-the average child far
exceed the differences."

The factors which foster faVorable attitudes toward
children with exceptionalities need to be understood.
Techniques for measuring the amount of acceptance ex-
pressed by teachers with different experiential backgrounds
need to be studied and evaluated. And since physically
disabled children constitute a minority group within the
school population, a perusal of intergroup attitudes should
provide a justification for the study of the present problem.
The theoretical framework of the present investigation con-
cerning the attitudes of teachers toward classroom inte-
gration of exceptional children has a social-psychological
position. From this theoretical position the criteria for
the optimal educational placement of exceptional children
recommended by Haring et_al. (1958, p. A) appears to pro-
vide a very comprehensive guideline orientation. From this
standpoint, regular classroom placement for exceptional
children, whenever possible, appears to be more satis-
factory.than special school or special class placement.
With this philosophy of classroom integration in mind,
let us examine the criteria for integration, favored by
Haring gt_al.

The integration of exceptional children in a regu-

lar classroom is an individual matter in all cases,

and can be accomplished successfully only after a
careful diagnosis and consideration of:

12

1. the extent to which the integrated placement
can provide for the intellectual, social,
emotional and physical needs of the child
under consideration

2. the degree to which the exceptional child can
become a contributing member of the group and
compete on a fairly equal basis with the group

3. the extent to which the physical facilities of
the school plant provide accessibility to the
area of the building to which he must go in
the routine of his program

A. the degree to which the teacher with whom the
child is to be placed accepts and understands
him (Haring, 1958, p. A).

Haring et a1. (1958, pp. 3-A) advocate a program of
selective placement in which "regular class placement,
special class placement, contact classes and resource rooms,
and improved residential school programs each play an im-
portant role in the educational life of the individual
exceptional child depending upon the latter's needs,
capacities, and physical characteristics." In spite of

the fact that all four criteria are fundamental consider-
ations for all selective placement programs the present
study is concerned with only one of the criteria--the
fourth: "the degree to which the teacher with whom the
child is to be placed accepts and understands him." Here
is found the major point of investigation in the present
study. Attitude research does involve factors subtle and
difficult to measure. Although a study based on attitude
change would provide criteria which could be more clearly
defined and precisely measured, this particular study

will be limited to the attitude similarities and/or differ-

ences for certain groups of educators. Even though the

13

present study was restricted to the attitudes of teachers
toward classroom integration of exceptional children, the
writer recognizes that classroom integration is not the
best solution for all exceptional children. It must be
stressed that placement is an individual matter in which
knowledge and experience play important roles.

It-is assumed that experience and knowledge are
major determinants of attitudes toward educational place-
ment of exceptional children within the local public
school systems. This theoretical position is based on
the premise that experience and knowledge are major deter-
minants of attitudes. Thus the main focus of the present
study is on the relationship among certain variables having
to do with attitudes, type and amount of experience, and
educational background.

As for methodology, the principal problem was one
of accounting for the variables such as interpersonal
relations, background in related areas, and type of experi-
ence while comparing the attitudes of two teacher
groups.

The technical procedures used consisted of two
distinct divisions-~the acquiring of the necessary data
and treatment of the data. The securing of relevant
data consisted of deciding on a population, selecting a
representative sample, the selection and development of

appropriate measuring instruments, the availability of

1A

the subjects within the sample, and the administration of
the data-gathering instruments. The treatment of the

data included scoring, organizing, processing and inter-
preting the results in statistical forms meaningful to
educators and other personnel working with exceptional
children. The main focus of the problem was to analyze
the data in a way that would yield the most appropriate
information pertaining to the attitudes of teachers toward

classroom integration.

Statement of the Problem

 

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the
attitudes of certain groups of classroom teachers toward
the integration of exceptional children into the regular
classroom and to study the relationship of these attitudes
to knowledge of disabilities and to the kind and amount of
experience in teaching exceptional children. The three
measurable criteria to be employed in this study are:

1. Knowledge of the disabilities of exceptional

children.

2. Attitude toward the ducational placement of

exceptional children.

3. Teaching experience with exceptional children.

The "amount of knowledge" concerning the disabilities
of exceptional children will be ascertained from a knowl-
edge scale developed by Haring et_al. (1958, p. 56). The

attitudes of teachers towards the placement of exceptional

15

children will be ascertained from the results of a class-

room integration scale developed by Haring et a1. (1958,

p- 33).

The amount of teaching experience with exceptional

children will be ascertained from a questionnaire developed

by the present investigator. Stated more specifically,

the purposes of this study are as follows:

1.

To measure the teachers' knowledge of the charac-
teristics of children who are emotionally dis-
turbed, gifted, mentally retarded, physically,
visually, accoustically, and speech impaired.

To measure the teachers' attitudes toward the
educational placement of children who have the
exceptionalities listed in the questionnaire
(Appendix C).

To determine whether there is a significant
difference in the amount of knowledge of ex-
ceptionality as expressed by teachers who have
had more extensive teaching contacts with ex-
ceptional children and teachers who have had
little or no teaching experience with exceptional
children.

To determine whether there is a significant
difference in the attitudes of teachers who

have had more extensive teaching experience

and teachers who have had little or no teach-

ing experience with exceptional children,

toward the educational placement of these children.

16

A. To determine whether there is a significant
difference in the attitudes of teachers who
have given consultations and teachers who have
received or not received consultations,
toward‘ the educational placement of exceptional
children:

5. To determine whether there is a significant
difference in the amount of knowledge of ex-
ceptionality as expressed by teachers who
have given consultations and teachers who have
either received or not received consultations,
toward the educational placement of exceptional
children.

Theory (Remmers, 1950, pp. 10-13) suggests that atti-
tudes are affected by at least two major independent vari-
ables, namely, knowledge and/or experience. It is an
apparent fact that when knowledge and correct information
concerning various degrees of exceptionalities are properly .
applied, it usually helps to change unfavorable attitudes
to more favorable ones. It is assumed that attitudes are
frequently changed or modified through intergroup contact
or interaction. This theoretical approach suggests that
people who have had an extensive or close relationship
with a subgroup such as the physically handicapped will
have significantly different attitudes toward this minority
group than people who have had little or no contact with

them.

17

Definition of Terms

 

The following terms have either a specialized mean—
ing or need to be operationally defined for the present
study.

Attitude.--The sense in which this general term will

 

be used follows the definition by Guttman (1950, p. 51).

An attitude is a "delimited totality of behavior with

 

respect to something, For example, the attitude of a

 

person toward Negroes could be said to be the totality

of acts that a person has performed with respect to Negroes."
The use of this definition is viewed by recent investigators
(Felty, 1965, p. 7) as "consistent with the attempt to use
some of Guttman's concepts in respect to scale and inten-
sity analysis."

Attitude Component.--Components of attitudes have

 

been discussed by many different investigators (e.g.,
Sherif and Hovland, 1961, Ch. 1; Katz, 1960, p. 168;
Sherif, 1960, p. 197; Choate, 1958, p. 3; Sherif and Had-
ley, 19A5, p. 302; Guttman, 1950, Ch. 9). A typical com-
ponent discussed by these investigators is judgment. After
analyzing the interrelationship between cognitive, af-
fective, and behavioral components of attitudes, Sherif

and Hovland (1961, p. A) probed deeply into the cognitive
aspect, "to consider how the individual views the issue

and the way his judgments are shaped by external and in-

ternal factors." In this study the first attitude

18

component will be the cognitive (or knowledge) aspect,

the second that of judgment (categorization reaction).
Categorization Aspect of Attitude Response.—-Sherif

and Hovland (1961, p. 5) maintain that, ". . . one essential

aspect of the attitudinal reaction is a categorization pro-

cess, whether or not the individual is aware that he is

passing a judgment." Thus when an investigator solicits

an expression of‘a teacher's attitude toward some edu-

cational issue or minority group, the investigator typi-

cally finds that, ". . . the process involves placement

of the issue in a framework and assignment to a category"

(p. 5). The judgment task involved in acceptance-rejection

 

measurement requires categorization or placement of items
(statements, individuals) in terms of preference of the
respondents. According to Sherif and Hovland (1961, p. 9)
". . . attitude judgments are typically of the placement
type, and this has definite implications for fruitful re—
search practice in this area." The importance of the
categorization aspect of attitude response to attitude
measurement is described by Sherif and Hovland (1961), as
follows:
Attitude measurement, whether the indices are overt
behavior or, more typically, check marks on an
attitude questionnaire, is based upon evaluations
and categorization of the stimuli toward which the
attitude is held. Thus stimulus conditions inter-
nalized anchors, motivation, prior learning, and a

host of other factors affect the response obtained
in the measurement (p. l).

l9

Disability.--Johnson (1961) differentiates between

 

"disability" and "handicap" as follows:

A disability constitutes a physical fact-—poor
vision, loss of a limb, deafness; a handicap is
societally determined and is a function of the
situation in which the individual is placed.
For example, the loss of a limb is not neces-
sarily a vocational handicap to an accountant,
deafness may not handicap an artist, low intel-
ligence may not handicap many unskilled workers.
Some disabilities become handicaps because of
the attitude of the individual toward the dis-
ability, or because of inappropriate education
and vocational developments (p. 5A).

In this study a disability will be considered to be
-—"an impairment of the physical, mental, or social capaci—
ties of the individual" (Jordan, 196A). It may or may not
be a handicap to its possessor.

Exceptional Children.--Since there have been various

 

definitions for this term the one employed by Kirk (1962,
p. 31) is used in this study:
Exceptional children have been defined as those
children who deviate from average children in mental,
physical, and/or social characteristics to such an
extent that they require a modification of school
practices or services in order to develop to their
maximum. This definition includes both the gifted
and the handicapped.
In the present study when used in reference to teacher
attitudes toward exceptional children, exceptionality
pertains to children who deviate emotionally, socially,
physically or intellectually from the normal patterns of
child growth and development to the extent that the teacher

regards them as presenting one or more of the above de-

viations.

20

Exceptionality.--A term used in this study to
designate the following specific areas of deviation from
what is considered as normal child growth and develop-
ment: (a) behavior disorder, (b) emotional disturbance,
(c) impaired hearing, (d) impaired speech, (e) impaired
vision, (f) miscellaneous conditions including orthopedic
and cardiac, (g) seizure states, (h) sub-normal learning
and (i) superior intelligence.

It is assumed that the teacher's ability to make
judgment concerning individual differences will depend
upon the teacher's familiarity with the two dimensions
of "individual differences" given by Kirk (1962, p. 31):

Individual differences in the field of exceptional

children involve two dimensions: (a) the difference

between the exceptional child and the majority of
children in ability or disability and (b) the
differences in development within the child as

represented by discrepancies in growth.

Integration.--In this study the term refers to

 

educational integration. "In education, integration denotes
a trend toward educating the exceptional child with his
normal peers to whatever extent is compatible with his
fullest potential development" (Frampton and Gall, 1955,
pp. 2-8).

Reference Scale.--Sherif and Hovland (1961) state:
"Past experience in the form of practice provides the sub-
ject with an established reference scale which affects

his placement of relevant stimuli" (p. 183).

21

Special Education.--A term used to indicate specific
educational programs planned "either in conjunction with
the regular class or in a special class or school for his
(a child's) maximum development" (Kirk, 1962, pp. A-5).
This definition implies that a child whose deviation is
"of such kind and degree that it interfers with his develop-
ment under ordinary classroom procedures" (p. A), is re-
garded by the expert diagnosticians as "educationally
exceptional" and should be considered as eligible for
special education services. Special education services
are defined by Kirk (1962, p. 32) as, "additional edu-
cational service over and above the regular school pro-
gram" which "assist in the development of his potentiali-
ties and/or in the amelioration of his disabilities" (p. 32).
Type of Teaching Contacts.--Teaching contact means
the same as teaching experience. The teaching experience
or contact may be in a regular class, in a special class,
or in a resource or itinerant teacher's class. The type
of teaching contact experienced by the respondents was
defined in the following terms: (a) less than one year
or no teaching experience with exceptional children
(none), (b) regular class teacher who shares the teaching
program of an exceptional child, (part-time regular),
(c) ancillary personnel who share the educational program
of an exceptional child (part-time ancillary), (d) regular
class teacher with full responsibility for the program of

one of more exceptional children (full-time regular),

22

(e) special class teacher with full responsibility for

educational programs of exceptional children (full-time
special). Less than one year (part-time or full—time)

or no teaching experience with exceptional children is

designated by the term minimal teaching contact.

Teaching Experience Leve1.--A term used to designate
the amount of teaching experience. The amount of teach-
ing experience with exceptional children is defined as
follows: (a) teacher with a "minimal" amount of teaching
experience with exceptional children (N), (b) teacher
with one or more years of part-time teaching experience,
termed "extensive part—time" (P), (c) teacher with one or
more years of full-time teaching experience, termed "ex—
tensive full-time" (F).

Academic Credit Leve1.--A term used to designate the
amount of academic credits earned in courses pertaining to
exceptional children. Three academic levels were defined
as follows: (a) no special education, education or psy-
chology courses covering some or all of the areas of ex-
ceptionality listed in the present study, (b) less than
one year of credit earned in education or psychology
courses covering some or all of the areas of exception-
ality listed in the present study, (c) one year or more of
academic credit earned in education or psychology courses
covering some or all of the areas of exceptionalities

listed in the present study.

23

Type of Consultation Experience.--Types of consul-
tations are defined for three specific levels: (a)
periodic consultations with a specialist in the area of
Ione or more of the exceptionalities listed in this study,
(b) no opportunity for consultations in the desired area
or areas of one or more of the exceptionalities listed in
the present study, (0) experienced in giving consultations
pertaining to one or more of the areas of exceptionalities

listed in the present study.

Overview of the Thesis

This disseration is organized according to the follow-
ing plan:

Chapter I. Introduction to the Nature of the Problem in-
this Study.
Chapter II. A Review of Related Research.

This chapter is~a summarization of theory and research
related to the attitudes of teachers toward classroom inte—
gration of exceptional children. The major division will
include the following:

Introduction: Need for more and better research in

Special Education.

Attitude formation and general nature of an attitude.

Attitude formation in relation to certain minority

groups.

Attitudes of teachers and pupil attitudes.

Attitudes of teachers toward exceptional children.

2A

Empirical research: Attitudes of teachers toward
classroom integration of exceptional children.
Measurement of attitudes.
Chapter III. Experimental Design and Procedures
This chapter includes the design, instrumentation
of the study, and a description of the statisti-
cal procedures used in the analysis of the data.
Chapter IV. The Research Results
The research results are presented and interpreted.
Chapter V. Summary, Conclusions, Recommendations and

Implications.

 

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH

The need for identifying teacher attitudes toward
classroom integration as a preparatory measure to increase
the accuracy of effective educational placement of ex-
ceptional children was discussed in the previous chapter.
This chapter is concerned with related research and with
pr93192§M§EAsic§W9nm§hemattitudes‘of.teachersntowardwthe
educational placement of exceptional children. The improve-
ment of educational placement for these children is de-
pendent upon the scientific verification of theoretical

assumptions used in placement. Improved research is

Id"
I

=needed to provide accurate information for cooperative
'planning among educators for more effective educational
placement for children with special needs.

Felty (1965, p. 19) reports that many researchers
(Block, 1955; Kvaraceus, 1958; Levine, 1961; Meyerson,
1963) deplore the "practical nature of most special edu-
cation research" and recommend that future studies should
be designed "with theoretical relevance and consequently

greater generality."

25

26

Specific research regarding attitudes based on
judgment has been hard to obtain because researchers have
tended to ignore criteria which are not easily measured
in favor of criteria which can be clearly defined and
precisely measured (Hatch and Stefflre, 1958, p. 255).

After a thorough review of the research, Haring
(1958, p. 8) states that "published research dealing with
attitudes of teachers toward exceptional children is al-
most completely lacking" although there is a "substantial
amount of research" pertaining to "the modification of
attitudes and attitude measurement." Thus, since most of
the earlier studies lack specific relevance to the problem
involved in the present study, this review of literature
and research will concentrate on findings pertaining to
attitudes of teachers towards exceptional children while
at the same time including studies in closely related
areas. Special concern will be given to studies which
deal with the experience and knowledge components of
attitude in relation to behavior outcomes.

Attitude Formation and General
Nature of an Attitude

 

 

Genesis of Attitudes

 

The term attitude is used in everyday speech by
laymen as well as by professional workers. Sherif and
Hadley (19A5, p. 302) indicate that attitudes are not

innate . . . but learned as a result of contact with

27

environment. In American social psychology the term atti-
tude has served as a "keynote" which has activated dis-
cussion as well as research (Allport, 1935, p. 798).

A perusal of the literature discloses many diverse
definitions of "attitude." The fact that definitions of
attitudes are not all in agreement has been evidenced by
Symonds (1928, p. 239) who states that attitude is used
in psychological literature with at least seven denotations:
(a) drive, (b) muscular adjustment, (0) generalized con—
duct, (d) readiness, (e) emotional response, (f) feelings,
and (g) verbal response. These diverse connotations of
the term "attitude" make it advisable to analyze some of
the common factors in attitude formation. The four common
conditions for attitude formation are described by Allport
(1935, P. 810) as follows:

1. Integration of numerous specific responses of a

similar type. An infant is totally specific
and fragmentary in his responses. In childhood
his attitudes become gradually pieced together.

2. Individuation, differentiation or segregation.
An infant has two primodal non—specific atti-
tudes, namely, approaching and avoiding. From
this matrix he must segregate action patterns
and conceptual systems which will supply him
with adequate attitudes for direction of his
adaptive conduct.

3. Dramatic experience or trauma. It is well known
that permanent attitude may be formed as the re—
sult of a compulsive organization in the mental
field following a single intense emotional
experience--(fears, desires, prejudices, pre-
dilections).

A. Through the imitation of parents, teachers or

playmates they are sometimes adopted, ready-made.
Even before he has a background of appropriate

28

experience, a child may form many intense and
lasting attitudes toward races and professions,
toward religion and marriage, toward foreigners
and servants, toward morality and sin.

Although all four conditions appear to be basic con-
ditions for the genesis of attitudes the present research
is interested in the fourth condition which points out
that attitudes "are sometimes adopted, ready—made" through
imitations of teachers. It seems logical to assume that
children sometimes adopt the attitudes expressed by their
teachers because they feel that in doing so they are in-
creasing their chances for social approval. This suppo-
sition is supported by Sherif:

Since behavior or events which an individual approves

are in line with his attitude, a social attitude is

similar to a motive. Thus the terms sociogenic
motives, acquired drives and social attitudes are

used as equivalent terms (Sherif, 1960, p. 197).

The well informed teacher does not regard "a desire
to please the teacher" as the most desirable form of
motivation, nevertheless a child's desire to please the
teacher is often utilized as a last resort. Experienced
teachers have ample opportunity to observe that the develop-
ment of desirable social attitudes in their pupils is a
gradual process. As already noted from Sherif and Cantril
(19A5, p. 302), attitudes are not innate but are learned
through contact or interaction with something in the
environment. In the Sloan experimental study (Boyd, 19A3)

lit was found that unless attitudes have "become estab-

lished to the point of awareness, they can not be measured

29

by the endorsement of attitude statements" (p. 10). Thus
Boyd (19A3) defines attitude as "the emotional acceptance
(or rejection) of a situation" (Boyd, 19A3, p. 10). Among
the various meanings which have been assigned to attitudes
Boyd (19A3, p. 8) has detected two "rather well—defined
vieWpoints: one viewpoint holds that attitudes can be de-
fined only in terms of overt behavior" and the other "that
attitudes may exist emotionally without being evidenced
through overt behavior." The fact that attitudes may be
defined in accordance with the latter vieWpoint is verified
by a recent doctoral study dealing with aspiration, atti-
tudes and concepts of two sharply contrasting groups of
children. In this study, Choate (1958) analyzed All-
port's classic definition and Sherif and Cantril's obser-
vation of "effect of attitudes" and decided that:

An attitude . . . is the way an individual is dis-

posed to act toward something as a result of.pre-

vious experience. It-is dynamic in quality and

influences further action. It may be negative,

and it may vary in intensity (Choate, 1958, p. 3).
Since social attitudes are learned relative to something
(stimulus or stimulus class) in the individual's environ-
ment it would appear that there is always a subject--
object relationship. The positive or negative values
which the individual attaches to statements, persons or
groups are results of the interaction. The attitude,

dynamic in quality, tends to move in a referential-

direction along a continuum toward positive versus

30

negative, favorable versus unfavorable, approval versus
disapproval, trust versus distrust, etc. The outcome of
the interaction between a person and others is described
by Sherif (1960, p. 196) as an experience in which de-
sires to be accepted, to belong, to amount to something,
play a crucial part. "Thus a major source of the content
of social attitudes is the values and norms of the indi-
viduals reference groups" (p. 196).

In summary- it has been accepted that attitudes are
organized reactions of an individual towards something in
“ his environment as a result of previous knowledge and
experience with the object.

Attitude Formation in Relation to
Certain Minority Groups

 

 

Personal Contact

 

Homans (1950, p. 112) suggests that the more frequent

\ the contact between individuals or groups, the more favor-

able or unfavorable the attitude.

Allport (1958, pp. 250-268) reviewed research on
intergroup contact and concluded that "equal status con-
tact" creates more favorable attitude when the contact is
related to common interests (p. 367). Casual contact is
not only unpredictable in its effects but may tend to
reinforce adverse stereotypes (p. 252). Status was also
found to be significant. In studies of attitudes toward

Negroes, those having contact with high status Negroes

31

held more favorable attitudes toward them than those hav-
ing contact with lower status Negroes (pp. 25A, 261-262).

A Newsweek (Oct. 21, 1963, p. 50) poll indicates that
whites having more contact with Negroes or who have known
Negro professionals held more favorable attitudes than
whites who had never known a Negro socially or whites who
had contact with only low status occupational group Negroes.
This poll taken for the purpose of investigating racial
prejudice shows that "the more white Americans get to know
Negroes, the better they get along together, whites who
have social contact with Negroes consistently responded
more favorably to the Negro and his cause" (p. 57).

The concept that a group of teachers who have con-
current experiences with exceptional children are more
receptive to learning about and understanding these chil-
dren than teachers who are not having personal contacts
with exceptional children emerged from an experimental
workshop study by Haring gt_al. (1958, p. 130).

The foregoing research suggests that personal contacts
with a subgroup tend to be more favorable when contacts
with members are frequent and are with subgroup members
of a higher status. Contact stimulates interest in sub-
groups.

Minority Status of Exceptional
Individuals

 

After a careful review of research on psychological

theory Felty (1965, p. 5) reports that theory indicates

32

that the amount and kind of interpersonal contact with
a subgroup are determinants of attitudes.

Tenny (1953, p. 260) describes the physically handi—
capped as members of a minority group similar to other
minority groups—~seeking education, jobs and acceptance.

In his study of public attitudes toward the dis-
abled Roeher, (1961, p. 69) reports that societal atti—
tudes toward the physically disabled are similar to those
which other minority groups face, such as, social dis-
tance; "slapstick" humor; segregation, particularly in
schools, and vocational disadvantage (p. 69).

Cowen E£+§lo (1958, p. 300) found that, "contact or
lack of contact with the blind does not relate signifi-
cantly to verbalized attitudes to blindness." He also
found "significant correlations between negative atti-
tudes to blindness, and Anti-minority, Anti-Negro, and
pro-authoritarian attitudes . . ." (p. 30A).

Some authorities (Tenny, 1953; Roeher, 1961) desig-
nate the negative attitudinal reactions of society toward
its disabled members as one of the principal limitations
imposed upon the handicapped person. Roeher (1961) noted
that, "certain persons, for example, with slight disabili—
ties became totally dependent and resigned to an unpro-
ductive life, while others with greater physical disabili-
ties achieve independence and frequently an unusual degree

of success (p. 66).

33

Self-Concept

 

It is the view of competent authorities that conscious
recognition of difficulties accumulating along with a handi-
cap will open paths to acceptance (Fusfield, 1953, p. 1A).
It has been found that stutterers are often helped by
self-analysis and an objective attitude toward their pro-
blem. An improvement in speech in turn tends to promote a
more favorable attitude toward self. This concept is
strengthened by the following statement by Milisen:

The correction of a misarticulated sound not only

improves the quality of the speech, but it also pro-

duces constructive changes in attitude in the child
and in his environment, this facilitates the ther-
apist's efforts when dealing with the remaining

sounds . . . establishes a learning pattern (Milisen,

195A, p. 16).

An objective attitude toward his problem enables a person
to investigate his limitations and capacities. In clinical
work it has been observed that the attitude which the client
holds toward himself can either retard or accelerate the
rehabilitation process. Cholden (1958) feels that more
information is needed concerning how people acquire the
desire to change because "all rehabilitation is based on
emotional and motivational states. The attitudes the per-
son holds toward himself and his affliction form the ground-
work for any movement toward relearning and readjustment

we call rehabilitation" (p. 83).

An increased interest in "theory of ego" and the

importance of self-image to personal adjustment permeated

3A

the development of non-directive counseling methods which
emerged in the 19AO's. Theories of personal adjustment
continue to stress the importance of self-image and self-
acceptance . . . (Gaddes, 1959, p. 200).

Brookover (1962, p. 72) states that "a student's
self-concept of his own ability is positively related to
the image that he thinks others hold of him when the

significant others are teachers, peers and parents."

Peer Group

 

Special educators are aware of the importance of
helping regular class pupils to gain enough understanding
to create an atmosphere of acceptance toward "handicapped
children" with whom they have contact. The need of a
handicapped child to be understood by his peers and
teachers is recognized by the National Foundation for
Infantile Paralysis (1956) which has carried on an edu-
cational project to foster understanding of disabled
children.

A study by Force (1956, p. 68) reveals that few
physically disabled children have enough personality assets
to negate the effect of being labeled handicapped by nor-
mal peers. He did find, however, that "the individual
physically handicapped child who is highly accepted by a
peer group manifests many socially desirable traits and

relatively few negative traits of behavior patterns"

(p. 68).

35

In his sociometric studies, Jennings (1959, p. 1)
found that "the social atmosphere is very largely created
and maintained by pupil interaction, and this can be con-
structively influenced by the tone the teacher sets and
the grouping practices she uses." Recent research con-
tains data which "indicate the importance of supportive
peer group relations for pupil self esteem, attraction to
school tasks and the utilization of abilities . . ."

(Fox gt_al,, 196A, p. 109).

Jones (1966) conducted a study on social distance of
exceptional children at the high school level and found
that acceptance of certain exceptionalities was often re-
lated to interpersonal situations. Most frequently the
severely mentally retarded anchored the unfavorable end of
the acceptance continuum whereas the gifted anchored the
favorable end.

The most pertinent findings concerning attitude
formation in relation to certain minority groups is sum-
marized as follows:

1. Attitudes tend to be modified by the type and
amount of personal contact with members of the
minority or subgroup (Homans, 1950; Newsweek,
1963).

2. Attitudes tend to be more favorable when the
contact is with subgroup members of a higher

status (Allport, 1958).

36

3. Attitudes toward the disabled are similar to
the attitudes expressed toward other minority
groups (Tenny, 1953; Roeher, 1961).
A. Attitudes of society toward the disabled may
place a greater limitation on the individual
than the disability itself. This finding bears
a close relationship to the fact that, " stu—
dent's self-concept of his own ability is
positively related to the image that he thinks
others hold of him when the significant others
are teachers, peers and parents" (Brookover,
1962, p. 72).
5. Self esteem is related to "supportive peer group
relations" (Fox gt_al., 196A, p. 109).
Relevant findings, such as those listed above, in
the review of literature suggest that special attention
should be given to research results dealing with the type
and amount of experience (personal contact) with exceptional
children in relation to attitudes of educators toward them.
Special attention will also be given to knowledge and under-
standing of exceptional children in relation to attitudes
of educators toward them.
Before reviewing the research on the attitudes of
classroom teachers toward exceptional children, however,
some pertinent information concerning the general relation-

ship of teacher and pupil attitudes was examined. In

37

addition to this general information concerning the impor-
tance of teacher attitudes to pupil behavior, an extensive
investigation was made to discover some specific research
findings concerning the relationships of knowledge and

experience to attitudes.

Attitudes of Teachers and Pupil Attitudes

 

Thurston (1928, p. 531) points out that early and
initial concepts often form the bases of attitudes so that
by the time pupils enter secondary school they have incli-
nations, feelings, prejudices and biases about many
specific topics. According to Dewey (1922, p. 108), "ways
of belief, of expectation, of judgment, and attendant
emotional disposition of like and dislike, are not easily~
modified after they have once taken shape." In spite of
these findings, however, there appears to be considerable
current interest among educators in the role of teachers
in modifying pupil attitudes.

Many workers have reported that teacher attitudes
are reflected by their pupils. The degree to which teacher
attitudes toward the Negro are reflected in pupil atti—
tudes was investigated by Manske (1936, p. AA) and it was
concluded that "teachers who believe in indoctrination
tend to indoctrinate."

Cummins (1960) reports a significant relationship
between teacher acceptance of self and others and students'

acceptance of self and others' attitudes. The measuring

38

instrument used was the Index of Adjustment and Values
(Cummins, 1960) and a teacher role concept Q sort developed

on a continuum from accepting-permissive to rejecting.

Attitude and Teacher Behavior

Torrence (1960, p. 97) and Ryans (1960, p. 1A6) found
data to support a hypothesis that there is a relationship
between "certain teacher behavior, as assessed by trained
observers, and teacher attitudes" (p. 1A6).

Flanders (1965, p. 117) found that pupils learn more
from teachers who clarify goals by an indirect rather than
a direct teaching approach. Conclusions from the 1956—57
Minnesota and New Zealand studies indicate that "teacher
behavior exerts more effect on pupils' attitudes than pupil

behavior exerts on teacher influence" (Flanders, 1965, p.

65).

Knowledge

 

Nelson (1939) summarized the literature on attitudes
and concluded that several factors affect the development
of attitudes: intelligence, age, home influence, unemploy-
ment, majority opinion, group influence and interstimu—
lation, communities and geographic location, books,
periodicals and financial status. The studies presented
were in fair agreement with the following statement:
"Information seems to reduce prejudice and increase
tolerance toward other races and toward such issues as

the amount of freedom to be allowed children" (p. A25).

39

Some of the studies (1939) contained evidence that
"radical teachers do have measurable effect on student
attitudes, that courses in psychology, sociology and other
fields may actually modify certain student attitudes"

(p. A26).

The present discussion is concerned with the "intelli-
gence" and "information" factors listed above since they
are obviously related to knowledge. One needs intelligence
to discriminate and select needed information for problem
solving. The relation of attitudes to the psychology of
perception and judgment are reviewed by Sherif and Cantril
(1945):

The main points of anchorage in basic psychology of
an attitude: The first stage in formation of atti-
tudes is the perceptual stage. Because of this and
because of the discriminative nature of attitudes
they are closely linked to the psychology of per—
ception and judgment. The laboratory studies on
one hand, and historical and empirical facts of
everyday life on the other, reveal that perceptions
are selective. Perceptual and judgmental activities
take place in referential frameworks. Asva conse-
quence of facing repeatedly the proportions, forms,
or perceptual objects, scales of magnitudes (both
in a physical and social sense), these scales and
magnitudes form frames of reference in the indivi-
dual which serve as bases by which subsequent situ—
ations are perceived and judged, they need not be
consciously formed, deliberately instructed or im-
posed by others. Once formed they act as anchorages
to determine or alter an individual's reactions to
subsequent situations. In this fact is imbedded
the basic psychology of an attitude" (p. 31A).

Kvaraceus (1956, pp. 328-331) investigated the atti-
tude of professional workers (mostly teachers) toward dis-

abling conditions in relation to knowledge of the various

A0

disabilities. Results showed that teachers prefer to
teach those groups of disabled about whom they have (or
believe they have) the most knowledge.

Haring et a1. (1958) found that, "increased knowledge
per se was not found to be a significant factor in effect—
ing modifications of teachers' attitudes toward exceptional
children" (p. 130). On the other hand, however, these
investigators found that a workshop designed to modify
attitudes of teachers toward exceptional children was more
effective when teachers had "classroom experiences with
exceptional children concurrent with a workshop . . ."
This particular finding suggests that an interaction be-
tween information (knowledge) and experience, in relation
to attitudes toward a minority group, is possibly more
crucial when the information presented to the subjects is
designed to bring about a change in beliefs. The assumption
that past experience with a stimulus object affects one's
judgment of the object is verified in the following para-
graph:

Learning, i.e., the conditions and extent of past

experience with the stimulus material, is an impor—

tant determinant of the nature of an individual's
judgment scale and his placements of relevant
stimuli. This is shown most clearly in the experi-
ments of Tresselt, where the placements of weights
by subjects (such as professional weight lifters)
having prior experience with heavy objects or by
subjects with differing amounts of practice in the
experiment were markedly different from those of
subjects lacking such prior experiences. Past
experience in the form of practice provides the
subject with an established reference scale which

affects his placement of relevant stimuli (Sherif
and Hovland, 1961, p. 183).

Al

The complex relationship that appears to exist between
knowledge and experience is indicated in the fact that an
individual's placement of an attitude-related item on an
attitude scale is dependent upon both knowledge and the
stimulus conditions surrounding the formation of the atti-
tude.

If the above explanation of the psychology of atti-
tudes is true it would appear to the present investigator
that knowledge affects attitudes. Choate (1958) states
that, "Attitudes . . . are the result of perceptions upon
which judgments are made on the basis of reference which,
if not already present, is soon built up by the individual
or group. Changing one aspect of the frame of reference
will affect the attitude. Judgment may be affected by
knowledge and, in some cases by need" (p. 3). Knowledge
serves to establish and to build a frame of reference.
The importance of "frame of reference" to attitudes is
explained in the words of Cantril (19Al):

. . . the components of various individuals' mental

contexts are organized into systems that vary in

their completeness of integration. Furthermore,

the organization of the mental context within a

single individual may change radically with his

experience and education. Some people have com-
paratively few standards of judgment which furnish
the basis for a limited number of generalized
frames of reference. But these few frames of
reference in turn, can lead to a host of highly

consistent attitudes" (p. 25).

Experimental evidence indicates that, "the individuals'

judgment of stimuli is considerably affected by his

A2

attitude toward the stimuli being judged" (Sherif and
Honand, 1953, p. 135).

Since "the first stage" in the formation of an atti-
tude is a perceptual one, attitudes can be inferred from
the "selective nature of the response (Sherif and Cantril,
19A6, p. 2A). Perhaps this is what Choate (1958, p. 3),
has implied in her statement that whenever a judgment
follows a perception, on the basis of reference, an atti-

tude is born.

Instruction

Haring (1958) reports that, "By far the greatest amount
of research reports the use of instruction in some form or
another as a means for modifying attitudes" (p. 13). Some
of the studies (Manske, 1936; Haring, 1958, p. 13) indi-
cate that effectiveness of instruction in modifying atti-
tudes depends upon the effort of the instructor to indoctri-
nate.

Knowledge of principles of educational psychology,
child development, and child behavior are significantly
related to teacher attitudes as measured on the Minnesota
Teacher Attitudes Inventory (MTAI) in a study conducted
by LaBue (1959, p. A33). To a great extent, "the attitudes
of a person toward objects, persons, and processes have
been shown to be dependent on the amount and quality of
information he possesses with respect to them" (p. A33).

The importance of knowledge of a disability to the amount

A3

of acceptance one has for persons having that disability
is stressed by Murphy (1960):

Any procedures that will meaningfully aid all to

better understanding the individual with a visual

impairment need to be used. The problem is complex,
although the operational premise is (perhaps de-
ceptively) simple: It is that knowledge fosters

comfort. The more one feels knowledgeable about a

disability, the more inclined he is to move toward,

be with, work with persons having that disability;
granted that the bedrock determinant of rejecting

or accepting attitudes will be the emotional dynamics

of the reacting one, rather than the amount of in-

formation that person possesses. While in human
relationships attitudes are more important than
facts, if sound positive attitudes are to evolve
they will do so more readily when there is familiar-

ity with the facts (p. 161).

The fact that educators have been known to "express
their feelings of acceptance and rejection . . . on an
emotional level without a particular regard to (knowledge
about) the most effective placement for children with ex-
ceptionalities" was demonstrated in an experimental work—
shop designed by Haring et a1. (1958) to modify the atti—
tudes of teachers toward exceptional children. The latter
findings need to be given careful consideration since they
contain evidence to verify the assumption that attitudes
may be emotionally toned.

Russell (1953) reviewed the literature on the develop-
ment of thinking processes in which attitudes is listed as
one of the motives for thinking; the other motives listed
are feelings, needs and habits of thought which operate
to "initiate and determine the direction of thinking."

When a person directs his thought toward an object, thing,

AA

or idea, it is commonly assumed that he is interested in
the object, thing, or idea. The fact that interest is
closely related to attitude is explained by Dewey:

When we speak of a man as interested in this or

that the emphasis falls directly upon his per-

sonal attitude. To be interested is to be absorbed

in, wrapped up in, carried away by, some object.

To take an interest is to be alert, to care about,

to be attentive. We say of an interested person

both that he has lost himself in some affair and

that he has found himself in it. Both terms ex-

press the engrossment of the self in an object

(DeWey, 1916, p. 1A8).
In an experimental study designed to determine the effect
on group performance of "an indifferent and neglectful
attitude" expressed by one member of the group, Rosenthal
and Carter (19A8) found that, "if a group member behaved
with indifference and neglect, the attitudes of the group
members shifted significantly in the direction of dis-
belief in goal attainability and of disbelief that other
group members would whole-heartedly participate to achieve
the goal" (p. 577). The results of this study furnish
some evidence that group purposes need to be shared by
all of the members to enhance the end results. Socio-
metric studies in group relations show that, "Even six—
year-olds have been known to plan and discuss intelligently,
or to analyze together under guidance what they may be do-
ing to hurt some other child's feelings" (Jennings, 19A8,
p. 7). Most.educators know that children do not develop

social skills automatically since it is generally assumed

that experience and knowledge help to build social

A5

responsibility. Jennings (19A8) states that, "Mere physi-
cal proximity does not necessarily make a psychological
group. Experience to promote such ends need to be planned
for" (p. 7).

The concept that attitudes are learned, that they
are often emotionally toned and may be favorable or un-
favorable appears obvious to the present investigator and,
no doubt, to the reader of the present research study.

The present research has presented sufficient information
to support the assumption that experience and knowledge

are two of the most effective methods for the modification
of attitudes. Therefore, it would appear logical to select
both experience and knowledge factors as two outstanding

determinants of teacher attitudes toward their pupils.

Experience

 

Rabinowitz and Rosenbaum (1960) report the results of
a study which attempted to measure changes in teaching
attitudes that accompany experience. The sample included
1628 student teachers, all seniors attending four municipal
colleges in New York City. The measuring instrument, the 7
Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI), was admin-
istered a second time after an interval of three years.
The first responses were made when the subjects were
student teachers; the second responses were made when the

subjects were teachens employed in the elementary schools.

The items selected were chosen as representative of

A6

attitudes of "teachers who had rapport with children and
teachers who lacked rapport" (p. 313). Out of the 1323
respondents there were 3A3 usable inventories or 72 per—
cent of those to whom the MTAI had been sent. The F ratio
for differences between colleges was 7.97 (p < .001) which
is highly singificant. It was concluded that there were
real differences between the mean MTAI scores of subjects
from the four colleges. The F_ratio for administrations
was 198.53 (p < .001) which is also highly significant

(p. 35). The decline in mean MTAI score over the three
year interval between test administration cannot be attri-
buted to chance. The interaction of colleges and adminis-
tration was not significant; therefore there was no evi-
dence to indicate that MTAI scores were modified differ—
ently by teaching experience (p. 35). The investigators
(1960) concluded that, "The decline in score (regarded as
a deterioration in attitudes that are associated with
ability to establish rapport with pupils) can be attri-
buted to two factors: response set changes and an in-
creased emphasis on limits and standards. . . . The change
in attitudes may indicate a realistic adaptation to the
demands of classroom life" (p. 319).

The study presented above provides data which gives
reason to doubt that teaching experience improves teacher
rapport with pupils.

It is quite apparent that educational placement of

the gifted has been an educational issue in the public

A7

schools. Because of a concern for the attitudes of the
staff towards organized classes for the gifted, Justman
and Wrightstone (1956) employed the questionnaire method

to determine the attitudes of teachers in four schools in
which IGC classes had been operating for at least five
years (p. 1A1). The questionnaire called for acceptance

of a series of 30 negatively phrased statements arranged

on a five-point scale--strongly agree, agree, undecided,
disagree, and strongly disagree. Each teacher was also
asked whether IGC classes should be retained or abolished
(p. 1A1). The results of the study (1956, p. 1A2) re-
vealed a significant relationship between years of teach-
ing experience and specific experiences with IGC classes.
The implication to the investigators was: ". . . length

of service is a factor in placement of teachers to IGC
classes" (p. 1A2). "In general, the greater the number

of years of service reported . . . the greater the tendency
to vote for abolition of IGC classes" (p. 1A3). Of special
relevance to this study was their (1956) finding that
teachers who had actually been assigned to IGC classes
tended to vote that they be retained; teachers who had
never had experience in teaching IGC classes tended to vote

for the abolition of the IGC groups (p. 1A3).

A8

Attitudes of Teachers Toward
Exceptional Children

 

 

Acceptance

 

The importance of teacher acceptance to the ex-
ceptional child is discussed by Cain (19A9, pp. 275-279)
and Major (1961, pp. 328-330). Cain points out that "many
forward looking schools" attempt to provide integration
services which aim to obtain "an understanding on the
part of all teachers of the problems of the handicapped
child being educated in their respective buildings."

The FortyeSeventh Yearbook of the National Society for

the Study of Education (19A8, I, p. 238) recommends a good

 

mental hygiene approach because the attitude of the teacher
is considered to be important to the personal adjustment
of the exceptional child. In a discussion of what can be
done to promote social acceptance and psychological inte-
gration of exceptional children, Dunn (1963) makes the
following statement:
The attitudes fostered by the administration among
faculty, pupils and parents and the ingenuity ex-
hibited in solving the problems involved, consti-
tute approaches that can produce both social accep-
tance and psychological integration (Dunn, 196A,
p. Al).
Johnson and Kirk (1950) in a study designed to deter-
mine whether mentally handicapped children are segregated
in the regular classroom found that although these children

are physically present in the school system they may be

psychologically segregated as compared to their normal peers.

A9

Teaching Preference

 

Teachers who have an educational speciality (e.g.,
speech correction), usually designate children within that
area as the most preferred area of exceptionality to teach
(Dickenstein and Dripps, 1958; Murphy, 1960; Blatt, 1956).

Haring et_a1. (1958, p. 1A) found teachers to be
1ess accepting of the handicapped than they were toward
non-handicapped children.

These studies do not indicate whether preference to
teach a certain group of exceptional children is associ-
ated with a more favorable acceptance ranking. A record
to show the extent of the teachers' contact with exceptional
children would also be desirable.[:1t is quite evident that
knowledge of and experience with exceptional children are
closely associated with the acceptance-rejection attitude

for teaching certain groups of exceptional children ex-

pressed by the teachers.'1

Understanding Exceptional Children

 

The fact that the needs of exceptional children differ
from that of their normal peers has been verified by various
investigators.“ Wrightstone (1957) reports on a study which
focused upon a comparison of the adjustment of handicapped
and non-handicapped children in New York City (grades 6-8)
to school, to society and to self. A battery of tests de-
signed to obtain objective measurements of intelligence,

general personal--socia1 adjustment and academic

50

achievement were administered to each child. Data con-
cerning class adjustment, work habits, progress in class-
room subjects, number of schools and types of classes
attended, subject marks as well as results on group tests
administered by the school, were obtained through a study
of the child's record and teacher interview. A personal
interview was also given to each child to determine atti-
tudes toward school, special class, teacher, classmates,
self, orthopedic illness, vocational and school ambitions,
hobbies and interests, and friends (p. 160).

A survey of these classes was taken by means of
observation and an instrumental checklist which emphasized
three aspects of the total classroom situation: (a) physi—
cal features of the classroom and building, (b) classroom
climate, and (c) instructional practices and materials.

Some of the findings of the Bureau of Educational
Research in this study (Wrightstone, 1957) indicate that
orthopedic teachers, as a group, find that handicapped
"(children do not achieve at the same level on a.standard—
ized intelligence test as non-handicapped children. They
also found more evidence of emotional disturbance among
the disabled, who were found to be more immature and
egocentric than the average adolescent and to be less
able to deal constructively with their problems. The

investigators concluded that there is need for more teacher

I
\k
x.

51

education concerning the problems of handicapped children
(Wrightstone, 1957).

The latter study provides evidence of the need to
promote research which may be utilized for the coordination
of programs set up to educate exceptional children. Some
of the problems pointed—up by the investigators were:
the wide range of age; need for an evaluation team; need
for more teacher education, and need for more physical
examinations. The finding that is of most importance to
the present research is the "need for more teacher edu-
cation" pertaining to the education of exceptional children.
Theories of personality adjustment and behavior theories
have been probed for leads to a better understanding of
the adjustment of children with various types and degrees
of exceptionality (Dunn, 1963, Ch. 10). Among some of the
findings pertaining to exceptionality and adjustment are
the following:

Exceptional children tend to have more adjustment

problems than do normal children. Nevertheless, it

is evident that a wide range of potential for ad-
justment prevails among individuals with exception-
alities of all types. No simple one-to—one relation-
ship exists between poor adjustment and degree of
deviation on mental, physical, or social continua.

Efforts to understand adjustment in terms of a single

factor seem to contribute little useful information.

Evidence indicates that environmental factors inter-

acting with physical or mental deviation have a pro-

found and complex relationship to adjustment (Dunn,
1963, pp. 550-551).

52

Empirical Research--Attitudes of Teachers
Toward Classroom Integration of
Expectional Children
Dickenson and Dripps (1958) by the use of a rating-

\\scale technique did an analysis of the acceptance-rejection

attitudes of several groups of youth specialists toward the

following categories of exceptional children: (a) visually

handicapped, (b) mentally retarded or slow, (c) emotionally

disturbed, (d) physically handicapped, (e) hearing handi-

capped, (f) gifted and talented, (g) speech disorders, and

(h) delinquents.

f The purpose of the problem investigated by Dickenson

and Dripps (1958) was to ascertain whether different child-

hood worker groups vary in attitude toward exceptional

children and to determine whether certain categories of

exceptionality tended to be more accepted (or rejected)
éthan other types.

The sample was composed of 100 freshmen teachers-
to-be, 100 regular elementary teachers, 32 principals, A6
special educators and 31 speech therapists. These groups
were chosen because they all had direct contact with chil-
dren in their work and the investigators held that the
extent to which adults react to handicapped children should
have some implications for education in general. They
theorized that a clarification of group attitudes toward
handicapped children should, "increase our efficiency in

dealing with these children" (p. 2).

53

The rating scale adapted for this study (Dickstein
and Dripps, 1958) was developed by Kvaraceus (1956) and
reported in an article in the May, 1956 edition of Exp

ceptional Children. Dickstein and Dripps (1958) confined

 

their study to the same eight categories with which the
Kvaraceus study was concerned plus eight separate cate-
gories of speech and hearing disorders; the latter seg-
ment of the investigation was the distinct contribution
of these investigators. Each respondent was asked to
indicate:

1. Which type of exceptional child he would most
prefer to teach.

2. Which type of exceptional child he would least
prefer to teach.

3. Which type of exceptional child he felt he
knew most about.

A. Which type of exceptional child he felt he
knew least about.

 

 

In general, the tendency was for all workers to most
prefer to teach those categories about which they felt
‘ that they knew the most (Dickstein and Dripps, 1958, Ch.
IV). The regular classroom teachers felt that they knew
most about the gifted and their preference for teaching
the gifted group far exceeded the next most preferred
group. Teachers felt they knew next most about slow
learners and the emotionally disturbed. The emotionally
disturbed group tied with physically handicapped and
speech handicapped as the classroom teachers' next pre-

ferred groups to teach (Ch. IV).

5A

Regular classroom teachers felt they knew least
about visually handicapped and next least about the delin—
quent. They felt that they least preferred to teach the
delinquent, the visually handicapped and the hard-of-
hearing.

In ranking the eight separate categories of speech
and hearing disorders the classroom teachers indicated
that children with articulatory disorders were the most
preferred group to teach. The next most preferred group
was children with voice disorders. Among the Speech and
hearing disorders the regular classroom teachers least
preferred to teach children with cerebral palsy, cleft
palate, and hearing impairments.

J In their analysis of the data the investigators (1958,
Ch. IV) found that certain groups of exceptional children
tend to be rather consistently preferred or not preferred.
The gifted appeared to be generally preferred whereas the
delinquent, visually handicapped, and hearing handicapped
were generally least preferred.

Critical Analysis of Dickstein:
Dripps Research Study

 

 

The respondents appear to have similar educational
background in that they were all educators or teachers-
to-be (Freshmen). It is apparent that the participants
in this study were not equally experienced in teaching
and that many of them did not have any teaching experi-

ences with exceptional children. Their amount of

55

knowledge concerning exceptional children, according to
the ratings used in the study, did not have as much con-

sistency as the mostzprefer to teach category. The present

 

writer questions the validity of a teacher's or principal's
rating of themselves on "know most about" a certain area
of exceptionality. The investigators also do not show

that the validity and reliability of the data gathering
instruments have been established.

The method used for drawing their sample was not
clearly defined. If the samples used are representative
of the population the investigators do not explain so.
Neither do they indicate whether or not each of the groups
was randomly chosen from a larger population.

Although the size of the samples of groups are given,
the investigators do not furnish any background concerning
the community populations--the presence or absence of ex-
ceptional children in the various schools from which the
participants were chosen. The amount of contact of the
various participants with various kinds of exceptional
children might be a crucial factor in the amount of
acceptance-rejection expressed by the participants towards
these children.

There are various other factors such as the age of
the participants, the number of years taught, special edu-
cation background and contact with exceptional children
which might affect the distribution of attitudes on a

continuum. It would appear that their control variables

56

are not adequately identified even though they have been
very careful to describe the research procedures in detail.
The level of significance necessary for the rejection of
the hypothesis was not specified--perhaps because the by;
pothesis itself was not clearly presented.

The Dickstein and Dripps (1958) study suggests that
a study be conducted which is designed to determine specific
factors such as knowledge and experience involved in the
rejection of children with obvious physical disabilities.

Empirical Research on Attitudes of
Educators Toward Exceptional
Children

A research study by Haring, Stern and Cruickshank
(1958) has demonstrated the value of well developed orien-
tation programs for in-service teachers who want to learn
to make a positive teaching approach to all types of ex—
ceptional children. Alt appears to be by far the best de-
signed piece of research on the attitudes of teachers to-
ward classroom placement of exceptional children that has
been published to date.

The general purposes of the investigation were:
(a) "to determine the extent to which the attitudes of
classroom teachers can be modified toward greater and
more realistic acceptance of exceptional children" and
(b) to utilize a workshop for the purpose of modifying
attitudes in the direction of a greater amount of knowl-

edge and understanding of exceptional children. The

57

study has two specific purposes: (a) to ascertain the
initial status of attitudes toward, and the amount of
information about exceptional children, and (b) to re-
test, after a thirty-week workshop period, to determine
the effect of the workshop in modifying attitudes and
understanding of exceptional children (pp. 19—20). It
was hoped that the workshop would also help the teachers
to be more expressive of personal feelings after fifteen
three-hour sessions together. The entire staff of four
selected schools participated in separate workshop pro-
grams developed for the members of each school staff in
their own building. Administrators and non-professional
workers were among the participants in the workshop. In
fact, the only criterion insisted upon by the workshop
directors was that the entire staff of the schools partici-
pate in the workshop.

Each of the fifteen workshop sessions lasted three
hours. The first part of the meeting consisted of lec-
tures by specialists and discussions led by consultants
pertaining to the best that was known about a given ex-
ceptionality. Constructive information was made avail-
able with particular emphasis on the part of the con—
sultants to correct misconceptions and "old wives' tales"
about the particular type of exceptionality that was be-
ing explored (p. 22)-

The second part of the workshop period was left as

nonstructured as possible. The group was divided into

58

several small groups with a nondirective leader. Regard-
less of status at school, academic rank was ignored and
all participants were free to take part in the discussion
on an equal basis. It was believed by the directors of
the workshop that, ". . . if teachers expressed whatever
negative feelings they might have, new insights might
occur which in turn would increase attitudes of acceptance"
(p. 2A). The goal of the workshop was to develop healthy x
attitudes toward exceptional children in the minds of all
members of the school personnel who might be having con-
tacts with exceptional children and/or be able to give
support to special educators. Reference material con-
cerned with exceptional children, which was recommended
by the consultants to be "a cross-section of the best think-
ing and most valid research available at the time," was
placed in each of the four schools (p. 26). Orientation
meetings were held for the administrators, consultants and
discussion leaders prior to the workshop meetings. Dis-
cussion leaders were urged to provide "an atmosphere of
acceptance" which would serve to ventilate any possible
hostile feelings or misunderstandings the members might
have (p. 23).

At the beginning and at the end of the thirty-week
workshop period several sessions and many hours were spent
in the collecting and processing of objective data.

These measures revealed valuable information concerning

59

each participant's general knowledge about exceptionality,
and his initial attitude toward exceptionality. The~§
battery of tests given also yielded important information
about the personality of each participant, as well as

many important characteristics of the group. After the
group had been subjected to the "influence of the work—
shop" (treatment) for fifteen sessions the tests were re-
peated. The results gave evidence ". . . that teacher i
attitudes were modified as a result of the workshop in the
direction of increased acceptance toward pupils classi-
fied as exceptional" (pp. 128-129). It was of particular
interest that the evidence of change and growth which
could be attributed to the workshop experience was "parti—
cularly true for the participants from those schools al-
ready providing teaching experiences for exceptional
children" (p. 129). It was also of special interest to
the present research to note that the teachers who appeared
to have an increased amount of emotional acceptance for
exceptional children did not demonstrate, ". . . a parti-
cular regard to the most effective placement of children
with exceptionalities" (p. 129).

‘t An analysis of the pre-test and the post-test results
obtained through the administration of the five tests
listed below furnished the basis for determining the ex-
tent to which the understanding and attitudes of the

teachers and administrators changed (effect) after having

 

'w

 

‘r

 

60

experienced the various kinds of workshop activities
(treatment). The instruments were: (a) the General
Information Inventory, (b) the Classroom Integration
Inventory, (0) the Activities Index, (d) the Picture Judg-
ment Test, (e) the Critical Incident Test (p. 20). These
five instruments were selected to give what is termed by
the authors (Haring et_e1., 1958) as a "multidimensional
approach" in making an assessment of attitude change.

The General Information Inventory, the Classroom Inte-‘
gration Inventory and the Critical Incident Test are of
particular interest to the present writer because they
center around the exceptional child. The GII and 011 are
described in detail in Chapter III (pp. 92-10A). "The
Critical Incident Test was a straight-forward technique
which asked the subject to cite any way in which a cer-
tain experience had influenced his behavior" (p. 57); thus
it served to validate the findings on the GII and CII.

Attitudes in Relation to
Personality Structure

 

Haring et_al. (1958) used the Activities Index for
tapping some of the "more grossly functioning aspects of
behavior" (p. 20). He (p. A7) relates some interesting
findings derived from previous administrations of the
Activities Index to graduate students in physics, teacher-
training and theology. "Teachers and theologians

emphasized activities involving mature interrelationships

61

with other people. For the teachers the concern with
interpersonal activities was coupled with an interest in
providing nurturant support for others" (p. A7). They
(1958, p. A7) also found that teachers exhibited less
"personal introspectiveness" than the other two groups.
The version of the Activities Index adopted for use with
Haring's (p. A8) workshop was the first of two revisions
designed to facilitate quantitative analysis. The Activi-
ties Index proved to be more meaningful than the Strong

or the Kuder tests "when broken down into its individual
needs component" (p. 51). The teachers were given the
Activities Index both before and after the workshop. A
vector analysis was carried out by means of Hotelling's

3. Difference scores were obtained by subtracting post-
test from pre-test scores. A matched-pair t test was done
for the total group and for each of the four schools indi-
vidually. The differences noted between the pre-testing
and post-testing suggested a resistance to the workshop
materials which was consistent with withdrawal character-
istic noted in the vector analysis.

The findings from the Activities Index given to
teachers from all four schools showed a characteristic
pattern of "extreme personal reserve" (p. 89). Although
the investigators intended that the workshop would affect
"the personality structure of the teachers toward a

greater expression of personal feelings . . . the teachers

62

as a total group moved in just the reverse direction."
The results appeared to imply "a rejection of the work-
shop itself" (p. 89).

The investigators, Haring et_el, (1958, pp. 89-100)
obtained analyses of variance on the four schools to see
if one or two of the schools did show a significantly
greater release of personal feelings. Findings from the
results of the data indicated that the rural school had a
pattern which most nearly fulfilled the goal of the work-
shop for growth in personal expression concerning both
personal and professional activities. The characteristic
pattern of the rural school teachers was contradictory to
the pattern of "extreme personal reserve" exhibited by the
group as a whole. "They (rural teachers) seemed to feel
that they could open up and express themselves without be-
ing defensive of what they might say" (p, 99).

The investigators also made a surprising discovery
which they did not anticipate at the beginning of their
study. The two schools (city and rural) "which enrolled
the greatest number of exceptional children were affected
to a far greater extent by the workshop" than "the two
schools . . . (suburban) and . . . (parochial), which had
but a few exceptional children . . ." (1958, p. 7A). It
appeared to the directors of the workshop that, "Teachers
engaged in daily contact with exceptional children were

most receptive to the workshop program and responded

63

enthusiastically in the discussions" (p. 130). The

authors (Haring et_el., 1958, p. 132) interpret this find-
ing as an implication of an immediate need on the part of
teachers who are presently dealing with exceptional chil-
dren in their daily teaching program. The fact that the
investigators (p. 133) did not anticipate the possible
effect of "function of the existing service load with ex-
ceptional children" upon "group differences in the modifi-
cation of attitudes" was cited by them as a definite over—
sight in their experimental design. Another limitation
pointed out by them is the finding that, ". . . increased
knowledge per se" was not "a significant factor in effecting
modifications of teachers' attitudes toward exceptional
children" (p. 130). It is further pointed out that the
"most effective results are seemingly obtained when pro-
grams designed for implementing attitude changes are pre-
sented in conjunction with actual experiences" (p. 132).
Because of the findings described above, Haring et_el.
(1958) recommend further research to determine the relation-
ship between the changes that occur in teacher attitudes
and their "having actual experiences with exceptional
children" (p. 13A). The concept that a workshop experience
such as the one described by Haring et_el. (1958) is more
effective with teachers who are teaching exceptional
children than with teachers who have few opportunities

for actual experiences with exceptional children reflects

of John Dewey pragmatism. The present investigator is also

6A

reminded of the Sartain theory which expounds on the

philosophy-that learning is a changed behavior due to

 

experience. The difference in behavior between the teachers

 

who engaged in daily contact with exceptional children and
those who had few opportunities for actual experiences
with exceptional children is explained by Haring et_el.
(1958) as follows:

The teachers not engaged in daily contact with ex-
ceptional children seemed less receptive to a pro-
gram of this nature, became defensive and resorted
to thinly veiled hostility or evasive intellectual-
ization. A possible explanation for this reaction
may lie in the fact that they failed to recognize a
need for an experience of this nature, responded to
the ideas of the group on a purely intellectual
level without the support of past experience and
association with this group of children, and were
threatened or made anxious by the implied process
of integration which seemed far less workable in
abstraction for them than others had found it to

be in actual practice (p. 130).

Haring e£_el. (1958) support the above concept with an

analogy pertaining to the integration of Negroes. It ap-

pears to them that "a similar mechanism" is involved in

connection with "a rejected and feared minority group." ,

And in either case, "the absence of specific experiencesX
. . causes diffuse anxiety" (p. 131).

Recent Trends in Attitudes Toward

the Educational Placement of
Exceptional Children

 

 

 

The trend in modern education to provide for indi-
vidual differences is exemplified by an increasing amount ‘*
of interest among administrators and by the persistent

efforts of special educators to place exceptional children

65

insofar as possible in the regular classroom (Dunn, 1963,
p. A2). In many instances the vast expansion of special
education programs is a result of an increased acceptance
of children who deviate from the normal intellectually,
emotionally and/or physically (Conner, 1961). It is
generally known that parent pressure groups have backed
legislation which has secured assistance for the develop-
ment of more special education programs. As a result
many problems have arisen concerning the identification
and educational placement of exceptional children.

In an attempt to provide some guide lines for future
research in special education the Los Angeles school dis;
trict assisted by the United States Office of Education
conducted a study in 1960, "for the purpose of acquiring
data regarding: (a) definition, (b) function, and (c)
organization and administration of special education pro—
grams" (Hodgson, 196A, p. 196). The questionnaire study
defined three basic sources from which data was drawn.
They were: (a) Special Education Specialists, (b) State
Departments of Education, and (c) Professors of School
Administration. The specialists were directors or co-
ordinators and staff members who were known to give full-
time to the field of special education. It was assumed
that the State Department respondents "would reflect state
recommendations and consequently, to a degree, possible

trends." The professors of school administration were

66

chosen to serve as generalists as opposed to specialist
respondents. The groups were obtained from various parts
of the United States. Among the respondents the percent—
age of usable questionnaires received were 82 percent from
State Departments; 69 percent from Special educators and
50 percent from Professors of School Administration
(Generalists).

The findings contained in the Hodgson (196A) question-
naire study were inspected for the presence of relevant
data concerning the attitudes of experts, state departments
of education and generalists toward the educational place-
ment of exceptional children.

In an attempt to define the scope of special edu-
cation, Hodgson (196A) asked the respondent to indicate
approval or rejection of a list of areas of exceptionality
as a responsibility of special education. The respondents
indicated that special education should include the follow-
ing categories: (a) gifted, (b) mentally retarded, (c)
mentally deficient, (d) emotionally and/or socially dis—
turbed, (e) blind, (f) partially seeing, (g) cerebral
palsied, (h) orthopedic, (1) chronic medical problems,

(J) hOSpital teaching, (k) home teaching, (1) deaf, (m)
hard of hearing, (n) speech reading, and (0) speech cor-
rection. The questionnaire respondents indicated that
remedial reading, remedial art, foreign adjustment classes

and corrective physical education should not be included

67

as functions of special education. All of the areas
defined as special education were recommended for in-
clusion in a public school department of special edu-
cation with the exception of the gifted and mentally
deficient. Agreement was not found among the respondents
regarding the responsibility of the school district for
the education of preschool deaf, blind, or cerebral pal—
sied pupils (Hodgson, 196A, 30 5, p. 198).

Although most educators are aware of the trend to—
ward the goal which advocates placement of exceptional
children in regular classrooms whenever possible, the
words "whenever possible," according to Hodgson (196A)
give rise to two points of view which contribute to the
"philosophical goal of rehabilitation and habilitation
as follows":

Two diametrically opposing vieWpoints may be ob-
served. One vieWpoint indicates that a consider-
able number of youngsters within a given category
of special education may never be emotionally and
socially integrated with success within a regular
classroom situation. In addition, doubt is also
manifested regarding the meeting of specialized
educational needs in an integrated classroom
situation.

The opposite vieWpoint tends to emphasize the
need to accept the handicapped and give them an
opportunity to learn to adjust to a normal class-
room environment. This goal may demand that place-
ment within a normal environment is the major means
of developing social and emotional adjustment. In
the sense of emphasis, one school of thought tends
to stress the provision of specific educational
and physical services; the other school of thought
tends to emphasize social and emotional adjustment
to a normal environment (p. 198).

68

In an attempt to determine the best means for the
education of the various areas of exceptionality, Hodgson
(196A) described five pupil organizational plans: the
segregated plan, partial segregation, the cooperative plan,
the resource room, and the itinerant teacher./ Although he
recognized the fact that more than one plan of organization
might be necessary for a special education category Hodgson
(196A) requested respondents to recommend one or more of
the following types of organizational plan for each cate-
gory of special education:

Segregeted Plan. Special classes or school not on
on the same site as regular school.

 

Partial Segregation. Section of regular school re-
served for special education classes, or special
education school on the same site as regular school.
No plan to specifically integrate children with
regular classroom activities. Partial integration
recognized by attendance at school assemblies,
events, lunch room, etc., where feasible.

 

Coqperative Plan. Special education class or
classes in which pupil may spend some portion of
the day in the regular classroom.

 

Resource Room. Pupil registered in regular class-
room, does all his work with the regular group, and
only goes to the resource room and the special
education teacher for materials and special train-
ing.

 

Itinerant Teacher. Pupil registered in regular
classroom, does all his work with the regular class-
.room teacher, and received periodic specialized
training, help, and materials from a traveling
special education teacher.

 

r The fact that, "the degree of segregation or inte-

gration of handicapped children is implemented in the form

69

of pupil organization" (Hodgson, 196A) was of special
interest to the present study.

Although the Hodgson (196A) questionnaire study in—
cluded the secondary schools as well as the elementary
schools, the present investigation was concerned only with
the pupil organizational plans in elementary schools which
were given the highest frequency by the respondents in the
state departments of education, specialists and professors
of school administration. The recommendations for edu-
cational placement (of eight of the accepted classifications)
made by the respondents in the state departments, special
education departments, and departments of school adminis-
tration gave highest frequencies to the following organ-

izational plans in elementary school:

 

 

Classifi- State

cations Departments Specialists Generalists
Deaf Partial Seg. Partial Seg. Partial Seg.
Men. Ret. Partial Seg. Partial Seg. Partial Seg.
Men. Def. Seg. Plan Seg. Plan Seg. Plan
Crippled Coop. Plan Partial Seg. Coop. Plan
Hard of Hr. Coop. Plan Resource Room Coop. Plan
Blind Coop. Plan Partial Seg. Seg. Plan
Partially

Seeing Coop. Plan Resource Room Coop. Plan
Emotion.

and/or

‘Soc. Dis. Partial Seg. Partial Seg. Coop. Plan

 

The resource plan of organization, which in this
study represents the maximum amount of classroom inte-

gration, was recommended by the specialists as the best

70

plan for the hard of hearing and the partially seeing
pupil. State department, special education department
and department of school administration respondents were
found to be in complete agreement relative to giving
highest frequency to the segregated plan for the mentally
deficient pupil. They were also in complete agreement
relative to giving the highest frequency to the partial
segregation organization plan for the deaf and the mentally
retarded. The state department and specialist respondents
gave the highest frequency to partial segregation plan
for the emotionally and/or socially disturbed whereas the
generalists recommended the cooperative organizational
plan for this group. ”Partial segregation was the organ-
izational plan which was given highest frequency by the
specialists for the crippled group whereas the state de-
partment and generalist respondents gave the highest fre-
quency to the cooperative plan for the crippled category.
Although the organizational plan recommended most fre-
quently by respondents in the state departments and de-
partments of school administration was the cooperative
plan, this organizational plan was not given a high fre-
quency by the specialists.

The findings from the Hodgson (196A) questionnaire
study discussed above appear to indicate a serious need
for communication and coordination of special education

placement policies among professional educators. The

71

diversity of organizational plans among the three sources
of data groups also pointed up a need for more research
pertaining to the attitudes of educators toward the edu-

cational placement of exceptional children.

Summary

The studies reviewed in this section, particularly
those by Dickstein and Dripps (1958), Haring et_el.
(1958) and Hodgson (196A), dealt with respondents who
were considering the acceptability of children for place-
ment in regular classroom programs. The present investi-
gator assumes that the same basic variables are operating
in respect to exceptional children. Knowledge of exceptional
children and teaching experience with them as well as per-
sonal reactions to their disabilities are undoubtedly
influential factors when educators are considering the
eligibility of exceptional children for placement in either

part- or full-time regular class programs.

The Measurement of Attitudes
Measurement, according to Van Dalen (1962, p. 7) is
"the cornerstone of the research movement." Since atti-
tude research involves "subtle and difficult to measure
factors," studies in this area need to have qualitative
depth to compensate for the lack of quantitative precision
(Hatch and Stefflre, 1958, p. 255). The review of litera-

ture indicates a strong attempt among social psychologists

72

to improve methodology and techniques for the measure-

ment of attitudes. In consequence, there is now "a great
mass of literature . . . dealing with methodology, as well
as with the content of attitudes themselves" (Vincke, 1952,
p. 322). The objective analysis of intergroup relation-
ships is dependent upon the development of "standardized
methods of measuring opinions and attitudes . . ." (p.

322). Measurement entails certain basic problems.

Problems of Attitude Measurement

 

The three major problems in measuring attitudes, as
viewed by Vinacke (1952) are as follows: (a) attitudes
. are inferred; they can never be observed directly, (b)
attitudes are not composed of definite units and if they
were the equality of the units would be questionable,

(c) attitude tests are extremely difficult to make valid
and reliable (pp. 323-325). According to Vinacke (p. 323)
Thurston devised a way to cope with the first problem:

Let us use opinions (the response) as an index and for

whatever it is worth. Assume that measurements

are obtained only in situations where there is as

reasonable expectation that subjects will tell the

truth and hence provide a dependable basis for our

inference (Thurston, 1928).

Because the units of an attitude have not been
definitely determined either in quality or quantity,
"measurement (of attitude) is usually based upon the
comparison of one person with another" (Vinacke, 1952,

p. 323). Vinacke (p. 32A) at this point quotes directly

from McNemar:

73

If A scores A, B--6 and C--8, you can't say that

C possesses twice as much of the attitude as A.

You can say that B's value differs from that of

C in that same direction that A's value differs

from B's (McNemar, 19A6).

"In this way, individuals can be ranked in terms of their
responses, thus providing a basis for some kind of quanti-
tative treatment" (Vinacke, 1952, pp. 323—32A). Vinacke
describes several scaling techniques which have been de-
veloped (p. 32A). One of the techniques, originated by
Thurston (1925), provided a more systematic method for
scaling attitude responses than existed in the early
"survey" type of attitude questionnaire. Judges "sort
possible items into piles corresponding to an ll-point
scale, and each item is assigned a median value." The
degree to which judges agree on the scale value of the
various items provides criteria for item analyses. Items
which survive the tests are selected for the question-
naire (Vinacke, 1952, p. 32A).

A second scaling technique described by Vinacke is
one developed by Likert (1932). It is based upon five
degrees of agreement with a series of relevant proposi-
tions concerning the attitude(s) in question. It was found
that the simple scoring of l to 5 was in accord with weight-
ings in terms of standard-deviation scores. "Likert's
system is easy to use and reliable" (Vinacke, 1952, p. 32A).
Vinacke refers to McNemar for a final evaluation of the
Thurston and Likert scales. McNemar (19A6) says that these

two scales could "usefully be combined. . . . Thus the

7A

Thurston method appears to be superior in the process of
selecting and evaluating items, whereas the Likert scor-
ing system is clearly simpler and probably just as good"
(Vinacke, 1952, p. 32A).

Vinacke reports on a third method of "scale analysis,"
as proposed by Guttman (19AA). In the Guttman method of
scoring units "are worked out by defining the relation be-
tween answers to a series of questions" as follows:

The order in which individuals fall in answering

the questions is converted into a quantitative

score. Thus a general attitude is broken down

into degrees; i.e., the individual who falls at

one end of the scale is characterized by more

knowledge of something, more interest in some—

thing, more acceptance of something . . . than

the individual who falls at the other end (Gutt-

man, 19AA, pp. 139-150).

Guttman (1950) defines "two of the most important
problems of all measurement concern": (a) the limitation
of the measurement to one dimension at a time and (b) the
determination of some fixed point to which measures along
this single continuum can be anchored (p. A6). The social
sciences "have proposed various techniques for determination
of unidimensionality and fixed point of reference" (p. A6).
Guttman (1950) proposed "scalogram analysis" as a simple
technique for "testing a series of qualitative items for
unidimensionality, while the technique of intensity
function provides a simple method for finding a meaning-
ful, objective cutting point along a single continuum"

(p. A6). He also stipulates that any definition of atti-

tude "intended to promote research" should "be defined

75

in terms of a delimited totality of behavior." His basic
premises are: "(a) A scientific concept must be defined
in terms of observations; . . . or by operations on the
observations, (b) A definition is scientifically useful
only in so far as it leads to objective research." He
holds that any sociological concept "needs to be based on
observations of human behavior and will be useful only to
the extent that the requisite observations can be made and
analyzed rigorously" (p. A9). If such conditions as
those stipulated here are incorporated into the research,
Guttman maintains that a complete definition for attitude
is unimportant. He does, however, suggest the use of
classifications and subclassifications for an operational
definition.

Classifications.and Sub-
Classifications

 

 

A subarea of behavior is said to be "of interest" if
the universe of behavior, of which it is a part, is "of
interest" (Guttman, 1950, p. 52). He further maintains
that:

. the relationship of subarea to outside vari-
ables can be studied and be useful regardless of
the role of the subarea in the total area. In an
external prediction problem, if an adequate pre-
diction can be made from only a subarea of an atti-
tude, then that may be all that is needed for
practical purposes; it need not be necessary to
study the entire area" (p. 53).

This investigator theorizes that, "By recognizing the

different subuniverses that can be in an attitude, one

76

can avoid the temptation of saying that a particular sub-
universe is 'really' the attitude." For example, some
Negro soldiers were found to respond differently to
"questions put by Negro interviewers" than they did to
"the same questions put by white interviewers." Rather
than try to determine "the 'real' attitude of the re-
spondents"the investigator should recognize "two distinct,
though related, subuniverses" (p. 53). Guttman emphasizes
the importance of identifying "the acts that are to be
considered intrinsic to the attitude, when the investi-
gator takes the viewpoint of attitude-as-behavior" (p. 55).
"Questionnaire responses1 at present are by far the most
manageable kind of subuniverse of attitudinal behavior
." (p. 53).

Many items can be included in a questionnaire and

responded to in a very short period of time, whereas

other kinds of subuniverses of behavior may take

place over long periods of time and be difficult to

observe systematically for a satisfactorily large

group of peOple (p. 5A).

It has been found that if a universe is scalable for
an entire population, it follows that it will also be
scalable for its major subpopulations. Degrees of com-

parison can be made only if "the same scaling obtains in

both cases being compared" (pp. 89-90).

 

lQuestionnaire responses were used extensively by
A. S. Barr, R. A. Davis, and P. 0. Johnson, (1953).

77

Scale Analysis

 

As was indicated previously, questionnaire responses
which yield qualitative data may be studied by scale
analysis. Scale analysis can be applied equally well to
the study of attitudes as to the study of opinions. It
provides a technique for determining whether a set of
items can be ordered along a single dimension. If a
particular attitude universe is really one-dimensional,
any sampling of items from it should also be one-dimen-
sional, and should provide an ordering of respondents
essentially the same as that provided by any other sampl-
ing of items from the universe. If the predicted order-
ing does not occur, the universe is judged to be multi-
dimensional and consequently not scalable (Green, 195A,

p. 357). If items suggest an underlying single dimension,
it is meaningful to describe a respondent with a higher
total score as possessing more of the characteristic being
measured than someone with a lower total score. If scale
properties are obtained, evidence is provided for the
existence of a defined position (attitude) in the parti-
cular respondent group in respect to the isolated area of
measurement involved.

Although unitary scales can be developed by the
Guttman scaling technique, McNemar (19A6, p. 367) has sug-
gested that, "Because of its many grave difficulties
the single question technique should be replaced by atti-

tude scales." Three basic requirements for attitude

78

scales are reliability, validity, and unidimensionality.
McNemar (p. 29A) suggested that attitude testers use the
term, "reliability" in its restricted meaning, i.e.,

"the accuracy with which an individual's attitude is mea-
sured, or the degree of error involved in assigning an
individual to a class or in establishing his rank—order
position." McNemar (p. 29A) also suggests that the term
validity be used in a restricted sense: "Does the test,
scale or question tap the variable it is supposed to mea-
sure"? As viewed by McNemar (p. 296), "The problem is
essentially that of supplying evidence that the device
used measures or classifies the attitude or opinion it was
designed to measure." A generally accepted method of test
validity is "correlation with some outside criterion which
has proved to be satisfactory as a measuring instrument or
as a basis for discrimination" (Kerlinger, 1956, p. 289).

Likert Scoring Weights.--"Scores by this simpler

 

method yielded correlations which scored by sigma scoring
were in excess of .99 and, as one would anticipate from
this fact, there were no noticeable differences in re-

liabilities" (Kerlinger, 1956, p. 306).

Synthetic Method

 

Stern et al. (1956) demonstrated that a synthetic
model can be used effectively for prediction and de—

scribed it as follows:

79

(It) is susceptible to quantitative and objective
measurement, and constitutes an economical alter-
native to the assessment methodologies. . . . Its
effectiveness depends, however, upon the degree to
which the synthetic model can be specifically re-
lated to the performance situation, as well as upon
the actual presence of persons among those being
screened who can be typified in terms of the syn-
thetic model. This latter qualification consti-
tutes its major limitation. Since it involves an
abstract model with consequences for performances
arrived at deductively, only the actual testing
itself will reveal whether persons corresponding

to the model are actually to be found in the situ-

ation.
According to Sterm (p. 2A8) the synthetic approach is the
least costly in terms of time and money when considering
the time expended on developing the questionnaire and the
cost of reproducing, administering and scoring it and
analyzing the results. "The one problem with this ap-
proach is that there is no a priori certainty other than
the confidence of the investigator that representatives
of the personalities for whom the test has been con-
structed will be found among the candidates who are to
be assessed" (p. 2A8).

A significant contribution to the field of attitude
measurement is the Kerlinger (1956) Q. Study of the Edu-
cational Attitudes of Professors and Laymen. Its
methodology is based on Stephenson (1953) Q technique
combined with an effort to adapt some statistical con-
concepts, the main one being Fisher's ideas of variance.
This study tested a theory of educational values and

attitudes based on the following hypotheses:

80

1. Individuals having the same or similar occu-
pational or professional roles will hold similar
attitudes toward a cognitive object which is
significantly related to the job. If they have
dissimilar roles they hold dissimilar attitudes.

2. There exists a basic dichotomy in educational
values and attitudes of people, corresponding
generally to "restrictive" and "permissive" or
"traditional" and "progressive" modes of look-
ing at education.

3. Individuals will differ in degree (or strength)
of dichotomization, since this strength of
dichotomization is a function of occupational
role, extent of knowledge of cognitive object
(education), the importance of the cognitive
object to the subjects and their experience
with it (Kerlinger, 1956, pp. 289L290).

This investigator claims the Q technique to be appropriate
because it uses a large number of choices and "Attitudes,
too, are 'choices,’ 'already made' choices, in that they
are sets of predispositions to certain kinds of behavior"
(p. 289). The results seem to indicate that occupational
roles and role expectations do exert a strong influence on
attitudes and values. The basic idea of "occupational role
as an independent variable influencing attitudes" was sub-
stantiated. The statistical concept combined with the Q-
technique was a definite step forward in the measurement

of attitudes. Previous to the above study attitude measure-
ment was neglected, probably because there was no satis-
factory technical method for testing the individual's

attitude structure" (p. 289).

81

Direct vs. Indirect Methods

 

Every investigator in the social sciences needs to
be aware of his "responsibilities to colleagues who may
have to 'pay' later for the investigators laxity . . .,"
as well as to the significant others involved in the re-
search (Festinger, 1953, p. 3). Festinger (1953) main-
tains that "most subjects" do not resent being "duped"
if they understand why it is necessary. "The investigator
who uses methods of 'temporary duping' of laboratory sub-
jects does not necessarily violate this concept of honesty,
whereas sheer thoughtlessness on the part of an investi-
gator who would never think of lying to a client may vio-
late it fundamentally" (p. A).

Some investigators (Haring et_el., 1958, p. 27;
Sherif and Hovland, 1961, p. 126 and Wandt, 1952, p. 120)
stress the importance of using an indirect method of mea-
suring attitudes in situations where the respondents may
have "incentive to conceal the true attitude" (Wandt, 1952,
p. 120). One approach to this problem is through the use

of the disguised-structured items (Haring et a1., 1958, p.

 

27; Wandt, 1952, p. 120). The term "disguise" refers to
"the degree to which the real purpose of the attitude mea-
sure is concealed from the respondent" (Haring et_el., p.
27). The term "structured" is defined as follows:
A second aspect of the treatment of content in atti—
tude tests is based upon the extent to which the

task or response has been structured. A highly
structured test is one in which the response

 

82

alternatives are exhaustively specified and readily

scorable, in contrast with the ambiguity of the task

and the spontaneity of response characteristic of

2$nstructured instruments (Haring et_e1., 1952, p.
After extensive study of the placement of items on contro-
versial social issues Sherif and Hovland (1961, p. 126)
conclude: "The investigation of attitudes will proceed
more rapidly and profitably when a behavioral index of
the individual's attitude, based on performance in a task
apparently unrelated to his attitudes, can be utilized in
research practice." These investigators (1961, Ch. 5)
present a detailed analysis of results which show that
"the distribution of scale values, as well as the choice
of an appropriate number of categories for placement (the
individual's "own" categories), are closely related to
the individual's stand on an issue. A powerful 'indirect'
assessment method may thus be provided for attitude measure-
ment. Further definitive research on this problem is
needed" (p. 20A).

Thus, from the findings discussed above, it seems

apparent that indirect attitude tests lie closer than

direct ones to contemporary attitude theory.

§ummary of Selected Techniques

It is evident that scaling procesures for measuring
attitudes are providing more refined techniques for
accurate, quantitative measurement. Probably the best

known are the Thurston, Likert, and Guttman procedures.

83

In the Wandt study (1952, p. 122) it was found that
". . verbalized attitudes may be measured indirectly by
means of disguised items." This study was considered rele-
vant from the standpoint of its aim to understand teachers'
attitudes toward certain groups contacted in the schools.
It was particularly concerned with "the relationships be-
tween teachers' attitudes and: (a) grade level taught,
and (b) years of teaching experience" (p. 117). A com—
parison of the mean attitudes of teacher groups classified
by grade level taught indicated that elementary teachers
had more favorable attitudes than secondary teachers. It
was also found that teachers with more experience tended
to be more homogeneous in their attitudes than the less

experienced teachers (p. 117). The test used was the

Inventory of Teacher Opinion and to get at the inter-

 

relationships factorial analyses were conducted. The
three factorial analyses were: "(a) analyses of the eight
positively stated scales; (b) analyses of the eight nega-
tively stated scales; (c) analyses of all sixteen scales
(including a second-order analysis), Thurston's centroid
method was used in all of the analyses with rotation to
oblique simple structure" (Wandt, 1952, p. 117). It is
of particular interest to this research to note that
"teacher attitudes toward pupils" was one of the most
significant differences found between elementary teachers
and secondary teachers. The elementary teachers, in

general, showed more favorable attitudes than secondary

8A

teachers (p. 117). Wandt gave one statement from each
of his eight scales to illustrate content. Those deal-
ing with scales measuring attitude toward pupils were:

(positive)-Most pupils take their responsibility
seriously.

(negative)—Pupils naturally "have it in" for their
teachers.

Non—voluntary indirect attitude tests assess "bias"
or a kind of involuntary "interference with tasks of
learning, perceiving, remembering and evaluating . . ."
(Campbell, 1950, p. 33). Both in attitude testing and
personality study, "distortions of performance in dealing
with the environment provide objective evidence of an
individual's unique picture of his world . . . the develop-
ment of structured indirect attitude tests is thought to
be a step in this direction" (p. 3A).

If the term, "environment" is limited to the items
on an attitude towards and knowledge concerning a cognitive
object in education (viz. educational placement of ex-
ceptional children) then the hypotheses tested would con-
cern the relationship between the respondent's position
and that advocated by expert judges on the educational

issue under consideration.

CHAPTER III
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND PROCEDURES

The review of research on the attitudes of pro-
fessionals and non-professionals toward the education
and integration of exceptional children revealed that
the major portion of the research deals with attitudes
toward personal characteristics of certain exception-
ality categories rather than toward the educational
placement of such children. The present investigator
wishes to put emphasis on the fact that exceptional chil—
dren, like normal children, are all different from each
other; with both groups needing appropriate classroom
placement. This then is the rationale, for limiting this
study to an investigation of the attitudes of teachers
towards the "educational placement" of exceptional chil-
dren.

This chapter, then, gives a brief summary of both
the general and specific purposes of the present research
study followed by a detailed description of the experi-
mental design and procedures employed in the study.

The rationale for the selection of the measuring

instruments with which to ascertain amount of knowledge

85

86

and understanding pertaining to exceptional children will
include a description of the scoring procedures. An
attempt will be made to evaluate the degree to which the
validity and reliability of the data gathering instru-
ments, including the questionnaire, have been established.

The nature of the sample chosen for the present
study is discussed, with special attention to opportunity
for teacher contact with those in special education pro-
grams. The size of the sample, its representative charac-
teristics of the total teaching staff of an urban school
system is also taken into consideration.

One of the principle objects of this chapter is to
identify the variables chosen as potential determinants
of the attitudes being investigated. Research procedures
to control the independent variables is explained in de-
tail.

An attempt is made to describe the method of col—
1ecting data clearly enough to be replicated. The time,
place, duration, and forms for collecting the data is
reported in addition to concise descriptions of the adminis-
tration procedures.

The statistical procedures for the analysis of the
data is given in detail, together with an attempt to
justify the choices of the specific statistical procedures.
The plan used for the analysis of the two measuring scales

is described and the relationship between the two dependent

87

variables is discussed. The mean difference analyses is
presented, followed by a test procedure designed to dis-
cover whether or not any differences found in the analyses
were significant differences.

The major research hypotheses is organized under
five headings, namely; hypotheses related to: (a) type of
teaching contacts, (b) amount of teaching experience, (c)
amount of academic credit, (d) type of consultation
experience, and (e) correlation of attitude and knowledge.

Although the planning, collecting, processing and
organizing of data presented the major task involved in
the present research study, the task loomed to a threaten-
ing proportion when the investigator was confronted with
the fact that the original scoring keys were unobtainable.
This situation is discussed more fully under "limitation

of the study."

Experimental Design and Procedures

 

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher
attitudes toward the classroom integration of exceptional
children in relation to experience with, degree of knowl-
edge of, and understanding that teachers have about ex-
ceptional children.

The acquisition of normative data about attitudes of
various interest groups toward special education and re-
habilitation is needed in the United States to understand

the attitudes of sub-cultural groups (Friesen, 1966, p. 6).

88

It is one of the main assumptions of the present study
that exceptional children constitute a sub—cultural group

and are less accepted than their normal peer groups.

Purpose of the Study

 

A review of the literature revealed that increased
knowledge and familiarity with an attitude stimulus does
tend to modify attitude (Roeher, 1961, p. 70). Findings
such as the above support the assumption that attitudes
toward exceptional children are modified by the amount of
knowledge gained through consultations and academic course
work pertaining to exceptional children and the amount and
the type of teaching experience with them. Hence a com—
parison of teacher attitudes toward classroom integration
of exceptional children in relation to the amount of accur-
ate information pertaining to their respective exception-
alities and the amount and type of teaching contact with
them should yield some specific information for the resol-
ution of the following research1 questions:

1-a. Do teachers who have had full-time teaching
contact with exceptional children have a more
realistic acceptance of them than teachers
who have had part-time teaching contacts or
no teaching experience with exceptional

children?

 

1It is to be understood that the statistical pro-

cedure actually tests the null hypothesis, not the re-
search question.

2-bo

89

Do teachers who have had full-time teaching
contacts with exceptional children have a
significantly greater amount of accurate
information concerning them than teachers who
have had part-time or no teaching contacts

with them?

Do teachers who have had an extensive full-time
teaching contact with exceptional children have
a significantly greater amount of realistic
acceptance for them than teachers who have had
an extensive part-time contact or no teaching
experience with exceptional children?

Do teachers who have had extensive full-time
teaching contacts with exceptional children
have a significantly greater amount of accurate
information concerning them than teachers who
have had extensive part-time teaching contacts
or no teaching experience with exceptional
children?

Do teachers who have had an extensive part—time
teaching contact with exceptional children have
a significantly greater amount of realistic
acceptance for them than teachers who have had
no teaching experience with them?

Do teachers who have had extensive part-time
teaching contacts with exceptional children

have a significantly greater amount of accurate

90

information concerning them than teachers who
have had no teaching contacts with them?

Do teachers who have earned extensive course
credit pertaining to exceptional children have
a significantly greater amount of realistic
acceptance for them than teachers who have had
some or no course credit work pertaining to
exceptional children?

Do teachers who have earned extensive course
credit pertaining to exceptional children have
a significantly greater amount of accurate
information about them than teachers who have
earned some or no academic credit pertaining

to exceptional children?

Do teachers who have given consultations per-
taining to exceptional children have a signifi-
cantly greater amount of realistic acceptance
for them than teachers who have received
periodic consultations with a specialist or
teachers who have had no opportunity to con-
sult with a specialist in his chosen field?

Do teachers who have given consultations per-
taining to exceptional children have a signifi-
cantly greater amount of accurate information
pertaining to exceptional children than teachers

who have received periodic consultations with a

91

specialist in the area of the exceptionality
or teachers who have had no opportunity for
such consultations?

6. Do teachers who express a significantly greater
amount of realistic acceptance for exceptional
children also express a significantly greater
amount of accurate information pertaining to
exceptional children?

Rationale for Selection of
Measuringglnstruments

 

 

The previous research questions served as guidelines
for the construction and selection of instruments which
would measure the designated variables. Two dependent or
criterion variables which required an appropriate pro-
cedure for measurement were: attitudes of teachers to-
wards the children described in the C11 (cognitive objects
in education) and amount of accurate information concerning
the cognitive objects chosen as the attitude stimulus.
Four independent variables were measured through direct
questions in a questionnaire: type of experience, amount
of experience, amount of course work background, and type
of consultation experience. The Personal Data Question-

naire (Appendix C) is described in detail (p.235).

92

The Classroom Integration
Inventory (CII)

 

 

The Classroom Integration Inventory, developed by
Haring (1958, pp. 1A3-1A6) is described in detail in
Chapter II. The CII was adopted for the present study as
the most appropriate available device with which to mea-
sure the amount of realistic acceptance of teachers toward
classroom integration of exceptional children. The C11
in the present study covers ten areas of exceptionality
with six items (except in the area of emotional distur—
bance, which has five items), in each area representing
two slight, two moderate and two severe examples of impair-
ment. The area of intelligence was subdivided into mentally
handicapped and superior intelligence to facilitate the
subscoring process. This is discussed under the section
on Scoring of the CII Test. The ten areas of exceptionality
described by Haring et_al. (1958, p. 39) were coded for the
computer (see Appendix E) in eleven categories. They are:
(a) Behavior Disorders, (b) Emotional Disturbances, (c)
Impaired Hearing, (d) Impaired Speech, (e) Impaired Vision,
(f) Orthopedic and Cardiac Disorders, (g) Physical Attrac-
tiveness, (h) Seizures, (i) Retarded, (j) Superior Intel-
lectual Ability, and (k) Bowel and Bladder Incontinence.

3 Examples of items in the area of behavior disorders
would be:

1. Alfred is defiant and stubborn, likely to argue

with the teacher, be willfully disobedient,

33.

A1.

93

and otherwise interfere with normal classroom
discipline.

Chester is deceitful, tells lies, and cheats in
school and at play; he has been involved in
several thefts, and is a persistent truant.
Carla is a persistent talker, whisperer and

notepasser.

The teachers' reactions to the items in the C11

test were obtained in accordance with the following

alternatives:

l.

If you feel you could handle such a student in

your regular classroom without any fundamental

 

change in your present procedures.

If you feel you could handle such a student in
your regular classroom provided that advice from
a specialist or consultant were occasionally
made available to you whenever you felt a need
for such aid in dealing with some particular
problem.

If you feel you could handle such a student in
your regular classroom provided that a full-
time specialist were available at your school
who could provide supplementary training for
the student and frequent consultations with

you.

9A

A. If you feel that such a student would benefit
most by being assigned to a special class or
school.

5. If you feel that such a child cannot be handled
profitably within the context of regular or

special public school education (Haring, 1958,
P. 33).

Scoring of the C11 Test: Basis
for Determining the Realism
Score

 

 

By assigning numerical weights to each alternative,
varying from 5 for the most desirable placement to l for

the most undesirable placement; a realism score could be

 

computed for the sixty items with a score range from 60 to
300. The highest scoring respondents were those whose
responses on the items corresponded most closely with the
"most desirable placement" established by five specialists
in special education. The lowest scoring respondents were
those whose responses on the items corresponded most closely
with the "least desirable placement" (the judge's fifth
choice) as judged by the five specialists. Since the
original scoring key for the C11 test was not available
it was necessary to re-establish the "correct" realism
score for each item.

The scoring key for the realism scores was re-estab-
lished by five specialists in the area of exceptional

children who judged each item with reference to the most

95

realistic placement of the case described in the item.

 

The judges, working independently, rated each item on
"most desirable placement." Among the judges' choices for
placement, 65 percent agreement was found on the 20 severe
items, 59 percent agreement on the 20 moderately severe
items, and 65 percent agreement on the 20 slightly severe
items. A committee met together and reached a common
agreement on all but one of the 60 items. Item 17, in

the area of emotional disturbances, was omitted from the
final form of the C11 test because it lacked inter-judge

reliability. The realism scores of the teachers were

 

found on the remaining 59 items by assigning a value of
5 if the teachers' choice of placement on the item was
the same as the judges' first choice, a value of A, if the
teachers' choice was the same as the judges' second choice,
a value of 3, if their choice was the same as the judges'
third choice, a value of 2, if their choice was the same
as the judges' fourth choice, and a value of 1, if the
teachers' choice was the same as the judges' fifth choice.
By assigning these numerical weights to each of the five
choices, varying from 5 points for a judge's first-choice
response to 1 point for the judges' fifth-choice response,
the score ranged from 59 to 295.

This method of computing the realism scores has
been designed to reveal the degree of realistic acceptance
characterizing the teachers' relationship to exceptional

children. This 295 point scale--based on the teacher's

96

selection of an educational placement for severe, moder—
ately severe and slightly severe exceptionalities--ranges
from regular classroom assignment without special assis-
tance to complete exclusion from school. The most appropri-
ate educational placement for an exceptional child depends
on the severity of the handicap as well as on the kind of
exceptionality. The CII test permits the respondent to
differentiate between the varying degrees of exceptionalities
while taking a position on program intensity. The social-
distance concept of the CII scale is straight forward and
should still apply to the sample in the present study.

Reliability of the Re-established
Realism Scores

 

The judges' choices for placement among the three
levels of severity ranged from 53 percent inter-judge agree-
ment in the behavior category to 73 percent agreement among
the judges' choices for educational placement for exceptional
children in the impaired speech category. The physical
attractiveness category came next with an inter-judge agree-
ment of 70 percent. Although it would be of interest to
compare the amount of inter-teacher agreement among the ten
areas of exceptionalities with the amount of inter-judge
agreement expressed by their respective realism scores
within each of the following ten categories: (a) Behavior,
(b) Emotional Disturbances, (c) Impaired Hearing, (d)
Impaired Speech, (e) Impaired Vision, (f) Orthopedic and

Cardiac Disorders, (g) Physical Attractiveness, (h)

97

Seizures, (i,j) Retarded and Superior Intellectual
Ability, and (k) Bowel and Bladder Incontinence, the
present study is limited to testing relationships between
amount of knowledge, amount of acceptance, amount and
kind of experience with exceptional children, and atti-
tudes toward classroom integration. Much information
has been gathered by specialists within these various
areas of exceptionality but there appeares to be no
studies which have attempted to get a comparative view
of specialist versus teacher attitudes towards these
various areas of exceptionality.

Validitx of the Re-established
Realism Scores

 

 

It seems reasonable to assume that the full-time
special class teachers' realism scores would show a higher
percentage of homogeneity within these ten areas than the
full-time Regular Class teacher who has taught children
with exceptionalities. It also seems probable to antici-
pate that the attitude realism scores of Special Class
teachers would be more similar to those of the judges'
choices of placement than the attitude realism scores
of Regular Class teachers who are classified within the
same amount of experience level. The realism scores of
the Regular Class teachers may reveal certain patterns
of acceptance depending upon their amount of knowledge

and experience background. One might anticipate that

98

the teachers in schools with Special Classrooms would
rate much closer to those of the experts than would
teachers in schools without Special Education Classrooms.

The General Information Inventory
(GII)

 

The General Information Inventory developed by
Haring (1958, p. 56) to test for knowledge of exceptional
children originally contained 100 items covering: (a)
Behavior Disorders, (b) Emotional Disturbances, (c) Im-
paired Hearing, (d) Impaired Speech, (e) Impaired Vision,
(f) Orthopedic Disorders, (g) Miscellaneous (medical,
attitude and responsibility), (h) Seizures, (i) Retarded,
(j) Superior Intelligence. "There was no systematic at-
tempt (on the part of Haring et_ei,l) to make sure that
there was an item in each degree of severity of handicap
as in the case of the classroom integration inventory."
;The General Information Inventory, however, does include
items about children who are severely handicapped as well
as those who are mildly handicapped. The areas of ex-
ceptionality covered by the two inventories are the same
excepting for the items coded for the computer in the
present study under code number 7. In the C11 the six
items in area number 7 deal with handicaps to physical

attractiveness whereas this problem was not touched upon

 

lStatement taken from March 29, 1966 personal
communication from Norris Haring.

99

in the G11. In the G11 the ten items coded under code
number 7 deal with medical aspects of exceptionality,
attitudes toward, and responsibility for, exceptional
children. The items in the latter three groupings were
lumped together under GII subscore number 7 and labeled
"miscellaneous." The miscellaneous items in the GII
were not dealt with in the Classroom Integration Inven-
tory. Another dissimilarity between these two inven-
tories was noted in the six items listed for the CII sub-
score number 11. These items which dealt with three
levels of bowel and bladder disorder were not treated in
the General Information Inventory.

Scoring of the GII Test: Basis

for Determining_the Knowledge
Score

 

 

The original General Information Inventory as used
by Haring (1958, p. 56) contained 97 multiple choices with
three additional essay type questions. It was decided to
omit the final three essay questions (items 98-100) from
the scale used for the present research because their sub-
jectivity would present a scoring problem. The remaining
97 multiple choice questions were subjected to an item
analysis which resulted in the omission of six more items,
two items from the speech area, two items from the area
of mental retardation, one item from the miscellaneous
group and one item from the seizures group. These six

items were omitted because they were judged by specialists

100

in the particular area of exceptionality to be outdated
or non-valid questions. Thus 91 items were selected as
appropriate questions with which to measure factual in-
formation about exceptional children in the present study.
The questions contain certain popular misconceptions of
the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional nature
of exceptional children. For example: 79. The blind
(a) have superior sensory acuity, (b) pay attention to
auditory cues more than do seeing people, (c) develop a
sixth sense, (d) have markedly superior musical ability.
V/f One point was assigned to each correct response on
these 91 multiple choice items, thus giving a range of
possible scores from 0 to 91 on the modified General In-
formation Inventory. The GII Knowledge scores of the
teachers, especially in similar areas of exceptionalities
covered by GII as well as the CII scales would enable an
analysis to determine whether the amount of knowledge con-
cerning exceptionalities affects the amount of realistic
acceptance of such children.

In order to investigate the amount of relationship
between similar areas of exceptionality on the GII and CII
it was necessary to examine the commonalities of the con-
tent found in the respective subscore groups of the two

inventories.

Subscore Content Comparison

 

Subscore Categories for CII

l.

2.

t

10.

ll.

O\U'l

Behavior Disorders

Emotional Distur-
bances

Impaired Hearing
Impaired Speech
Impaired Vision

Orthopedic and
Cardiac Disorders

Physical Attractiveness
Handicap

Seizures
Learning Handicap

Intellectual
Exceptionality

Bowel and/or Bladder
Disorders

101

Subscore Categories for GII

l.

2.

10.

Behavior Disorders

Emotional Distur-
bances

Impaired Heating
Impaired Speech
Impaired Vision

Orthopedic Disorders

Miscellaneous

Seizures
Learning Handicap

Intellectual
Exceptionality

The above comparison of the areas of exceptionalities

covered by the CII and GII show that areas 1, 2, 3, A, 5,

8, 9 and 10 apparently cover similar content material.

Areas number 6 in the two scales are similar in that the

two scales deal with the orthopedic area but the GII scale

does not deal with the cardiac disorder

category 6.

l as does the C11

The dissimilarity of category number 7 on the

CII and GII are readily seen since the CII subscore category

 

1

"miscellaneous" (7).

The one item dealing with cardiac was put into the

102

contains six items on handicaps to physical attractive—
ness whereas the GII subscore category number 7 contains
some miscellaneous items concerning medical aspects of
exceptionalities, attitudes toward exceptional children,
and responsibility for their education. The other out-
standing difference in content covered in the CII and
GII is found in Subscore Category 11, an exceptionality
dealing with bowel and bladder incontinence which is not
covered by the General Information Inventory. The CII
and GII subscore groupings which deal with similar ex-
ceptionality content areas also do not have an equal number
of items within their respective scales excepting for cate-
gories 2--on emotional disturbances which is represented
by five items on each of the measuring instruments. GII
category 8 on seizures contains only four items and repre-
sents the smallest subscore grouping on the GII. The
learning handicap (area number 9) category covers 18 items,
the largest subscore grouping on the GII scale. The sub-
score category 9 on the 011 scale contains only 3 items on
learning handicap which is one of the smallest groupings
within the CII scale, the other one being intellectual
exceptionality which also has only 3 items.

When correlating GII subscores with CII subscores
the number of items which range from A items in the GII-8
seizures subscore group to 18 items in the GII-9--1earning

handicap subscore category--will require careful attention.

103

The number of items within the C11 subscore categories
range from 3 items in each of the learning categories to
6 items in each of the others excepting the emotional
disturbances category which was decreased to only five
items. Haring (1958, p. 81) believes that the three
degrees of deviation, severe, moderate, and slight, were
not enough to validate the change that "real differences
were being covered by treating the three degrees of de—
viation together in each area." He found that "teachers
did not increase any more in one degree of deviation
than another with respect to realistic placement" (Haring,

1958, p. 81).

Validation of Instruments

 

Of more importance than the comparison of the results
of the C11 and GII tests with scores received by the same
teacher groups on the Activities Index and Picture Judg-
ment Test (Haring, 1958, p. 10A) was the application of
the Critical Incident Technique for the purpose of vali-
dating the GII and the C11 (Haring, 1958, p. 112). The
Critical Incident test was a straight forward technique
which asked the subject to cite ways in which his teach-
ing behavior had been changed by certain learning experi-
ences (Haring, 1958, p. 57). The critical incidents re-
ported by the teachers revealed development of attitudes
of increased acceptance and understanding pertaining to

exceptional children. This evidence suggested that the

10A

gains measured by the Classroom Integration Inventory and
the General Information Inventory were "an accurate re-
flection of attitude development among the teachers en—
gendered by the workshop" (Haring, 1958, p. 112).

Although the validating critical incidents technique
has some limitations the rationale for item selection was
clearly stated and the CII and the G11 represent an attempt
on the part of the present investigator to fill a gap in
a field of measurement which is in need of further study.
The Classroom Integration Inventory and the General Infor-
mation Inventory appear to be the best instruments now

available for use in the present study.

The Research Pqpulation

The elementary schools of Jackson, Michigan had a
total of 262 teachers on the combined staffs of their 20
schools graded from kindergarten through sixth grade in
June, 1965. There were 7,A89 children in these grades
coming from homes which contributed around 15 percent of
the 50,720 individuals who made up the total population
of the city.1

Only six of the 20 elementary schools had special
education programs. One of these six schools was just

getting its special education program re-established after

having been several years without a program. This school

 

1

66 R. L. Polk and Company, Jackson City Directory,
19 .

105

also had the largest staff turn-over of any school in the
district. For these reasons it was decided to exclude

this school from the sample of schools chosen. The five
schools with special education programs employed 8A
teachers whereas the five schools from those which had no
special education programs employed 63 teachers on their
conbined staffs. The last five schools were chosen at
random from the schools which had not been providing special
classrooms for exceptional children. The 1A7 teachers in
the ten participating schools represented 56 percent of

the total elementary school faculty. Since 9 out of the
1A7 teachers failed to respond there were 138 usable
teacher responses in the final sample which represented
93.9 percent classroom teacher response which was judged

as a very good return from the teacher group. Further,
there was a 97.6 percent response from the staff which

had the most opportunity for contact with special education
programs and an 88.8 percent response from the schools
which provided the least amount of opportunity for con-
tact with those enrolled in special education classes.

The response of six student teachers practicing in
the regular classrooms of the schools which provided
special education programs were not anticipated but they
were included in the sample as a "student teacher" group
to avoid a possible bias in the data involving the experi-

ence variable.

106

The ancillary group which included six speech cor—
rectionists, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist,
a school diagnostician, and the special education coordi—
nator were kept separate from the teacher group to avoid
a possible bias effect on the "type of teaching contact"
variable. The six student teachers and ten ancillary
respondents along with the 138 classroom teachers yielded

a total sample of 15A.

 

The geographical distribution of the participating
schools by socioeconomic status appeared to be uniform and
it was felt that the entire staff of the school district's

elementary schools was satisfactorily represented.

Selection of Variables

 

Dependent Variables

 

A well conceived hypothesis and its deduced conse-
quences require that variables employed in the research be
precisely identified (VanDalen, 1962, p. 222). The ration-
ale for the selection of the two dependent variables,
amount of knowledge and amount of acceptance have already
been carefully reviewed. It was these dependent variables
which prompted the selection of the two measuring instru-
ments (GII and CII) as they purported to measure these
two areas.

The independent variables were chosen because of

their suspected relationship to the dependent or criterion

107

variables. The major independent variables (antecedent
conditions) which were suspected of acting upon the
dependent variables (knowledge and acceptance) are de—
scribed in the following section.

Descriptions of Independent

Variables

The four variables selected for investigation as
determinants of responses of teachers on the GII and CII
tests are those of: (a) type of teaching contacts, (b)
amount of teaching experience, (c) amount of academic
credit, and (d) type of consultation experience.

As a means of determining the degree to which each
independent variable was present among the respondents in
the sample, it was necessary to define specific categories.
They are defined as follows:

A. Type of Teaching Contacts

The type of teaching contacts experienced by the
respondents was defined in the following terms:

/ 1. Teacher who had no contact.

. 2. Teacher who shared the teaching program of an
exceptional child.

-3. Ancillary personnel who shared the program of
an exceptional child.

A. Regular class teacher with full responsibility

for the program of one or more exceptional

children.

B.

108

Special class teacher with full responsibility
for educational programs of exceptional
children.

Amount of Teaching Egperience

 

The amount of teaching experience with exceptional

children was defined as follows:

1.

Teacher with no teaching experience with ex—
ceptional children.

Teacher with one or more years of teaching
experience in a sharing program for one or
more exceptional children.

Teacher with one or more years of full-time
responsibility for the educational program of

one or more exceptional children.

The chronological scope of the study was limited to

teachers whose designated teaching experiences with ex—

ceptional children took place during all or a part of the

five year period extending from September, 1960 to June,

1965.

The teachers with no experience in teaching ex-

ceptional children and teachers with less than one year

of teaching exceptional children were requested to indi-

cate any teaching experiences with exceptional children

prior to the specified time period.

C.

Amount of Academic Credit

 

The amount of academic credit earned in courses per-

taining to exceptional children was defined as follows:

109

1. No special education, education or psychology
courses covering some or all of the areas of
exceptionality listed in the study.

2. One term or less than one year of credit earned
in education or psychology courses covering
some or all of the areas of exceptionality listed
in this study.

3. One year or more of academic credit earned in
education or psychology courses covering some
or all of the areas of exceptionalities listed
in this study.

D. Type of Consultation Experience

 

The type of consultation experience pertaining to

exceptional children was defined as follows:

1. Periodic consultations with a specialist in
the area of one or more of the exceptionalities
listed in this study.

2. No opportunity for consultations in the desired
area or areas of one or more of the exception-
alities listed in this study.

3. Experienced in giving consultations pertaining
to one or more of the areas of exceptionalities
listed in this study.

Although the above four variables were of primary

concermlin.the experiment, there was one more important
variable which received consideration: i.e., future edu-

caA'IiOrial goals of the respondent.

110

Educational plans of the respondent for educational
advancement might have introduced bias into the experiment.
For instance, if a teacher with no experience in the teach-
ing of exceptional children had plans for going into
special education teaching, his responses could be con—
sidered to be biased. Because of an error in coding, six
respondents with plans to be special education teachers
were not eliminated. Some additional variables were in-
cluded to provide information concerning the character-
istics of the respondents in the study: (a) frequency of
listed exceptionality areas in described experiences, (b)
exceptionality area of greatest amount of contact, (c) area
of exceptionality considered most desirable to teach, (d)
area of exceptionality considered least desirable to teach.

Data for the variables described in this section were
obtained through the use of a personal data questionnaire

discussed in the following section.

The Personal Data Questionnaire

 

The purpose of the Personal Data Questionnaire was
two-fold: (a) to collect specific data needed to test the
hypotheses, and (b) to identify any characteristics among
the respondents which were related to the variables.

The first and most important purpose in preparing
the Personal Data Questionnaire was to design an instru-
ment which would yield specific information on the variables

under test in the hypotheses. The types and amount of

111

experience in teaching exceptional children had to be
defined in sufficient detail to assist the teachers from
confusing these two variables. The construction of the
questionnaire was guided by the following specific pur-
poses:

1. To collect data descriptive of five types of
teaching experience with exceptional children.

2. To collect data descriptive of three levels of
amount of teaching experience with exceptional
children.

3. To collect data for three levels of amount of
academic credit in courses pertaining to ex-
ceptional children.

A. To collect data descriptive of three types of
consultation experience pertaining to ex-
ceptional children.

The check list form was used for organizing the
characteristic descriptions of each variable. Data con-
cerning the additional variables were collected via the
same Personal Data Questionnaire in a similar check-list
form. The purpose of the other variables was to identify
characteristics in the population which seemed to contri—
bute to an increased amount of acceptance of exceptional
children.

While the work on the Personal Data Questionnaire
was in progress conferences were held with administrative

officials to secure their permission to solicit the

112

participation of teachers in the ten selected elementary

schools which comprise the present research sample.
Collection of Data

All of the data were collected by group administration “
of the three instruments previously described. The author
of the present research study was always present at the
administration of the instruments to the respective teacher
staffs of the ten participating schools. The Ancillary
Group made up of ten special service personnel served as
a pilot group for the first administration of the instru-
ments.

Although the specific instructions and procedures for
the administration of the instruments varied somewhat from
school to school, the general plan of administration
(Appendix D) was approximately uniform for all the schools:
(a) a statement of the general organization for adminis-
tration of instruments; (b) an expression of appreciation
for cooperation of the school's teaching staff; (0) a
general statement of the purpose of the research study,
and (d) an oral explanation of the instruments.

The instruments were administered in the following
order:

1. Personal Data Check List

2. Classroom Integration Inventory with IBM

machine answer sheet

113

3., General Information Inventory with IBM machine
answer sheet

Since the teachers were requested to focus their
attention on the last five years of teaching experience
the responses were limited to the time period between
September, 1960 and June, 1965. All data were collected
between June 1 and June 18 inclusive at the close of school
in the spring of 1965. A letter (Appendix B) from the
Administration informed the teachers of the nature of the
research and time schedules with the dates and hours for
administration were arranged with the principals of the

respective schools.
Statistical Procedures

Aneiysis of Data

 

Descriptions of the CII Scale and the G11 Scale have
already been given. The data gathered on these two instru-
ments were analyzed in relationship to the four independent
variables, namely: (a) type of teaching contacts, (b)
amount of teaching experience, (c) amount of academic

credit, and (d) type of consultation experience.

Classroom Integration Scale

Analysis

The general scoring procedures used for the CII Scale

 

are described in detail by Vinacke (1952, p. 32A) who
claims that the Likert (1932) system is easy to use and
reliable. The scale described by Haring (1958, p. 31)

11A

as "highly cognitive and self'validating" was a Likert-
type (1932, pp. 5-A3) acceptance scale adapted to measure
attitudes toward the integration of exceptional children
in the classroom (Haring, 1958, p. 27). Fifty-nine of the
original 60 items on the 011 Scale were used to provide
data on the degree of realistic acceptance expressed by
the respondents in the sample. The method of computing
the total Realism Score was explained under Scoring the
CII Test. The tests were scored on an IBM machine.

Five scoring keys were punched. The first key con-
tained all of the judges' first choice placements; the
second key contained all of the judges' second choice
placements; the third key contained all of the judges'
third choice placements; the fourth scoring key contained
all of the judges' fourth choice placements, and the fifth
scoring key contained all of the judges' fifth choice
placements of exceptional children for classroom inte-
gration. Each respondents' machine scored answer sheet
was processed with each of the five scoring keys. The
machine counted the number of times the respondent's
answers agreed with the ranked choices of the judges.

The number of times the respondent agreed with the judges'
first choice was multiplied by 5; the number of times he
agreed with the judges' second choice was multiplied by
A; the number of times he agreed with the judges' third

choice was multiplied by 3; the number of fourth choice

115

agreements by 2 and the number of first choice agreements
by 1. These five figures were then added together to
compute the total CII score for one respondent. Since one
of the respondents failed to answer the C11 test, 153 CII
tests were scored. The computed scores were then recorded
for data analysis. Respondent identification data, data
for the four major independent variables plus the addi-
tional exploratory variables, and the total scores and
subscores for the dependent variables were all recorded
for computer analysis as detailed in the code book (Appen—
dix E).

Data gathered on the C11 scale were analyzed for
the four major variables in the form of four Analyses of
Variance tables: (a) type of experience--Realism Scores;
(b) amount of experience--Realism Scores; (c) amount of
course work--Realism Scores, and (d) type of consultations
--Rea1ism Scores.

General Information Inventory
Scale Analysis

 

 

The scoring procedures used for the GII Scale were
much simpler than the scoring procedures used for the
CII Scale. There were 91 multiple choice items. One
point was credited to each correct response, thus giving
a possible score range of 0-91. These were scored via
an IBM machine. Three respondents failed to answer the

GII.

116

Data gathered on the GII Scale were analyzed in
relationship with the four major independent variables:
(a) type of experience--Knowledge Scores; (b) amount of
experience--Know1edge Scores; (c) amount of course work—-
Knowledge Scores, and (d) type of consultations--Knowl-
edge Scores.

Relationship Between Dependent 1
Variables

 

Data gathered on the CII Scale were also analyzed
in relation to the data gathered on the GII Scale.

The Pearson Product Moment Correlation was chosen
as the most appropriate statistic with which to study the
relationship between the degree of realistic acceptance
(CII scores) to the amount of knowledge (GII scores) ex-
pressed by the respondents, since these two sets of

scores represent two continuous variables.

Egan Difference AneiyseSV/
Since the measurement problem described above involved

the relationship of two continuous dependent variables,

namely the Acceptance Scores and the Knowledge Scores

'with four discrete independent variables, namely: (a)

type of teaching contacts, (b) amount of teaching experi-

erlce, (c) amount of academic credit, and (d) type of con-

Stlltation experience, a one-way analysis of variance was

<H3nsidered to be the most appropriate statistic for study-

ing'the relationships involved.

117

The UNEQI routine (Ruble, Kiel, Rafter, 1966) was
used to calculate the one—way analysis of variance
statisticsgsince it is designed to handle unequal fre-
quencies within the various categories. In addition to
the F statistic, the frequencies, mean scores and standard
deviations are given by the UNEQI program. The approximate
significance probability of the F statistic is also in-
cluded. The UNEQI program contains a provision for de-
signating one or more variables as missing from an ob—
servation while listing other variables as non-missing.
Although the observation is ignored for all dependent
variables with missing values, the observation, instead

of being discarded, is used in the analysis of variance

‘5
‘

for all those dependent variables with non-missing values.
The number of missing observations in the respective cate-
gories is printed at the end of the table which contains
statistics for the categories for each dependent variable.
The omitted observations plus the total observations in
the problem were expected to equal 15A, the total number

of observations in the sample.

New Multiple Range Test

Duncan's New Multiple Range Test (Edwards, 1960,
pp. 136ff), as extended for unequal replications by
Kramer (1960), was used to investigate the extent to
Which a particular subgroup mean contributes to the total

variance represented by the F test. This enables the

118

researcher to order the group means from high to low and
then to examine the "difference" between successive pairs—
of-means to ascertain which ones do in fact statistically

depart from chance at a stated level of significance.

Level of Significance

The approximate significance probability of the F
statistic included in each of the analyses of variance
tables is a convenient figure which enables the researcher
to know at a glance whether or not the F was significant
without referring to a table. For example, if the number
printed out was .05, the level of confidence, with the
appropriate degree of freedom, for a given F would be .05.
However, if .00 was printed out, the level of confidence

was to be considered to be .005 or less.

Major Research Hypotheses

 

Hypotheses Related to Type
of Teaching Contacts

 

H-la.—-Teachers who have had full-time teaching con-
tacts with exceptional children will score significantly
higher on the C11 Scale than teachers who have had part-
time or no teaching contacts with these children.

H-lb.--Teachers who have had full-time teaching con-
tacts with exceptional children will score significantly
higher on the GII Scale than teachers who have had part-

time or no teaching contacts with these children.

119

Hypotheses Related to Amount
of Teaching Experience

 

 

H-2a.--Teachers who have had extensive full—time
contacts with exceptional children will rate signifi—
cantly higher on the C11 Scale than teachers who have
had extensive part-time or no experience with ex—
ceptional children.

H-2b.--Teachers who have had extensive full-time
contacts with exceptional children will rate significantly
higher on the GII Scale than teachers who have had exten-
sive part-time or no experience with exceptional children.

H-3a.--Teachers who have had extensive part-time
teaching contacts with exceptional children will rate
significantly higher on the C11 Scale than teachers who
have had no teaching contacts with exceptional children.

H—3b.--Teachers who have had extensive part-time
teaching contacts with exceptional children will rate
significantly higher on the GII Scale than teachers who
have had no teaching contacts with exceptional children.

Hypotheses Related to Amount
9: Academic Credit ,

 

H—Aa.--Teachers who have had extensive academic
credit in courses pertaining to exceptional children will
rate significantly higher on the CII Scale than teachers
who have had some or no academic credit in courses per-

taining to exceptional children.

120

H—Ab.--Teachers who have had extensive academic
credit in courses pertaining to exceptional children will
rate significantly higher on the GII Scale than teachers
who have had some or no academic credit in courses per-
taining to exceptional children.

Hypotheses Related to Type of
Consultation Experience

 

H-5a.--Teachers who have given consultations per—
taining to exceptional children will score significantly
higher on the CII Scale than teachers who have received
periodic consultations or teachers who have had no oppor-
tunity for such consultations.

H-5b.--Teachers who have given consultations per-
taining to exceptional children will score significantly
higher on the GII Scale than teachers who have received
periodic consultations or teachers who have had no oppor-
tunity for such consultations.

Hypothesis Related to Correlation
g: Attitude and Knowledge Scores

H-6.—-Teachers who score significantly higher on the
CII Scale will also score significantly higher on the G11

Scale.

Limitation of the Study

 

Although the two measuring instruments used in this

research, namely: the Classroom Integration Inventory and

121

the General Information Inventory appeared to be the best
tests available for the purpose of this study the investi-
gator discovered a limitation at a comparatively late time.
Communications were gradually established with all three
of the authors of the CII and GII scales but it was not
until the data were about to be collected that it was
learned that the scoring key for the Classroom Integration
Realism Scores was not obtainable.

It was expected that the General Information Inven-
tory would need to have some of its items revised or
omitted since some of the questions were outdated. Sort-
ing the items on the GII and securing the answers of ex—
pert judges in the respective areas of exceptionality was
not nearly as time consuming as the re-establishment of
the scoring procedure for the CII realism scores. However,
all of the experts on exceptionalities were very cooperative
and willing to help with the re-establishment of the new
score keys excepting one who stated he "did not have the
time to give" to the project.

Assuming that full-time special class public school
teachers would rate directionally similar to special edu-
cation experts (i.e., university professors) it could be
argued that the CII realism scores would have little value
as a semi-disguised attitude measure for that particular
segment of the sample. But since the major portion of the

sample is made up of regular class teachers it was assumed

122

that their CII realism scores might reveal certain patterns
of acceptance to study in relationship to their knowledge

and experience backgrounds.

CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

This chapter is organized into two sections:
Section 1, the testing of the hypotheses given at the
end of Chapter III and Section 2, a tabulation and dis-
cussion of the characteristics of these data when the
respondents are divided according to: (a) sex, (b) amount
of teaching experience, (0) type of teaching experience,
(d) amount of academic credit, and (e) amount of consul-
tation experience. The correlation of these major vari-
ables with (a) CII realism scores, and (b) GII knowledge

scores is also tabulated and discussed.

The Testing of Hypotheses

In this section there are presented eleven hypotheses
Organized into five main categories relating to: (a) type
of teaching contact; (b) amount of teaching experience;
“3) amount of academic credit; (d) amount of consultation
eXperience; and (e) correlation of attitude and knowledge
SCcnres. Furthermore, two additional propositions were
tessted: The CII and GII test results in relation to type

or school curriculum.

123

12A

These hypotheses were tested by means of analysis
of variance procedures using the Michigan State University
CDC 3600 computer program for unequal replications (Ruble,
Kiel, Rafter, 1966), and Duncan's New Multiple Range Test

(Edwards, 1960, pp. 136ff), as extended for unequal repli-

cations by Kramer (1956).

Hypotheses Related to Type of
Teaching Contacts

The hypotheses in this section (H-la and H-lb) are
alike excepting that the first hypothesis deals with full-
time teaching contacts with exceptional children in re-
lation to attitudes toward their educational placement,
whereas the second hypothesis deals with full-time teach-
ing contacts with exceptional children relative to knowl-
edge and understanding (amount of accurate information)
held about them.

H-la.--Teachers who have had full-time teaching con-
Egpts with exceptional children will score significantly
Eligher on the CII Scale than teachers who have had part-
Ejgpe or no teaching contacts with these children.

Table 1 reports mean scores, standard deviations,
anti rankings of means for each group. Table 2 summarizes
thee analysis of variance calculations.

Table 1 shows that the highest mean rankings were
macie by the A and N groups. There is very little absolute

difference (.63) between the C11 mean score of the

125

TABLE l.--Means, standard deviations, and mean rankings of
classroom integration inventory realism scores for five
types of teaching experience.

 

 

Type of CII Standard
Experience N Mean Score Deviation
N (no experience) 10 225.000 17.889
A (part-time ancillary) 8 225.625 17.361
S (full-time spec. educ.) 19 223.737 19.A25
P (part-time regular class) 36 220.972 13.999
R (full-time regular class) 79 217.560 16.56A

Ranking of means: A (225.63) > N (225.00) > S (223.7A)
> P (220.97) > R (217.57)

 

ancillary personnel group and the mean score of the eight
regular classroom teachers who represent the "no experi-
ence" group. The S group had the next highest CII mean
score ranking. The R group had the lowest ranking while
the P group had next to the lowest ranking on the C11
scale. Mean rankings are not consistent with the hy-
pothesis prediction in that the S group has a lower mean
score than the A and N groups and the R group has a mean
score lower than the P, A, and N groups.

Table 2 reports the analysis-of—variance findings

for hypothesis la.

126

TABLE 2.--Ana1ysis-of-variance of classroom integration
inventory realism scores for the five types of teaching

 

 

experience.
Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square F of F
Between groups 1268.569 A 317.1A2 1.16A 0.33

Within groups AO0A1.898 1A7 272.39A
Total A1310.A67 151

 

As indicated from Table 2 the F statistic for the
analysis of variance test was not significant at the .05
level, which suggests that the sub-group means come from
a common population. A partial correlation of -.07 was
obtained between the CII realism scores and type of teach-
ing experience. This negative correlation between atti-
tude toward classroom integration of exceptional children
and type of teaching experience supports the findings of
"no significant difference" given in Table 2. Hypothesis
la,therefore, is not supported.

Summary of hypothesis relating type of teaching
Efiggndence to CII realism scores.--Hypothesis la which
Drxedicted that teachers who had full-time teaching con—
taxzts with exceptional children would have more realistic
at1:itudes toward the educational placement of these chil-
dreen than teachers who had part-time or no teaching con-

taczts with exceptional children was not supported. The

127

mean ranking of the special education group is consistent
with hypothesis 1a in that the S group has a higher mean
score on the C11 scale than either the P or R groups. It
is generally assumed that special education teachers have
a more continuous (full-time) contact with exceptional
children than regular class teachers. On the other hand,
the 10 respondents who represented the "no experience"
group had mean scores which outranked all other groups
excepting the A group. The position of the N group in
relation to both full-time special education teachers and
full-time regular class teachers was surprising.

If the findings for hypothesis 1a had been significant
rather than being merely directional and the N group larger,
it would suggest that groups which have the lesser amounts
of contact with exceptional children are more able to make
realistic educational placements of these children than
teacher groups who have had full-time teaching experiences
with them. On the other hand, it was noted that the major-
ity of respondents in the A group were younger than the
aVerage age of the other teachers, and thus may have had
Imxre recent academic training than the special or regular
Cléass full-time teachers. The respondents in the ancillary
SPWDup also had more academic credit pertaining to exceptional

(firildren than any of the other type of experience groups.

128

H-lb: Teachers who have had full-time teaching con-

 

tacts with exceptional children will score significantly

 

higher on the G11 Scale than teachers who have hadppart—

 

time or no teaching contacts with these children.

 

Table 3 reports mean scores, standard deviations,
and rankings of means for each group. Table A summarizes
the analysis of variance calculations. Table 5 contains
the calculations for the Multiple Range Test.

TABLE 3.--Means, standard deviations and mean rankings of
GII knowledge scores for five types of teaching experience.

 

 

Type of GII Standard
Experience N Mean Score Deviation
N (no experience) 10 55.900 10.723
A (part-time ancil.) 8 68.625 10.099
S (full-time spec. educ.) 19 60.000 10.536
P (part-time reg. class) 36 50.138 10.6A5
R (full-time reg. class) 77 52.688 8.987

Ranking of means: A (68.63) > S (60.000) > N (55.90)
> R (52.69) > P (50.1A)

Duncan's New Multiple Range Test Results:*
A (68.63) > 8 (60.00)* S (60.00) > R (52.69)*
A (68.63) > N (55.90)* S (60.00) > P (50.1A)*
A (68.63) > R (52.69)*
A (68.63) > P (50.1A)* N (55.90) > P (50.1A)*

*Significant at .05 level.

129

Table 3 reports that the highest mean rankings were
made by the A and S groups. The N type-of—experience group
had the next highest GII mean score. The P group had the
lowest mean ranking while the R group had next to the low-
est GII mean score. The findings that the 8 group has a
lower mean score ranking than the A group and the R and P
groups have lower mean score rankings than the N group, are
not consistent with hypothesis 1b. Table A contains the
analysis of variance findings for hypothesis 1b.

TABLE A.--Ana1ysis of variance of GII knowledge scores for
five types of teaching experience.

 

 

Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square F of F
Between groups 3099.733 A 77A.933 8.112 0.005

Within groups 13851.600 1A5 95.528
Total 16951.333 1A9

 

As indicated in Table A the F statistic for the ananlsis
of variance test was significant at the .005 level, which
suggests that the sub-group means do not come from a com-
mon population. However, it is necessary to consider the
means of the full-time teacher groups in relation to each
of the other groups to determine which groups differ from
each other. For this, a test of multiple means is necessary.
A discussion of Duncan's test is given in Edwards (1960,

pp. 136-1A0). The effect of the application of the Duncan

130

test is to increase the level of the 3 statistic required
for a given level of significance between two means as
additional means are included in the intervening range.
This is demonstrated by the changing values of R' of

p
Table 5.

A partial correlation of .12 was obtained between
the G11 mean scores and type of teaching experience (see
Table 30, p. 177).

The data reported in Table 5 support the hypothesis
in respect to two of the types of experience groupings.
Mean differences in the GII knowledge scores are signifi-
cant at the .05 level between full-time special education
and part—time regular class groupings. While the hypothesis
was not supported in respect to the differences predicted
between the full-time special education group and the other
two types of experience groupings (A and N) it should be
noted that the GII knowledge scores are significantly
higher at the .05 level between the ancillary group and
the special education group in the opposite direction to
that which was hypothesized. And although the GII know-
.hsdge scores of the full—time regular class (Table 3) are
INDt significantly different from the G11 mean scores (Table
5) of the part-time regular class and the no experience
ENJUpings, it is important to note that the GII knowledge
SCOIxes (Table 3) of the ancillary group are significantly
difffierent from the GII mean scores of the full-time regu-

lar class group in reverse direction to the hypothesized

one -

131

TABLE 5.--Duncan's New Multiple Range Test applied to means
of GII knowledge scores for five types of experience.

 

Range
of Mean (p) 2 3 A 5 df=150

 

Studentized
ranged for a
5% test (Zp) 2.77 2.92 3.02 3.09

R p b
(R' = szp, 150) 27.07 28.53 29.51 30.19

Mean differencesc

YA - K? (p = 5) 66.88*
x, - 2h (p = A) 60.67*

XS - X? (p = A) A9.11*

is - Xfi (p = 3) A0.36*

f, - IN (p = 3) 36.90*

KN - KP (p = 3) 32.79*

IN - Th (p = 2) 13.51

KR - KP (p = 2) 17.8A

KS — KN (p = 2) 1A.8A

I, - is (p = 2) 28.9A*

 

it-
Significant at .05 level of conficence.
aTaken from Edwards (1960, p. 373).

bs = the square root of the error mean square of the
analysis of variance of Table A. s = /95.528 = 9.77
p = the range of means (2, 3, A and 5).

CMean difference of columns 2, 3, A and 5 have been
transformed into the equivalent of tgscores for multiple
means. To be significant, the figure must exceed the R'p
value of the same column. The formula given by Kramer
(1956) is:

- f ///2ny nZ \\'SZ , error d.f. of A of V. = R'
z

 

 

7, n + n / I: p'

y Z

132

Summary of hypothesis relating type of teaching

 

experience to GII knowledge scores.--Hypothesis lb, which

 

predicted a significantly greater amount of knowledge
(higher scores on GII scale) for teachers who had full-
time teaching experience with exceptional children than

for teachers with part-time or no teaching experience with
exceptional children was partially supported. Full-time
special education teachers were found to be significantly
better informed (higher GII scores) than the regular class
teachers who reported having only part-time teaching experi-
ence with exceptional children. Although it was not hy-
pothesized, it is important to note that the ancillary
group (part-time group) had a mean score ranking (Table 3)
which was significantly higher than the mean score rankings
for all of the other groupings (Table 5). Table 5 shows
that the G11 mean score ranking (Table 3) for the full-time
special education group was significantly higher than the
GII mean score rankings (Table 3) for the full-time regular
class group. On the other hand, Table 5 shows that the
full-time special education group was not found to have a
GII mean score ranking (Table 3 ) which was significantly
higher than the mean score ranking (Table 3) for the group
Which reported no teaching experience with exceptional
Children. In fact, the group which claimed "no teaching
eXperience" with exceptional children was found (Table 5)

t0 have a significantly higher score ranking (Table 3) than

133

the mean score ranking (Table 3) for the part—time regular
class group. Thus, there is no difference in mean score
rankings between the S and N groups (Tables 3 and 5).
Table 5 shows that the group which appears to be the
most outstanding because of its higher GII mean score rank-
ing (Table 3) is the ancillary personnel group. The
ancillary group was comprised of eight therapists and two
administrators from special services. The higher GII
knowledge scores of the ancillary group may indicate
clinical background training and experience with guidance
orientation over and beyond that of regular class teachers.
The fact that the GII mean scores of the full-time
special education group were significantly higher than the
G11 mean scores of the full-time regular class teachers
(Tables 3 and 5) is of special importance to the present
study although it was not included in the hypothesis. In
View of the fact that special education teachers usually
have more academic credit pertaining to exceptionalities
of children and more experience with exceptional children
(especially in their respective vocational areas) it is
generally assumed by administrators and personnel teacher
placement officials that special education personnel have
more knowledge pertaining to exceptionalities of children

than regular class teachers.

13A

Hypotheses Related to Amount
of Teachinngxperience

The hypotheses in this section (H-2a, H—2b, H-3a,
and H-3b) are designed to define three levels of degrees
of contact: no experience, extensive part-time experi—
ence, and extensive full—time experience. Hypotheses 2a
and 3a deal with the attitudes of teachers while hypotheses
2b and 3b deal with the amount of knowledge expressed by
teachers.

F:Fe: Teachers who have had extensive full-time con-
tacts with exceptional children will rate significantly
higher on the CII Scale than teachers who have had exten-
sive part-time or no experience with exceptional children.

3229‘ Teachers who have had extensivegpart-time
teaching contacts with exceptional children will rate
significantly higher on the CII Scale than teachers who
have had no teaching contacts with exceptional children.

Table 6 indicates means, standard deviations, and
mean rankings for each type-of—teaching experience group.
Table 7 summarizes the analysis of variance findings for
these means. Table 6 reports mean rankings which are
.Precisely the reverse of the rankings predicted in hy-
Pcrtheses 2a and 3a. The highest mean ranking was made by
tile N group whereas the lowest ranking was made by the
F group .

As shown from Table 7 the F statistic for the analysis

Of ‘variance was not significant at the .05 level which leads

135

TABLE 6.--Means, standard deviations, and mean rankings
of classroom integration inventory scores for three levels
of amount of teaching experience.

 

 

Amount of CII Standard
Experience N Mean Score Deviation
N (no experience) 8 22A.750 9.765

P (extensive part-
time experience) 37 222.027 15.101

F (extensive full—
time experience) 82 219.366 16.553

Ranking of means: N (22A.75) > P (222.03) > F (219.37)

 

TABLE 7.--Ana1ysis-of-variance classroom integration inventory
realism scores for three levels of amount of teaching

 

 

experience.
Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square F of F
Between groups 336.203 2 168.102 0.670 0.52

Within groups 31071.A97 12A 250.577
Total 31A07.70l 126

one to assume that the sub-group means come from a common
POpulation. It was also found that the partial correlation
txrtween the C11 realism scores and the amount of teaching
exiperience was -.10. This negative correlation between
the? teachers' attitudes toward educational placement of

exceptional children lends additional support to the "no

136

significant difference" findings in Table 7. Hypotheses
2a and 3a were not supported.

Summary of hypotheses relating levels of amount of
teaching experience to attitudes of teachers toward edu-
cational placement of exceptional children.—-Hypothesis
2a, which predicted higher CII realism scores for teachers
who have had extensive full-time teaching contacts with
exceptional children than for teachers who have had ex-
tensive part-time or no teaching experience with exceptional
children was not supported. The data of Table 6 is, in
fact, reversed from that predicted. The CII mean scores
obtained by teachers with extensive full-time experience
ranked exactly opposite to the hypothesis prediction. If
the analysis of variance (Table 7) had shown a significant
difference (rather than merely being "directiona1") in the
CII realism scores of teachers divided according to amount
of experience levels, this reversal in ranking of mean
scores would suggest that teachers who have had only part-
time or no experience with exceptional children will have
more realistic attitudes (higher CII realism scores) toward
classroom integration of them than teachers who have had
full-time experience.

Hypothesis 3a, which predicted higher CII realism
Scores for teachers who have had extensive part-time teach-
ing contacts with exceptional children than for teachers

vflao have had no teaching contacts with them was also not

137

supported. As was just pointed out in the summary of hy-
pothesis results for 2a, the ranking of the means scores
(Table 6) took the exact opposite of the predicted ranking
in hypotheses 2a and 3a. While lacking statistical signifi-
cance, there is a trend which suggests that teachers who
have had a lesser amount of teaching experience with ex-
ceptional children would express more realistic attitudes
(higher CII realism scores) toward classroom integration
of these children than teachers who have had more years
and a more continuous teaching contact with exceptional
children.

Hypotheses 2b and 3b are similar to hypotheses 2a
and 3a excepting that hypotheses 2b and 3b deal with the GII
mean scores rather than with the C11 mean scores.

5:2p5 Teachers who have had extensive full-time con-
tacts with exceptional children will rate significantly
higher on the GII Scale than teachers who have had exten-
pive_part-time or no experience with exceptional children.

F:3p: Teachers who have had extensive part-time
teaching contacts with exceptional children will rate
significantly higher on the G11 Scale than teachers who
Qeve had no teaching contacts with exceptional children.

Table 8 reports mean scores, standard deviations,
and rankings of means for each teacher group categorized
according to amount of experience. Table 9 summarizes

tflie analysis of variance calculations.

138

TABLE 8.--Means, standard deviations and mean rankings
for general information inventory scores for three levels
of amount of teaching experience.

 

 

Amount of GII Standard
Experience N Mean Score Deviation
N (no experience) 8 55.000 9.928

P (extensive part-
time) 36 55.111 10.A22

F (extensive full-
time) 81 53.728 10.6AA

Ranking of means: N (55.00) > P (55.111) > F (53.73)

 

As shown from Table 8 the differences in GII mean
scores appear to be negligible. It is of interest to
note, however, that the full-time experience group have
a mean score which ranks a little below both the part-
time and the no experience teacher groups.

TABLE 9.--Ana1ysis-of—variance for general information

inventory knowledge scores for three levels of amount of
teaching experience.

 

 

Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square F of F
Between groups 53.012 2 26.51 0.2A 0.79

Within groups 13555.580 122 111.11
Total 13608.592 12A

 

139

As indicated from Table 9 the F statistic for the
analysis of variance was not significant at the .05 level,
thus it is reasonable to assume that the sub-group means
come from a common population. In addition, the partial
correlation between the amount of knowledge pertaining to
exceptional children and the amount of teaching experience
was small and insignificant. Hypotheses 2b and 3b were
not supported.

Summary of hypotheses relating levels of amount of
teaching experience to amount of accurate informationyper-
taining to exceptional children.--Hypothesis 2b, which
predicted higher GII scores for teachers who have had ex-
tensive full-time teaching experience with exceptional
children than for teachers who have had extensive part-
time or no teaching experience with them was not supported.
Nevertheless the ranking of the mean scores given in Table
8 attracts special attention. The GII mean score (amount
of knowledge pertaining to exceptional children) obtained
by teachers with extensive full-time experience ranked
exactly opposite to the prediction of hypothesis 2b. Had
the results from the analysis of variance (Table 9) indi-
cated a significant difference among the GII mean scores
Of respondents groups according to amount of teaching
SXperience, the reversal in mean score ranking would sug-
gest that teachers who have had only part-time or no teach-
ing experience with exceptional children will have more

lakbwledge and understanding (higher GII scores) of them

lUO

than teachers who have had extensive full-time experience
with exceptional children.

Hypothesis 3b, which predicted higher GII knowledge
scores for teachers who have had extensive part-time teach-
ing experience with exceptional children than for teachers
who have had no teaching contacts with them was not sup-
ported. It is unnecessary to go into detail concerning
the reversal of mean score ranking in Table 8 since it has
already been described in the summary of hypothesis results
for 2b. Table 8 reports a GII mean score difference be-
tween the no experience group and part-time experience
which appears to be negligible, yet the reversal in rank-
ing suggests that teachers who have had a lesser amount of
teaching experience with exceptional children will know
more about them than experienced teachers.

Hypotheses Related to Amount
of Academic Credit

 

 

H-ua: Teachers who have had extensive academic

 

credit in courses pertaining to exceptional children will

 

rate significantly higher on the CII Scale than teachers

 

who have had some or no acacemic credit in courses per—

 

taining to exceptional children.

 

Since this hypothesis was partially confirmed it
was tested with the same procedures as were used for test—
ing hypothesis lb. Table 10 reports mean scores, standard
deviations, and rankings of means for each group of

respondents divided according to three levels of amount

141

of academic credit. Table ll summarizes the analysis of
variance calculations. Table 12 contains calculations

for the Multiple Means Test.

TABLE lO.--Means, standard deviations and mean rankings
of classroom integration inventory realism scores for
three levels of amount of academic credit.

 

 

Amount of Academic CII Standard
Credit N Mean Score Deviation

N (no credit) 20 220.250 12.818

S (some credit) 69 215.275 16.391

Ex (extensive credit) 57 225.263 17.277

Ranking of means: Ex (225.26) > N (220.25) > S (215.28)

Duncan Test Results: Ex (225.26) > S (215.28)

 

Table 10 shows larger intervals between the CII mean
scores than do Tables 1 and 6. The fact that these differ-
ences in mean score rankings showed a significant differ-
ence at the .005 level is confirmed by the significance of
the E statistic reported in Table 11. Thus it appears that
the sub—group means do not come from a common population.
This does not, however, support per se the hypothesis in
respect to the extensive credit—level group in relation to
each of the other two groups taken alone. In order to
determine the relationship of the group having an extensive
credit-level background to the group with some credit-

le"Walbackground and to the group with no credit-level

lU2

TABLE ll.--Analysis of variance of classroom integration
inventory realism scores for three levels of amount of
academic credit.

 

 

Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square 3 of E
Between groups 3117.UO9 2 1558.70 5.8u9 .005

Within groups 38106.571 1&3 266.U80

Total Al223.979 145

 

background, a test of multiple mean comparisons is neces-
sary.

The data shown in Table 12 support hypothesis Na in
respect to the relationship of teachers who have had ex-
tensive academic credit and teachers who have had some
credit. The mean score difference between the teacher
group with extensive academic credit and the teacher group
with some credit shows that the group with the most credit
will have more realistic attitudes (higher scores on the
CII) toward the educational placement of exceptional chil-
dred than teachers who have "some" credit. It is rather
surprising then to note that the group of teachers which
had "some" credit were outranked by the mean score of the
teacher group which had "no" credit. The "no" credit
group was made up of 20 regular classroom teachers so
there is no explanation for this outcome other than the
fact that the "no" experience group contained only 17 per—

cent of the regular classroom teachers.

1&3

TABLE l2.--Duncan's New Multiple Range Test applied to
means of classroom integration inventory realism scores
for three levels of amount of academic credit.

 

Range of Means (p) 2 3 df=146

 

Studentized ranges

for 5% test (Zp)a 2.77 2.92
R'p (R' = szp1u6)b u5.25 “7.66
Mean differencesc
XEx — XS (p = 3) 79.01*
XEx - Xn (p = 2) 27.35
Km - Xs (p = 2) 27.70

 

*Significant at .05 level of confidence.
aTaken from Edwards (1960, p. 373).

bs = the square root of the error mean square of
the analysis of variance of Table 11.

 

S = /266.5795 = 16.32“

p = the range of means (2 and 3)-

0Mean differences of columns 2 and 3 have been
transformed into the equivalent of tgscores for multiple
means. To be significant, the figure must exceed the R'
value of the same column. The formula given by Kramer
(1956) is:

2 n n
X — X ._,JL__E_ :> 82 error d.f. of A. of V.
y z / ny + nz P’
= R .
p

p

1

lAA

In addition to the significant difference between
the CII mean scores of teachers with extensive academic
credit backgrounds and the mean scores of teachers with
some or no course work credit pertaining to the excep-
tionalities of children (Tables 10 and 12), the partial
correlation between these variables was .181 (< .05),
thus emphasizing a positive relationship between level
of amount of academic credit pertaining to exception-
alities and amount of knowledge (GII scale) pertaining
to exceptional children.

Summary of hypothesis relatinggamount of academic

 

credit to CII realism scores.--Hypothesis 4a, which pre-

 

dicted a significantly greater amount of realistic attitude
toward the educational placement of exceptional children
(higher CII scores) among teachers who have had extensive
academic credit than for teachers who have had some or

no academic credit pertaining to exceptional children was
partially supported. Table 12 indicates that the teacher
group having extensive academic credit has a significantly
higher mean score on the CII test than the teacher group
having some academic credit. Duncan's New Multiple Range

Test (Table 12) also shows that the teacher group which

 

lWilfred J. Dixon and Frank J. Massey, Jr. Intro-
duction to Statistical Analysis, 1957, p. A68. Table
A-30a “Percentiles of the Distribution of r, When p = O."
This table indicates that r for 150 cases needs .13A or
greater to be significant at the .05 level.

 

145

has an extensive amount of academic credit does not even
approach the .05 level of significance in relation to the
teacher group with "no" academic credit. To be signifi-
cant the difference in the means of these two teacher
groups must exceed the appropriate Rp significant range
factor. The results of the Duncan's test were 27.35,
whereas it needed to be 45.25 to be significant at the
.05 level.

The fact that the mean score of the "no" academic
credit group ranked above that of the teacher group with
"some" academic credit was not consistent in view of the
supported hypothesis 4a. Since the elevation of the mean
score for the N group over the mean score for the S group
is not a significant difference it need not be accounted
for. Had the number of respondents who reported "no"
academic credit been equal to the number of respondents
in either of the other two categories one might be Justi-
fied in the use of the old adage: "A little learning is
a dangerous thing"!

H-Ab: Teachers who have had extensive academic

 

credit in courses pertaining to exceptional children will

rate significantly higher on the GII Scale than teachers

 

who have had some or no academic credit in courses per-
taining to exceptional children.

Since this hypothesis was partially confirmed it
was tested with the same procedures as were used for

testing hypotheses lb and Na. Table 13 reports mean

lu6

scores, standard deviations, and ranking of means for

each group of respondents divided according to three credit-
level categories. Table lu summarizes the analysis of
variance calculations. Table 15 contains calculations for
the Multiple Range Test.

TABLE l3.--Means, standard deviations and mean rankings

for general information inventory scores for three levels
' of amount of academic credit.

 

 

Amount of GII Standard
Academic Credit N Mean Scores Deviation
N (no credit) 20 52.100 8.u97
S (some credit) 67 52.537 8.960
Ex (extensive credit) 56 57.161 12.32A

Ranking of means: Ex (57.16) > S (52.5”) > N (52.10)

Duncan Test Results: Ex (57.16) > S (52.54)

 

The ranking of the means in Table 13 corresponds to
the prediction given in hypothesis Mb. The 56 respondents
with extensive academic credit backgrounds had higher mean
scores on the GII knowledge test than the S and N credit
level groups. The difference in the mean score of the
teacher group with some academic credit and the mean score
of the teacher group with no credits pertaining to ex-.
ceptional children is negligible even though the N group

does have the lowest mean score ranking in Table 13.

lU7

TABLE lA.--Ana1ysis of variance of general information
venentory knowledge scores for three levels of amount of
academic credit.

 

 

Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square 3 of E
Between groups 763.23“ 2 381.617 3.556 .03

Within groups 15024.010 140 107.31“

Total 15787.2u5 1A2

 

Table 14 reports the analysis of variance results.
The obtained E is significant at the .03 level. Table 13
shows mean score ranking for the S and N group to be very
close. The multiple mean comparisons in Table 15 indi-
cates that Ex is significantly greater than S at the .03
level of confidence and approaches the .05 level of signi-
ficance in relation to the N group. To be significant
the difference in the means of the Ex and N groups must
exceed the appropriate Rp significant range factor. The
results of the Duncan's test were 27.47 whereas the test
result needed to exceed R3 = 30.23 in order to be signifi-
cant at the .05 level of confidence.

Summary of hypothesis relating amount of academic

 

gredit to GII knowledge scores.--Hypothesis ”b, which pre—

 

dicted a significantly greater amount of knowledge and
understanding of exceptional children (higher GII scores)
among teachers who have had extensive academic credit

pertaining to exceptional children than for teachers who

148

TABLE 15.--Duncan's New Multiple Range Test applied to
means of general information inventory knowledge scores
for three levels of amount of academic credit.

 

Range of Means (p) 2 3 df=l40

 

Studentized ranges

for 5% test (Zp)a 2.77 2.92
b

t v =
R p (R szp, 140) 28.72 30.23
Mean differencesc
XEX - Xn (p = 3) 270,47
XEx - Xs (p = 2) 36.11*
XS = Xn (p = 2) 2.43

 

*Significant at .05 level of confidence.
aTaken from Edwards (1960, p. 373).

bs = the square root of the error mean square of the
analysis of variance of Table 14.

s = /107.314 = 10.359

p = the range of means (2 and 3)-

0Mean differences of columns 2 and 3 have been trans-
formed into the equivalent of tfscores for multiple means.
To be significant, the figure must exceed the R' value of
the same column. This was accomplished by use 0? the
rationale supplied by Kramer (1956), and the formula:

_ _ 2 ny nZ ;>
X - Xz n + n szp, error d.f. of A. of V.

y Z

 

 

(= R'p).

149

have had some or no academic credit was partially con-
firmed at the .05 level of confidence. In addition to

the significant difference found between the GII mean
scores of teachers with extensive academic background
pertaining to exceptional children and teachers with some
academic background pertaining to exceptionalities of
children, the partial correlation obtained between these
two variables was .20. Table 15 not only shows the teachers
with extensive academic credit; it also shows that the
higher scores of the Ex group (Table 13) approach the .05
level of significance in relation to the N group (Table
15). To be significant the difference in the means of

the Ex and N groups must exceed the R3 appropriate signifi-
cant range factor. The results of the Duncan's New
Multiple Range test as shown in Table 15 were 27.47. In
order to be significantly different at the .05 level it
should have been 30.23.

The respondents who represented the "no academic
credit" group were 20 regular classroom teachers. Since
this was a small, self-selected group it is "understand-
able" that their mean score could tend to run higher than
the GII mean scores of a comparable (no experience) group

with twice or three times as many respondents.

150

Hypotheses Related to Three
Levels of Amount of
Consultation

 

 

 

H-5a: Teachers who have given consultations per-

 

taining to exceptional children will score significantly
higher on the CII Scale than teachers who have received
periodic consultations or teachers who have had no oppor-

tunity for such consultations.

 

Table 16 reports mean scores, standard deviations,
and rankings of means for each teacher group divided
according to level of amount of consultations. Table 17
summarizes the analysis of variance calculations for hy-
pothesis 5a.

TABLE 16.--Means, standard deviations and mean rankings

of classroom integration inventory realism scores for
three levels of amount of consultation.

 

 

Amount of CII Standard
Consultation N Mean Score Deviation
N (no consultations) 13 217.000 15.116
P (receive periodic

consultations) 92 219.152 16.792
C (give consultations) 27 224.259 19.154

Ranking of means: C (224.26) > P (219.15) > N (217.00)

 

Table 16 shows a mean ranking which appears to be
consistent with the predicted ranking in hypothesis 5a.
The respondents who give consultations have the highest

mean score ranking on the CII realism scores and the

151

respondent group with no consultation background pertain-
ing to the problems of exceptional children has the low-
est mean scores ranking on CII realism score.

TABLE l7.-—Ana1ysis-of-variance of classroom integration
inventory realism scores for three levels of amount of

 

 

consultation.
Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square 3 of E
Between groups 672.915 2 336.457 1.197 0.31

Within groups 36265.005 129 281.124
Total 36937-970 131

 

Table 17 shows that the 3 statistic for the analysis
of variance test was not significant at the .05 level,
which suggests that the sub-group means come from a common
population.

Summary of hypothesis relating amount of consultation
experience to CII realism scores.--Hypothesis 5a, which pre—
dicted that teachers who gave consultations pertaining to
exceptional children would have more realistic attitudes
toward the educational placement of these children (higher
scores on the CII scale) than teachers who received periodic
consultations or teachers who had no opportunity for such
consultations was not supported. Table 16 reports a rank-
ing of the means which is consistent with the ranking im-

plied by hypothesis 5a but the analysis of variance

152

indicated the differences between the C11 mean scores to
be non-significant at the .05 level of confidence. In
addition, the partial correlation between the CII realism
scores and the giving of consultations pertaining to ex-
ceptionalities of children was small and insignificant
(.11).

H-5b: Teachers who have given consultations per—

 

taining to exceptional children will score significantly
higher on the GII Scale than teachers who have received
periodic consultations or teachers who have had no oppor-

tunity for such consultations.

 

Table 18 reports mean scores, standard deviations,
and rankings of means for each type of consultation cate—
gory. Table 19 reports the summarized calculations for the
analysis of variance findings. Table 20 contains the
multiple means test calculations.

TABLE l8.-—Means, standard deviations and mean rankings of

general information inventory knowledge scores for three
levels of amount of consultation experience.

 

Amount of

 

Consultation GII Standard
Experience N Mean Score Deviation
N (no consultations) 13 52.615 8.231
P (receive periodic

consultations) 89 52.584 10.30
C (give consultations) 27 62.222 10.628

Ranking of Means: C (62.22) > N (52.62) > P (52.58)

Duncan Test Results: C (62.22) > P (52.58); C (62.22)
> N (52.62)

 

153

Table 18 gives a ranking of the mean scores of the
general inventory which agrees with the prediction made
in hypothesis 5b. Teachers who have given consultations
pertaining to exceptional children have a higher GII means
score than either the P or the N group of respondents.
TABLE l9.-—Analysis of variance of general information

inventory knowledge scores for three levels of amount of
consultation experience.

 

 

Source of Sum of - GII Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Mean Square E of E
Between groups 1981.476 2 990.738 9.545 .005

Within groups 13077.362 126 103.789

Total 15058.83? 128

 

As indicated from Table 19, the E statistic for the
analysis of variance test was significant at the .005 level.

Summary of hypothesis relating levels of amount of
consultation experience to amount of accurate information
(GII knowledge scores) expressed by the respondents.--Hy-
pothesis 5b, which predicted a greater amount of accurate
information pertaining to exceptional children (higher
GII scores) for teachers who have given consultations per-
taining to exceptional children than for teachers who have
received periodic consultations or teachers who have had
no opportunity for such consultations was fully confirmed.

Table 20 indicates that respondents who have given

154

TABLE 20.--Duncan's New Multiple Range Test applied to
means of general information inventory knowledge scores
for three levels of amount of consultation experience.

 

Range of Means (p) 2 3 df=l26

 

Studentized ranges

for 5% test (Zp)a 2.77 2.92
b

v v =
R p (R szp,126) 28.24 29.67
Mean Differencesc
XC - Xp (p = 3) 63.03*
Xc - Xn (p = 2) 40.20*
Xn - Xp (p = 2) .15

 

*Significant at .05 level of conficence.

aTaken from Edwards (1960, p. 373).

bs = the square root of the error mean square of the

analysis of variance of Table 19.
s = /103.789 = 10.187

the range of means (2 and 3).

P

CMean differences of columns 2 and 3 have been
transformed into the equivalent of Egscores for multiple
means. To be significant, the figure must exceed the R'
value of the same column. This was accomplished by use
of the rationale supplied by Kramer (1956, and the
formula:

2 n n
-_- ___L_z_>
Xy Xz ///n + nz szp, error df. of anal. of var.

y = .
( R p).

155

consultations pertaining to exceptional children have a
significantly greater amount of accurate information
(higher GII scores) about these children than teachers
who have received periodic consultations pertaining to
exceptional children. Table 20 also shows that teachers
who have given consultations pertaining to exceptional
children express a significantly greater amount of accur-
ate information about them than do teachers who have had
no opportunity for discussing the problems of their ex—
ceptional children with a specialist in the particular
area of the involvement.

The significant difference between the GII mean scores
of the teachers who give consultations pertaining to ex-
ceptionalities of children and the mean scores of teachers
who have either periodic consultations or no consultations
concerning exceptional children is supported by a corre-
lation of .34; revealing a positive relationship between
amount of consultations given and amount of knowledge per—
taining to exceptional children.

Hypothesis Related to Correlation
of Attitude and Knowledge Scores

 

 

H-6: Teachers who score significant;y higher on

 

the CII Scale will also score significantly higher on the

 

GII Scale.

 

In this hypothesis the Pearson Product Moment Corre—
lation was chosen to study the relationship of the amount

of accurate information concerning exceptional children

156

(GII knowledge scores) and the attitude toward educational
placement of exceptional children (CII realism scores)
expressed by the respondents, since these two sets of
scores are postulated to represent two continuous vari-
ables.

Summary of hypothesis relating amount of knowledge
(GII scores) to amount of realistic attitude toward edu-
cational_placement (CII scores) expressed by the respon-
ggggs.--Hypothesis 6 which predicted that teachers who
score significantly higher on the GII scale (have a signifi-
cantly greater amount of accurate information) will also
score significantly higher on the CII scale (have a signifi—
cantly more realistic attitude toward educational placement)
was supported. And since the two variables are positively
related, teachers who score high on one of the tests (GII
or CII) will tend to score high on the other. Thus realis—
tic acceptance of educational placement of exceptional
children and amount of knowledge and understanding of ex—
ceptionalities of children tend to go hand-in-hand but
not in a one-to-one manner.

Testing of two additiona1_propositions: CII and

 

GII test results in relation to type of school.--

Question I: Do the teachers from the five schools

 

which enrolled the greatest number of exceptional children
(schools with special education programs) have a signifi—

cantly greater amount of realistic acceptance for

157

exceptional children than teachers from the five schools
which have the least number of exceptional children
(schools without special education programs) on their
rolls?

Table 21 reports mean scores, standard deviations,
and rankings of means for each group of schools. Table
22 summarizes the analysis of variance calculations.
TABLE 21.--Means and standard deviations of classroom

integration inventory for schools with (S) and schools
without (R) special education programs.

 

Type of Standard
School N Mean Score Deviation

 

S (with special
education pro-
grams) 92 217.609 16.701

R (without special
education pro-
grams) 57 222.474 15.527

Ranking of means: R (222.47) > S (217.61)

 

Table 21 reveals that the five schools without
special education programs have a higher CII mean score
ranking than the five schools with special education pro-
grams.

However, Table 22 shows that the obtained E statistic
of 3.15 is not significant at the .05 level of confidence;
therefore, Question number one must be answered in the
negative at the .05 level. However, the significance of

.09 is quite close to the chosen level of confidence. At

158

TABLE 22.--Analysis of variance of classroom integration
inventory realism scores for schools with and schools
without special education programs.

 

 

Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square E of E
Between groups 832.991 1 832.991 3.149 0.09

Within groups 38882.124 147

Total 39715.114 148

 

a .10 level of confidence the analysis of variance test
results would indicate that the CII mean score rankings
shown in Table 21 are significantly different in favor

of the five schools without special education rooms. An
outcome of this nature would suggest that teachers from

the schools in which there was the least amount of oppor-
tunity for contact with special education programs had
significantly more realistic attitudes toward educational
placement of exceptional children than teachers from schools
which provided the most opportunity for contact with special
education programs.

GII test results in relation to type of schools.—-

 

Question II: Do the teachers from the five schools

 

which enrolled the greatest number of exceptional children
have a significantly greater amount of knowledge concern-
ing exceptional children than the teachers from the five
schools which enrolled the least number of exceptional

children?

159

Table 23 reports mean scores, standard deviations,
and rankings of means for each group of schools. Table
24 summarizes the analysis of variance calculations.
TABLE 23.--Means and standard deviations of classroom

integration inventory for schools with special education
and schools without special education programs.

 

Type of GII Standard
School N Mean Score Deviation

 

S (with special

education) 90 53.578 10.580
R (without
special education) 57 53.860 10.202

Ranking of means: R (53.86) > S (53.58)

 

Table 23 shows that the difference between GII mean
score ranking of the teachers from the schools without
special education programs and the GII mean score of
teachers from the schools with special education programs
is negligible.

TABLE 24.--Analysis of variance of general information

inventory knowledge scores for schools with special edu-
cation and schools without special education programs.

 

 

Source of Sum of Mean Sign.
Variation Squares D.F. Square F of E
Between groups 2.773 1 2.773 0.025 0.85

Within groups 15790.833 145 108.902
Total 15793.605 146

 

160

Table 24 indicates that the E statistic is definitely
not significant at the .05 level; thus Question number two
must be answered in the negative. In summary, the GII
mean score rankings of teachers from the schools with
special education programs are not significantly different
from the GII mean score of the teachers from the five
schools which had no special education programs.

Summary of classroom integration inventory and general
information inventory test results in relation to opportun-
ity for teacher contact with exceptional children.--At the
.05 level of confidence there were no significant differ-
ences found, in attitudes toward educational placement (CII
scores) or amount of knowledge about exceptionalities of
children (GII scores), between teachers from schools which
had established special education programs and teachers
from schools which had no special education programs for
exceptional children. It must be mentioned, however, that
the group of schools classified as having "no special edu—
cation programs" were serviced by itinerant personnel such
as the speech correctionists, social workers, and psycho-
logists. It was of special interest to the investigator
that there was a much greater gap in the attitudes (CII
scores) for these two teacher groupings than there was in
the amount of knowledge (GII scores) expressed by teachers

from the two types of schools.

161

Comparative Analysis of
Characteristics of
Teachers

 

 

The previous section has tested the hypotheses and
reported the findings. This section of the chapter tabu-
lates and interprets data which is deemed to be relevant
to the major variables in the present study. The charac-
teristic patterns of prediction are examined within each
grouping when the respondents are classified according to
type of experience, amount of experience, amount of course
work, and amount of consultation experience. The corre-
lation of the major independent variables with the two
major dependent variables are also tabulated and discussed.

This section of the chapter presents the data for
discussion in the following sequence: (a) frequency distri-
bution of 154 respondents in the total sample according to
sex and type of teaching position, (b) amount of teaching
experience, sex and teaching position characteristics of
respondents reporting, "no teaching experience with ex-
ceptional children," (0) characteristics of respondents
when grouped according to teaching position, (d) charac-
teristics of respondents reporting: "no teaching experi-
ence with exceptional children," "No academic credit per-
taining to exceptionalities of children," and "no consul-
tations about exceptionalities of children," (e) compari-
son of characteristics of respondents from two types of
schools, and (f) comparison of correlations of five selected

variables with CII realism scores and GII knowledge scores.

162

TABLE 25.—-Distribution of 154 respondents (total sample)
according to sex and type of teaching position.

 

Special Regular Student Ancillary

 

Class Class Teacher Personnel Total
Frequency 18 120 6 10 154
Female % 89 92 100 70 90
Male % ll 8 0 30 10
% of Total 12 78 4 6 100

 

Comparison of Four Types of
Teaching Positions in Re-
lation to Frequency Distri-
bution and Sex Characteristics
of 154 Teacher Respondents

 

 

 

 

 

The representative sample of 154 teacher respondents
contained a 90 percent female and only a 10 percent male
population, as is indicated in Table 25. Each type of
teaching experience group, although predominantly female
in character, differs from each of the other groups in
respect to the amount of male teacher respondents con-
tained in that particular group; viz., only eight percent
of the 120 regular class teachers were male and 11 percent
of the 18 special education class teachers were male,
whereas 30 percent of the 10 ancillary personnel were male
respondents. The six student teachers were 100 percent
female, thus that group was characterized by an absence of
male respondents. The group of 120 regular class teachers,

which constituted 78 percent of the entire sample, was 92

163

percent female. The group of 18 special class teachers,
12 percent of the entire sample, were 89 percent female.
The ten ancillary personnel, with the highest percentage
of males, comprised 7 percent of the entire sample. The
smallest group, however, consisted of the six female
student teachers; 4 percent of the 154 respondents in

the total sample. In summary, it was noted that the regu-
lar class teacher group, which had the highest amount of
representation in the entire sample, had next to the low-
est percent of male respondents in its respective group.
TABLE 26.--Type of teaching position and sex identification
for 10 respondents reporting, "no teaching experience with

exceptional children" divided according to two levels of
number of years taught.

 

 

 

Regular Student Ancillary Group
Years Clgss Teagher Persgnnel Togals
Taught

M F M F M F M F
10+ 0 50 0 0 0 0 0 50
-10 10 20 0 10 10 0 20 30

Totals 10 70 0 10 10 0 20 80

 

Characteristic distribution of the 10 respondents

 

geporting "no teaching experience with exceptional
children".--The data in Table 26 indicate that the 10
respondents reporting "no teaching experience with ex-

ceptional children" are distributed among all three types

164

of teaching experience positions-—the regular class, the
student teacher and the ancillary. By referring to the
"group totals" column of Table 26 it can be seen that 80
percent of the 10 respondents are female and 20 percent
are male. The male respondents belong to the regular
class and ancillary group and have had less than 10 years
of teaching experience. The female respondents are distri-
buted among the regular class and student teacher group.
In the regular class 50 percent of the female group repre-
sent the segment of the group with more than 10 years
teaching experience and 20 percent of the 10 respondents
represent the regular class teachers with less than 10
years teaching experience. The student teacher group had
one respondent who reported no teaching experience with
exceptional children.

To summarize, it can be said that 80 percent of the
respondents, who described themselves as having no experi-
ence in teaching exceptional children, are regular class
teachers and a majority are women.

Characteristics of 152 Teacher
Respondents Divided According

to Type of Teaching Experience
Position

 

 

 

Table 27 presents data for six variables when grouped
by four types of teaching experience positions. The
interpretation of the data is discussed in sequential

order as presented in Table 27.

165

 

 

 

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166

Magnitude of four types of teaching experience groups.--

 

Table 27 shows that 78 percent of the sample of 152 respon-
dents are regular class teachers. The special class teachers
who represent the group with the next largest number of re-
spondents to the questionnaire comprises 12 percent of the
152 teachers. The other two groups--the ancillary person-
nel and the student teachers were much smaller with only 7
and 4 percent respectively.

Sex of teacher in relation to type of teaching'experi-

 

enge.-—In Table 27 one can see that all of the types of
teaching experience groups are predominantly female with
the regular class teacher group including the largest per—
cent of female and the ancillary group the largest percent
of male members. This is also discussed under Table 25.

Characteristics of four teaching experiencegpositions

 

in terms of number ofyyears taught.--A glance at Table 27

 

offers data which indicates that the ancillary and student
teacher groups have the largest percentages of respondents
who reported having less than ten years of teaching experi-
ence. The special class teachers were found to be next-—
with 56 percent of their teaching position group reporting
less than 10 years of teaching experience. But since there
were 6 percent missing data on the number of years taught
by the respondents in the special education group it is
probable that only 50 percent of the special class teachers
had under 10 years of experience. On the other hand, it is

Probable that there were more than 56 percent of the special

 

Illiiulll ‘. .l1

 

 

167

class teachers who had taught less than 10 years. The
data shows that 51 percent of the regular class teachers
reported having less than 10 years teaching experience.
It also shows that 11 percent of the data is missing,
therefore it was impossible to conclude whether or not
the majority of regular class teachers had taught less
or more than 10 years.

In summarization of the data pertaining to the per—
centage of each teaching experience group with less than
10 years of teaching experience, it was concluded that the
student teacher and ancillary groups were characterized by
much less teaching experience than either the special class
or the regular class teachers.

Characteristics of respondents from four types of

 

teaching positions according to type of teaching experi-

 

ence background.—-Using Table 27 as a reference it can be

 

seen that 100 percent of the special class, 65 percent of
the regular class, and 20 percent of the ancillary teacher
groupings reported "full-time" teaching experience with
exceptional children. A part—time teaching experience was
reported by 90 percent of the student teachers, 80 percent
of the ancillary personnel, and by 26 percent of the
regular class teachers. The only respondents reporting
"no teaching experience" with exceptional children were

10 percent of the ancillary, 10 percent of the student

teacher, and 7 percent of the regular class teaching groups.

168

The data descriptive of type of teaching eXperience
background indicates that 65 percent of the regular class
teachers are aware of their full-time teaching responsi-
bility for exceptional children in their classrooms,
whereas none of the ancillary and student teacher respon-
dents report having full-time responsibility for the edu-
cational program of an exceptional child. As would be ex-
pected, all of the special education class teachers recog-
nize their teaching position as one which has full-time
responsibility for exceptional children. The investigator
has reason to believe that the ancillary personnel who re-
ported "no experience" with exceptional children mis-
understood the term "teaching" because all of the ancil-
lary personnel are known to have worked with exceptional
children; clinically, at least.

Characteristics of respondents from four types of
teachingppositions divided according to three levels of

amount of academic credit.-—By referring to Table 27 the

 

reader can see data which indicate that 94 percent of the
special class, 80 percent of the ancillary, 33 percent of
the student teachers, and 25 percent of the regular class
teachers reported "extensive credit" pertaining to ex-
ceptionalities of children. "Some credit" pertaining to
exceptionalities was reported by 67 percent of the student
teachers, 54 percent of the regular class teachers, 10
Percent of the ancillary, and 6 percent of the special

education class teachers. There were 16 percent of the

169

regular class teachers and 10 percent of the ancillary
personnel who reported "no credit" in coursework per-
taining to exceptional children.

In summary, it can be concluded that the special
class teachers and ancillary personnel had more extensive
educational backgrounds pertaining to exceptionalities of
children than either the student teachers or the regular
class teachers. In fact, the small student teacher group
provided data which implies that the student teacher group
had taken more academic courses pertaining to exceptional-
ities of children than the group of regular class teachers.
And if the data, which indicates that 16 percent of the
regular class teachers and 10 percent of the ancillary
have had "no academic credit" in courses pertaining to
exceptionalities of children, is true-—it most certainly
reveals a serious gap in the educational preparation of
the respondents.

Characteristics of respondents from four types of

 

teaching positions according to amount of consultation

 

experience.—-Data in Table 27 shows that 89 percent of the

 

special class, 80 percent of the ancillary, 17 percent of
the student teacher, and 3 percent of the regular class
teachers reported, "consultations given." Respondents
reporting "consultations received" were 72 percent of the
regular class, 33 percent of the student teachers, 20
percent of the ancillary, and 6 percent of the special

class teachers. "No opportunity for consultations" was

170

reported by 50 percent of the student, 9 percent of the
regular class, and 6 percent of the special class teachers.
An inspection of the comparative data shown in Table
27 concerning the amount of consultation experience possessed
by the respondents from four different teaching experience
positions revealed several findings of particular impor—
tance. The percentages found in the "G" column of Table
27 provides evidence which suggests that both ancillary
and special class respondents can be characterized as
teachers who "give" consultations whereas the regular class
respondents can be characterized as teachers who "receive"
consultations. And although 50 percent of the student
teacher group reported, "no opportunity" for consultations
pertaining to exceptionalities of children, the data indi-
cate that more of the student teachers "receive" than "give"
consultations of this kind.

Summary of comparative data relating relevant back-

 

ground data to four types of teaching experience positions.--

 

The comparative summary of data relating certain selected
variables to specific types of teaching experience positions
brings several concepts into focus. It is clearly recog-
nized that the groups range in size from 118 respondents

in the regular class group to only 6 respondents in the
student teacher group. Using "number of years taught" as
the criteria it was judged that the ancillary and special
class groups tend to have a younger membership than the

regular class group. The two latter groups also have a

171

larger percentage of male members than the regular class
group. The regular class respondents reported an amount
of full-time experience with exceptional children which
ranked next to special class teachers yet it was the
special class teacher and ancillary groups who reported
the largest amounts of academic credit pertaining to
exceptionalities of children and background experience
in giving consultations about exceptionalities of chil—
dren.

Characteristics of Respondents

Reporting the Minimal Amount of:

Teaching Experience with Ex-

ceptional Children, Academic

Credit Pertaining to Exception-

alities of Them and Consultations
About Exceptionalities of Children

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An inspection of the "teaching position" and "frequency"
columns of Table 28 discloses that 39 of the 46 respondents,
reporting that they have had no teaching experience with
exceptional children and no academic credit or consultations
pertaining to exceptionalities of children, are regular
class teachers. It is also apparent that the "self-appointed"
groups set forth in Table 28 are predominantly female in
character with a teaching experience ranging from less than
one year for student teachers to more than 10 years for the
group reporting "no consultation" experience. The charac-
teristics of respondents grouped by their amount of experi-
ence with the three major variables are discussed in
sequential order. A brief summary concludes the discussions

on the Table 28 data.

172

 

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II I: II In I: II II m I: II I: m mama .omHz
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NH mm OO mm NO O O OOH I: I: O OOH .509 .Spm
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. 3H. .28 H

*«.B .U .wmm m

 

 

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coHpHmom
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mpHHmcoHpomoxm OHEopmo< wanommB .mpw :IQonom
co mcoHpmpHSmcoO pcsoE< mo maze ..oz . .oz

 

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mchnooom Ooqsopw m

ucoocoamon pow mump ocsonwxomo OHumeopomhmno no somHMMQEOOII.Om mqm<e

173

Group reporting "no pype of teaching contact" with
exceptional children.--By using Table 28 one can see that
the group reporting "no teaching experience . . ." con-
tains eight regular class teachers, one student teacher
and one ancillary personnel. Only 30 percent of this group
reported "no academic credit" and just 10 percent reported
"no consultations." However, it was impossible to make
any conclusions concerning the consultation experience of
this group since 60 percent of the data was missing.

Grogp reporting "no years taught".--The student teacher
group was limited to five members to avoid a double count on
the student teacher who classified herself as having "no
experience" with exceptional children. The student teacher
group, as one would expect, is characterized by their lack
of teaching experience. As a group, student teachers re-
ported a higher amount of academic credit and more consul-
tation experience than was reported by the class room teach-
ers who classified themselves as having minimal amount of
experience.

Group reporting "no academic credit" in courses per-

taining to exceptionalities of children.--By referring to

 

Table 28 it can be seen that 35 percent of the 20 regular
class teachers reporting "no academic credit" in courses
pertaining to exceptional children also reported "no
opportunity for consultations" pertaining to exceptional-
ities of children. The data indicates, nevertheless, that

25 percent of these 20 regular class teachers reported

174

"full-time" and 45 percent reported "part-time" teaching
experience with exceptional children. It is also indi-
cated in the descriptive data for the "no credit" group
that 50 percent of these 20 regular class teachers reported
having "received consultations" about exceptionalities of
children.

Group reporting "no consultation experience" pertain-

 

ing to exceptionalities of children.--The data presented in

 

Table 28 indicate that 55 percent of the 11 regular class
teachers reporting "no opportunity for consultation" about
exceptionalities of children had more than 10 years teach-
ing experience. By using "number of years taught" as an
estimate for the average age status of the group, it was
judged that this particular group included more of the

older teachers than did the other "minimal experience"
groups. The finding in Table 28 indicating that 55 percent
of these 11 regular class teachers who do not receive con-
sultations about exceptionalities of their pupils have also
had no course work pertaining to exceptionalities of chil-
dren, is of special importance to the present study. It

is also important to note that although none of these 11
regular class teachers receive consultations and less than
half of them took course work pertaining to the exceptional-
ities of children, 46 percent of them reported full-time

and 36 percent part-time teaching experience with exceptional

children.

175

Summary of characteristics of respondents reporting
minimal amounts of: experience with exceptional children,
academic credit pertaining to exeeptionalities of children,

and consultations about them.--A summary of the data con-

 

tained in Table 28 indicates that 85 percent of the respon-
dents who comprise the "minimal" amount of experience with
the designated groups are regular class teachers. The
fact that the student teacher classified herself in the
"no experience . . ." group was less surprising than the
"presence" of an ancillary respondent in that particular
grouping. No doubt, an awareness of a lack of classroom
teaching experience caused the ancillary respondent to
choose the "no experience . . ." to be the group where he
belonged. All ancillary personnel do, however, work with
children who have exceptionalities. The foregoing dis-
cussions of the data presented in Table 28 focus attention
upon the characteristics of the regular class teachers with
minimal amount of course work and consultations pertaining
to exceptionalities of children. Although most of the
regular class teachers who classified themselves in the
"minimal" groupings reported experience in teaching ex-
ceptional children they were found to have had little or
no coursework pertaining to the exceptionalities of chil-
dren. The findings also indicate that as a group these
regular class teachers tend to "receive" rather than to
give consultations concerning the exceptionalities of

children. The group with the most years of teaching

176

experience reported the largest amount of teaching experi—
ence with exceptional children, yet over half of them
claimed they had no course work pertaining to the ex-
ceptionalities of children and all of them indicated that
they never had opportunity for consultations concerning
exceptionalities of their pupils.

TABLE 29.--Distribution of respondents from four types of
teaching positions among three environmental situations-—

schools with special education programs, schools without
special education programs and special services.

 

Environmental Total Special Regular Student Ancillary
Situation N Class Class Teacher Personnel
% % % %

 

School with
spec. ed. 88 20 73 7 0

Schools with-
out spec.

ed. 56 0 100 0 0
Special

services 10 0 0 0 100
Total 154 12 72 4 7

 

Distribution of Respondents from
Four Types of Teaching Positions
Between Schools Which Offer the
Most Opportunity and Schools
Which Offer the Least Opportun-
ity for Contact with Special
Education Personnel

 

 

 

 

 

 

A consideration of the data given in Table 29 shows
that the schools with special education programs comprise

57 percent of the 154 teachers in the total sample. This

177

group of 88 teachers who were assumed to have more oppor-
tunity than teachers from schools without special edu—
cation programs for contact with special education personnel
were composed of 73 percent regular class, 20 percent special
class, and 7 percent student teachers. The 56 teachers from
the schools which had no special education programs were all
regular class teachers and comprised 36 percent of the en-
tire sample. For the purpose of obtaining a more precise
measurement in the comparison of the teaching personnel in
the two types of teaching environments the ancillary per-
sonnel, comprising 7 percent of the 154 respondents in the
entire sample, were kept separate from the teacher groups.
Eight of the ancillary personnel served both types of
schools, while the other two ancillary were stationed in

the school with the largest special education staff.

TABLE 30.—-Correlation of Independent Variables with
Dependent Variables.

 

 

 

 

Independent Dependent Variablesl
N Variable
RS KS
132 Consultation Experience .11 .34*
146 Amt. Academic Credit .18* .20*
152 Type of Experience -.06 .12
127 Amt. Teach. Experience -.10 -.06
142 Years of Teach. Experience -.24 -.10
1

RS = Realism Score; KS = Knowledge Score.
*< .05.

178

Comparison of Correlations for
Four Major Varialbes in Re-
lation to Classroom Integration
Realism Scores and General
Information Inventory Knowl-
edge Scores

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order to be significant at the .05 level of
confidence r's of .134 or more are needed for an N of
150 respondents. In Table 30 it can be seen that con—
sultation experience and amount of academic credit per-
taining to exceptionalities of children have the highest
correlation with the general information inventory knowl-
edge scores. Type of teaching experience is very close
to a significant correlation at the .05 level of confi-
dence. Amount of teaching experience with exceptional
children and years taught correlate negatively with the
GII knowledge scores. As for the correlation of the in-
dependent variables with the classroom integration real-
ism scores--amount of academic credit pertaining to ex—
ceptionalities of children is the only correlation with
the CII realism scores in which the r of .18 is signifi-
cantly different from zero at the .05 level. It may be
seen in Table 30 that the consultation experience vari-
able does approach the significant level. All of the
other correlations with the CII scores are negative with
the r of -.24 for years taught being significantly

different from zero.

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

This chapter summarizes the purposes and findings of
the previous chapters as well as the conclusions of the
investigation followed by recommendations and implications
for curriculum development and implications for future re-
search pertaining to classroom integration of exceptional
children.

The present chapter is organized into three different
parts. Parl l is a summary of the purpose and objectives
established in Chapter I, with a concise description of
how the sample was selected and a brief review of the plan
for implementation. A summary of the specific findings,
consistent with the hypotheses stated at the end of Chapter
III and reviewed in the present chapter, concludes the first
part of Chapter V. Part 2 consists of conclusions based
upon the findings for the total sample reported in Chapter
IV. Part 3 is a discussion of the implementations with
recommendations for education and for future research on

problems raised by the present investigation.

179

180

Summary

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher
attitudes toward realistic educational placement of ex-
ceptional children (placement choices agreed upon by
judges) in relation to teaching experience with exceptional
children and in relation to amount of knowledge and under-
standing that teachers have concerning exceptional children.

The ten schools in the present sample were chosen
with two distinct school environments in mind. Five schools
were selected because they presented opportunity for regular
classroom teachers to have contact with one or more special
education programs, whereas the other five schools were
chosen because they represented schools with no opportunity
for contact with special education programs within their
respective buildings. For the purpose of investigating
the hypothesis that schools which provide opportunity for
interaction with special education personnel will have
teachers with significantly different attitudes toward ex-
ceptional children than teachers from schools which pro-
vide no opportunity for association with special education
personnel within their building, the two following questions
were added:

Question I: Do the teachers from the five schools
Which provide the most opportunity for contact with special
education programs have a significantly greater amount of
realistic attitude (higher CII scores) than teachers from

the five schools which provide the least amount of

181

opportunity for contact with people in special edu-
cation programs?

Question II: Do the teachers from the five schools
which provide the most opportunity for contact with
Special education personnel have a significantly greater
amount of knowledge pertaining to exceptional children
(higher GII scores) than teachers from the five schools
which provide no opportunity for association with special
education program personnel within their respective build-
ings?

The subjects for this study consisted of 147 teachers,
6 student teachers, and 10 ancillary personnel from 10
cooperating schools in the Union School District of Jackson,
Michigan. There was a 97.6 percent response from the five
schools which had special education programs and a 88.8
percent response from the five schools which had not estab-
lished special education programs. The geographical distri—
bution of the ten participating schools by socioeconomic
status appeared to be uniform and it was felt that the en-
tire staff of the school district's 20 elementary schools
was satisfactorily represented by the 154 respondents.
The student teacher group and the ancillary group were
kept separate from the teacher group in order to avoid a
possible bias on the "type of teaching experience" vari—
able. The student teachers came from regular classrooms
of three schools which provided special education programs

within their respective buildings. The ancillary personnel

182

were six speech correctionists, an occupational therapist,
a physical therapist, a school diagnostician and a special
education coordinator. The 147 teachers in the ten elemen-
tary schools of Jackson represented 56 percent of the total
elementary school faculty. Since 9 out of the 147 teachers
failed to respond there were 138 usable teacher responses
in the final sample which represented a 93.9 percent class-
room teacher response.

The three measuring instruments employed-in this study
were: (a) The Classroom Integration Inventory (CII); (b)
The General Information Inventory (GII); and (c) The Per-
sonal Data Questionnaire.°/The first two measuring instru-
ments were developed by Haring ep_el. (1958) to obtain pre-
workshop and post-workshop data "to reveal the degree of
acceptance characterizing the teacher's relationship to
exceptional children" (p. 63) and "to determine the gains
in information that were made by the teachers as a result
of the experiences they had from the workshop" (p. 60).

The scoring keys for both the CII and GII were re-
established by submitting the items from these two inven-
tories to specialists in the respective areas of special
education until agreement was reached or the items were

omitted. The realism scores represent the position of the

 

respondents in relation to the positions taken by judges
on the various placement problems presented in the class-

room integration inventory. The knowledge scores also

 

represent the amount of agreement found between the

183

answers of the teachers and the answers selected by ex-
perts on the items comprising the general information in-
ventory.

Amount of realistic attitude was measured on the CII,
a 295 point scale based on the teacher's selection of an
educational placement for various degrees of exceptionality
ranging from regular classroom assignment without special
assistance to complete exclusion from public school.
Amount of accurate information pertaining to exceptional
children was measured on the GII scale ranging from 0 to
91. Since it was necessary to re-establish the scoring
keys for these two tests the total scores deviate from
those in the original tests used by Haring ep_eE. (1958,
pp. 39, 56). The "answeny'to the items are indicated in
the appendix.

In addition to the two measuring instruments de-
scribed above, a personal data evaluation questionnaire
was administered for the purpose of collecting specific
data concerning type and amount of experience with ex-
ceptional children, educational background pertaining to
exceptional children, and consultation experience pertain—
ing to one or more of the exceptionalities listed in this
study.

The resulting data were analyzed by using a one—way
analysis of variance test supplemented by a multiple range
test modified for unequal replications. The UNEQI routine

(Ruble, Kiel, Rafter, 1966) was used to calculate the

184

one-way analysis of variance statistics since this com-
puter program is designed to handle unequal frequencies
within the variance categories. Duncan's New Multiple
Range Test (Edward, 1960, pp. 136ff), as extended for
unequal replications by Kramer (1960), was used to in-
vestigate the extent to which a particular subgroup mean
contribured to the total variance represented by the E
test. This procedure made it possible to order the group
means from high-to-low and then to examine the "differ-
ence" between successive pairs—of-means to ascertain which
of these "differences" did, in fact, statistically depart
from chance at a stated level of significance. The level
of confidence chosen for the present study was .05.

The Pearson Product Moment Correlation was employed
to study the relationship between the degree of realistic
acceptance (CII scores) and the amount of information

(GII scores) held by the respondents.
Attitude

Relationship of Attitude to
Type of Teaching Experience

 

 

l—a.--Teachers who reported full-time responsibility
for the educational program of one or more exceptional
children were not found to be significantly more realistic
in their attitudes (higher CII scores) toward the edu-
cational placement of these children than teachers who re-

ported having part—time responsibilities.

185

Attitudes in Relation to Amount
of Teaching Experience

 

2-a.--Teachers who reported one or more years of
full-time responsibility for the teaching program of one
or more exceptional children were not found to have
significantly more realistic attitudes (higher CII scores)
toward the educational placement of these children than
teachers who reported one or more years of part-time
responsibility.

3-a.--Teachers who reported one or more years of
part-time teaching with one or more exceptional children
were not found to have significantly more realistic atti-
tudes (higher CII scores) than teachers who reported no
teaching experience with exceptional children. In fact,
the findings were reversed--the "no experience" group was
significantly more realistic than either of the other two
experience groups.
Attitudes in Relation to
Amount of Academic Credit

4-a.--Teachers who reported one or more years of
academic credit in education or psychology courses cover-
ing some or all of the areas of exceptionalities listed
in the present study were found to have a significantly
more realistic attitude toward placement (higher CII
scores) than teachers who reported less than one year of
academic credit. The group with one or more years of

credit, however, was not found to be significantly more

186

realistic in their attitudes toward educational place-
ment than the group with no academic credit pertaining
to exceptional children.

Attitudes in Relation to
Consultation Experience

 

 

5-a.--Teachers who reported experience in giving
consultations pertaining to one or more of the exceptionali-
ties listed in this study were not found to have a signifi—
cantly more realistic attitude toward classroom placement
of (higher CII scores) exceptional children than teachers
who reported having received periodic consultations per-
taining to exceptionalities of children. Furthermore,
teachers reporting experience in receiving periodic con-
sultations about children with exceptionalities and teachers
reporting experience in giving consultations were not found
to have a significantly more realistic attitude (higher
CII scores) than teachers reporting no experience in con-

sultations about exceptionality.

Knowledge

 

Amount of Knowledge in
Relation to Type of
Teaching Experience

 

 

 

l-b.--Specia1 class teachers assigned to programs
in which they had full teaching responsibility for ex-
ceptional children were found to have a significantly
greater amount of accurate information pertaining to

exceptionalities of children (higher GII scores) than

187

regular class teachers reporting either full- or part-
time responsibility for the teaching program of one or
more exceptional children. In fact, the small group (10
respondents) reporting "no teaching experience" with ex-
ceptional children were found to be significantly better
informed pertaining to exceptional children than regular
class teachers reporting "part-time experience" with ex-
ceptional children. Although it was not predicted by
hypothesis l-b, the ancillary personnel group was found
to have a significantly greater amount of information per-
taining to exceptional children than any of the other
four types of teaching experience groupings.

Amount of Knowledge in

Relation to Amount of
TeachingyExperience

 

 

 

2-b.-—Teachers reporting one or more years of full-
time responsibility for the teaching program of one or
more exceptional children were not found to be signifi-
cantly more knowledgeable (higher GII scores) concerning
exceptionalities of children than regular class teachers
reporting one or more years of shared responsibility for
the educational program of one or more exceptional children.

3-b.-—Teachers who reported one or more years of
sharing the educational program of one or more exceptional
children were not found to have a significantly greater
amount of information pertaining to exceptional children
(higher GII scores) than teachers who reported no teaching

experience with exceptional children.

188

Amount of Knowledge in
Relation to Amount of
Academic Credit

 

 

 

4—b.--Teachers who reported one or more years of
academic credit in education or psychology courses cover-
ing some or all of the areas of exceptionalities listed
in the present study were found to have a significantly
greater amount of accurate information (higher GII scores)
than teachers who reported less than one year of academic
credit. The teacher group with the more extensive amount
of credit, however, was not found to have a significantly
greater amount of knowledge than the respondent group
which reported "no credit" in courses pertaining to ex-
ceptional children.
Amount of Knowledge in

Relation to Consultation
Experience

 

 

 

5-b.--Teachers who reported having given consultations

pertaining to one or more of the areas of exceptionalities
listed in the present study were found to have a signifi-
cantly greater amount of accurate information pertaining

to exceptional children (higher GII scores) than teachers
who reported having received periodic consultations from

a specialist in one or more of the exceptionality areas.

The teacher group which have consultations was also found

to have a significantly greater amount of knowledge than

the respondent group which reported "no opportunity" for

such consultations.

189

Correlation of Attitudes
and Amount of Knowledge

 

 

6.--The results of the Pearson Product Moment Corre-
lation showed a correlation of .28 which is significantly

different from zero at the .05 level of confidence.

Discussion and Conclusions

 

0n the basis of the findings resulting from testing
the eleven hypotheses and the two additional questions,
the following conclusions are presented. Generalizations
beyond the population under study must be made with caution.
Attitudes Toward Classroom

Integration of Exceptional
Children

 

 

Teachers who reported a close and continuous type
of teaching contact with exceptional children were not
found to be significantly more realistic in their judg-
mentchoncerning classroom integration of exceptional
children than were teachers and ancillary personnel who
reported intermittent and a less direct type of teaching
experience contact with these children. The mean rankings,
although the differences were not significant, show a
trend toward more realistic attitudes on the part of
teachers who reported "no experience" with exceptional
children than was shown by teachers who claimed a full-
time teaching experience or teachers who reported having
shared the responsibility for teaching one or more ex-

ceptional children. The finding that "amount of experience"

190

with exceptional children did not increase the teacher's
ability to make more realistic decisions concerning edu-
cational placement for them is in agreement with the
findings reported by Haring ep_el.: "Whether or not
teachers had experiences with exceptional children in their
classrooms seemed to make little difference in their ability
to be more accurate in their judgment concerning the place-
ment of these children" (1958, p. 125). As for type of
experience with exceptional children, there was really no
difference in the CII mean score rankings of the ancillary
personnel and the group of teachers who reported "no teach-
ing experience" with exceptional children. The ancillary
group and the group with "no experience" were comparable in
size (10 respondents in each group) but their professional
backgrounds were different. The ancillary group was some-
what younger and had taught fewer years than the other group.
The respondents in the ancillary group reported far more
academic credit pertaining to exceptionalities than did

the "no experience" group. Only 10 percent of the latter
group reported having given consultations and 30 percent
having received consultations whereas 80 percent of the
ancillary group reported having given consultations per-
taining to exceptionalities. The ancillary group is of
special significance in this study because the professional
backgrounds of the respondents in this group are somewhat
similar to the professional backgrounds of the special

education group.

191

Special education teachers and ancillary personnel

were characterized by their extensive course work back-

 

grounds pertaining to exceptionalities of children and
were significantly more realistic in their attitudes to—
ward classroom integration of exceptional children than

were teachers who were characterized as having some course

 

wepE pertaining to the exceptionalities listed in this
study. Although there was not a significant difference

at the .05 level of confidence, an unexpected findings

was that the CII mean score ranking of the "no credit"
group was higher than the CII mean score for the "some
credit" group. Had this been a significant difference one
might assume some degree of truth is contained in the old
adage, "a little learning is a dangerous thing"! This

"no credit" group was comprised of 20 regular class teachers,
half of whom reported having received periodic consultations
pertaining to exceptionalities of children. It appears

that teachers who recognize their lack of academic credit
pertaining to exceptionalities of children seek ways to
bridge the knowledge gap in their professional background
through the use of consultations.

Teachers who reported experience in giving consul-
tations were not found to be significantly more realistic
(higher CII scores) in their attitudes toward classroom
integration of exceptional children than teachers who
reported "receiving" or "no opportunity for receiving"

consultations pertaining to exceptionalities of children

192

--the "blind leading the blind"! It was of Special interest,
however, to note that the mean score rankings were in the
expected order, that is, the group which gave consul-
tations had the highest CII mean score ranking, with the
group which received consultations next, while the group
which reported "no opportunity for receiving consultations"
had the lowest CII mean score ranking. Although it must
be kept in mind that the difference in these CII mean score
rankings for the teachers with different amounts of con-
sultation experience were not significant ones, there were
some interesting findings concerning the professional back-
grounds of the teachers divided according to consultation
experiences. Closely associated with their ability to give
consultations concerning exceptional children is the amount
of course credit pertaining to exceptionalities of children
reported by the respondents.

It was found that out of 94 percent of the special
class teachers who reported extensive academic credit, 89
percent of them gave consultations concerning the ex-
ceptionalities of children. From the ancillary group, 80
percent reported an extensive academic credit background
pertaining to exceptionalities and 80 percent of the
ancillary personnel reported that they gave consultations.
Over 50 percent of the group of teachers who reported "no
consultations" pertaining to exceptionalities of children

were among the group of respondents who reported "no

193

academic credit" on exceptionalities. Less than 10 per-
cent of the group which had "received periodic consul-
tations" were among the respondents who reported "no
academic credit" pertaining to exceptionalities of chil-
dren.

Knowledge About and Amount

of Experience with Exceptional
Children

 

Special Education teachers reporting full-time teach-
ing responsibility for exceptional children were found to
have a significantly greater amount of accurate infor—
mation concerning children with exceptionalities (higher
GII scores) than regular class teachers reporting either
full- or part-time teaching responsibility for the edu-
cational program of one or more exceptional children.)
Special class teachers, however, were not significantly
better informed (higher GII scores) than the small group
(10 respondents) reporting "no teaching experience with
exceptional children." And furthermore, since the group
reporting "no experience . . ." was found to be signifi-
cantly better informed than the regular class teachers re-
porting shared educational programs for exceptional chil-
dren, the 10 respondents without teaching contacts With
exceptional children were considered to be as well in-
formed as the full-time special education teachers. The
finding that special class teachers were significantly

better informed than regular class teachers reporting

194

full-time contact with exceptional children lends
additional support to the hypothesis that teachers who

have had full-time teaching contacts will score signifi-
cantly higher on the GII Scale than teachers who have

had part-time teaching contacts with exceptional chil-
dren. It is generally observed that special class teachers
have a greater number of exceptional children with whom
they have a close, continuous and extensive amount of
teaching experience than do regular class teachers.
Pre—service and in-service education for special class
teachers include courses pertaining to exceptionalities

of children. It has been observed by Haring ep_e;. (1958)
that teachers having daily teaching contacts with ex-
ceptional children are more receptive to in-service work-
shops which provide information and guidance on the
problems of exceptional children than teachers who are

not faced with an immediate need for such information

(p. 130). The ancillary personnel represented by eight
therapists and two administrators from special services
were found to have a significantly greater amount of
accurate information pertaining to children with exception-
alities than any other type of teaching experience group.
The ancillary group was characterized by the clinical
background experience of its members, 80 percent having

had extensive academic credit pertaining to exceptionalities
of children and 80 percent having had experience in giving

consultations pertaining to the problems of exceptional

195

children. The ancillary group had a larger percentage of
male members than any other type of experience group, and
its respondents tended to be a little younger than the
respondents in the other groups.

Although lacking significance, the mean score rank-
ings for amount of teaching experience with exceptional
children show a trend which implies that teachers who
have had little or no teaching experience with exceptional
children will probably have a greater amount of accurate
information about exceptional children than regular class
teachers who have had a more continuous and extensive
teaching experience with exceptional children. Had these
differences in the reversed mean score rankings been signifi-
cant, one could hypothesize that the recency of education
variable took precedence over the amount of teaching experi-
ence variable. Only 30 percent of the "no teaching experi—
ence" group reported "no academic credit" pertaining to
exceptionalities of children. Either by pre-service or
in-service education, 40 percent of the "no teaching experi-
ence" group had taken "some" courses and 30 percent exten-
sive academic work pertaining to exceptional children.

It was noted that 60 percent of the "no teaching experi-
ence" group did not answer the questionnaire item con-
cerning the type of consultation experience.

To summarize, it seems reasonable to conclude that
amount of experience as such does not operate as a determi-

nant of a teacher's ability to possess a significantly

196

greater amount of information about exceptional children
than a teacher with little or no experience with these
children.

As was predicted in the hypothesis, the group of
teachers reporting "extensive academic credit" pertaining
to exceptionalities of children proved to have a signifi—
cantly greater amount of knowledge about these children
than teachers reporting only "some academic credit" per-
taining to exceptional children. The teachers with ex-
tensive academic credit, however, were not found to be
significantly more knowledgeable concerning children with
exceptionalities than the small group of 20 regular class
teachers who reported "no academic credit" in courses per—
taining to these children. Several observations concern-
ing the professional background of the "no academic credit"
group were noted. In spite of the fact that these 20
regular class teachers had taken no course work pertaining
to exceptionalities of children, 70 percent of them re-
ported having teaching experience with children who had
exceptionalities. Perhaps they were aware of their need
for information and guidance concerning their problems
with exceptional children because 50 percent of them re—
ported having received consultations from some specialist
in an exceptionality area.

The above finding that amount of course credit is

significantly related to the amount of accurate information

197

pertaining to exceptionalities of children is, no doubt,
obvious to most readers of this research. Discussion con-
cerning the importance of relevant course work to knowl-
edge of exceptional children seems unnecessary.

Data gathered in this study indicates that teachers
who have given consultations pertaining to one or more of
the exceptionalities listed in the questionnaire, have
significantly greater knowledge of exceptional children
than teachers who have received only periodic consultations
or have had no opportunity for such consultations.

As would be expected, the groups in which 80 or 90
percent of the members "give consultations" were the special
education teachers and the ancillary personnel. There were
only 3 percent of the regular class teachers who reported
having given consultations pertaining to exceptionalities.
The ability to give consultations appears to be closely
related to the amount of academic course work pertaining
to exceptional children since 94 percent of the special
class teachers, 80 percent of the ancillary, and 25 percent
of the regular class teachers report having earned "exten—
sive credit" pertaining to exceptional children. And the
fact that communication is educative to the giver of the
communication is a very common observation of teachers
of communication. One of education's outstanding philoso-
phers (Dewey, 1916) theorizes that "to formulate a communi-
cation tends to intensify one's knowledge and modify his

attitude toward the content of the communication" (p. 6).

198

The teachers or ancillary personnel who make a practice

of giving consultations pertaining to problems of ex-
ceptional children will tend to have a significantly
greater amount of information concerning certain ex-
ceptionalities than the counselees.' 0n the other hand,
the teachers who receive the counseling services may be
influenced to adopt attitudes toward exceptional children
which are not significantly different from that of the
attitude of the consultants toward exceptionality, while
at the same time there still remains a significant differ-
ence in the amount of knowledge about exceptional children
possessed by the consultant and the consultee. The evi-
dence appears to indicate that serving as a consultant

is significantly related to the amount of accurate infor-
mation one possesses.

Correlation of Attitude Toward

Classroom Integration of Ex-

ceptional Children with Knowl-

edge and Understanding of
Exceptional Children

 

 

 

 

Teachers who earned a significantly higher rating
(higher CII scores) than other teachers on their ability
to make accurate judgments (placement choices approach-
ing that of judges) concerning the educational placement
of exceptional children, also earned a significantly
higher rating (higher GII scores) than other teachers on
their amount of accurate information pertaining to

exceptionality. This positive correlation between

199

attitude toward classroom integration and knowledge about
exceptional children lends additional support to the find-
ings in hypothesis 4a in which teachers with extensive
academic credit in courses pertaining to exceptionalities
were found to have a significantly greater amount of
realistic judgment (higher CII scores) toward the edu-
cational placement of exceptional children than teachers
who reported lesser amount of academic credit.

Comparison of Teacher Attitudes

Toward Classroom Integration of

Exceptional Children in Two
Types of Schools

 

 

 

The ten schools in the sample were of two distinct
types--five of the schools had special education programs
while the other five schools did not have special edu-
cation programs. It was hypothesized that the teachers
from the schools which provided the most opportunity for
contact with children and teachers in special education
would have a significantly greater amount of realistic
judgment about educational placement of exceptional chil-
dren than teachers from the five schools which provided
the least amount of opportunity for interpersonal relation—
ships with people in special education.

Although there was a greater amount of opportunity
in the five schools with special education classes for
regular class teachers to have interpersonal relations
with special education teachers and exceptional children,

it was found that teachers from these schools were not

200

able to exercise a significantly greater amount of better
judgment towards the educational placement of exceptional
children than teachers from the five schools which provided
the least amount of opportunity for association with
special education teachers and children in special edu-
cation programs. The fact that there was no significant
difference between the attitudes of teachers towards
educational placement of exceptional children in these
two sets of schools may be an indication of good inter—
staff communication between the schools which provide
special education programs and the five schools which did
not provide such programs. The opportunities for mutual
exchange of information among teachers in the school dis-
trict is described in the next section.

Relationship Between Amount of

Knowledge and Amount of Contact

with Exceptional Children in Two
Types of Schools

 

 

 

 

Although the five schools chosen because they provided
special education programs and thus theoretically did offer
the most opportunity for regular class teachers to have
interpersonal relations with special education teachers
and exceptional children it was found that the teaching
staff from these five schools were not significantly better
informed concerning the disabilities of exceptional chil-
dren than the teachers from the five schools which did not
provide special education programs in their respective

school buildings.

201

There are several possible reasons why the results
of this study show no significant difference in the "amount
of knowledge" between teachers employed in schools with
special education programs and teachers employed in schools
which have no special education programs. In Jackson,
schools without special education programs do have special
itinerant services such as remedial reading, speech cor-
rection, and in some of these schools a teacher consultant
program. These itinerant services to the schools offer
opportunity for the regular classroom teachers to have
interaction with teachers who have had either pre—service
or in-service education pertaining to certain educational
problems of exceptional children.

In the past ten years in Jackson there has been a
definite increase in demand from teachers for both pre—
service and in-service education. The teachers from both
types of schools (with and without special education pro-
grams) have opportunity for interpersonal relations in
curriculum committee meetings as well as in in-service
training classes. The director of instruction in the
Union School District, having studied the logic of group-
ing for instruction at the junior high school level
(Sommers, 1960), continued to encourage the practice of
grouping at the elementary school level to meet childrens'
learning needs. Thus the teachers from both types of
schools have been made aware of the importance of in-

struction which recognizes individual needs of children.

202

There was also opportunity for teachers from the
special education schools to have professional interaction
at joint meetings of their professional associations such
as the Association for Childhood Education and the Council
for Exceptional Children. The administration of the Union
School District encourages its teachers to participate
in research. The Jackson Public School system has repre-
sentation by teachers and administrative personnel in a
current cooperative project for educational development
which is attempting to develop leadership for the improve-
ment of education. The city of Jackson is located about
half—way between two of Michigan's largest universities--
the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.
Many teachers commute to these universities for graduate
studies and educational leaders from these two universities
are sometimes invited as resource people or guest speakers

for educational functions.

Implications

 

Although there may be some amount of overlap, this
part of the chapter is subdivided into two sections:

implications for education and implications for research.

Implications for Education

 

This research, by investigating the relationship
between knowledge of disabilities, kind and amount of

experience with exceptional children, and teacher attitudes

203

toward their classroom placement emplasizes a vital con-
sideration for successful educational placement--the atti-
tudes of classroom teachers toward children with dis-
abilities. This study has attempted to fill a gap in
educational research by studying attitudes of educators
with different types and amounts of teaching experience
and varying professional backgrounds, towards classroom
integration of exceptional children.

The results of the analysis of data used in this
study reveal that teachers who have had more extensive )<
course work pertaining to exceptionalities of children
take an attitudinal position which is in closer agreement
with the attitudes of the cooperating judges (five judges
who re-established the Classroom Integration Inventory

realism scores in this research), than the teachers who

 

have had a less extensive amount of academic work pertain-
ing to exceptionalities of children. As for type and

amount of experience with exceptional children, the data
suggests that the small group of respondents who reported

no experience with exceptional children were in closer
agreement with the placement choices of the judges than
teachers who reported either intermittent or continuous
teaching contacts with exceptional children. To summarizewy
it is the type (ancillary vs. special education vs.

regular class teachers vs. student teachers) of teaching EX.

experience, with exceptionalal children and amount of

204

academic credit that emerge from this study as deter-
minants of teacher attitudes toward classroom integration
of exceptional children.

Furthermore, the findings of this research show
that teachers who have more extensive course work pertain—
ing to exceptionalities of children and teachers who give
consultations concerning one or more of the exceptionalities
are significantly better informed concerning generally
recognized information about exceptionalities of children
than teachers who have a minimal amount of academic credit
pertaining to exceptionalities and teachers who report
either having received consultations or no consultations
about exceptionalities of children. The small group of
respondents, reporting no teaching experience with ex-
ceptional children, who were able to take attitudinal
positions which more nearly approached the attitudinal
positions of the judges toward educational placement
than teachers reporting full-time experience were found
to be significantly more knowledgeable than regular
class teachers who reported having part—time teaching
experience with exceptional children. The special edu-
cation teachers and ancillary personnel were found to
possess a significantly greater amount of information
pertaining to exceptionalities of children than class-
room teachers, although their attitudes toward the edu-
cational placement of exceptional children were not found
to be significantly different from that of the regular

class teacher.

205

To summarize the relations between amount of teach-
ing experience with exceptional children, consultation
experience about exceptionalities of children, amount of
educational credit pertaining to exceptionalities and
teacher attitudes toward classroom integration of ex-
ceptional children the following implications for edu-
cation are presented:

Integration of exceptional children.--The findings
from this investigation strongly suggest that integration
of exceptional children into regular classroom teaching
situations can be more effectively achieved when the
following recommendations are observed:

1. Teachers should have concurrent and/or prior
teaching experiences with exceptional children
in addition to pre-service or in-service edu-
cation dealing with exceptionalities of
children.

2. Teacher education programs should include ex-
tensive course work pertaining to exceptionali-
ties supplemented by actual teaching experiences
with children who have the exceptionalities be—
ing studied.

3. Teachers should be given ample opportunity for
supportive consultations with experts in the
particular exceptionality area in order that
they may discuss specific problems of exceptional

children as they arise in the classroom situation.

206

4. Exceptional children should be placed with
teachers who are known to possess at least a
general knowledge and understanding of ex-
ceptional children together with a realistic
attitude toward their educational placement.

5. Children who "cannot" be educated in regular
grades should be taught in special education
programs, thus allowing the classroom teacher
(whether regular or special classroom) to have
more time to teach children who are able to
benefit from the classroom program.

Pre-service education.-—The implications of these

 

findings to pre-service education suggest that academic
courses pertaining to exceptional children are effective
in increasing the amount of accurate information teachers
have about exceptional children. The amount of teaching
experience is less important than the type of teaching
experience in the development of realistic attitudes to-
ward an educational program for the exceptional child.
Student teachers who anticipate having one or more ex—
ceptional children in their class must have educational
backgrounds which include academic course work pertaining
to the exceptionalities of children. This course work
will be more effective for teacher education if it is
supplemented with some actual teaching experience with

exceptional children. Before taking a vocational

207

assignment in a situation involving exceptional children
every teacher ought to take an inventory of her own knowl-
edge and understanding of exceptionalities of children and
assess her own attitudes toward the educational placement
of these children. Cognizant of her own strengths and
weaknesses, the potential teacher of handicapped children
can seek experiences to strengthen her preparation. Con-
sultations with experts, special education teachers, and
ancillary personnel can be of value in helping the stu-
dent teacher to fill in the educational gaps pertaining

to exceptionalities of children.

In-service education.--The implications of this re-

 

search for in-service education is very similar to that
presented in the previous section on pre-service education.
The implications for teachers who anticipate teaching
children with exceptionalities either in regular class—
rooms or in special classes has already been discussed.
The success of educational placement for an exceptional
child is assumed to be related in some manner to the edu-
cational background and attitude of the teacher with whom
the child is placed. A research study by Haring ep_el.
(1958) demonstrated the value of orientation programs for
in-service teachers who want to learn how to make a more
positive approach to the teaching of all types of ex-
ceptional children.

These investigators provided a workshop program for

teachers which offered opportunities for resolving problems

208

about exceptional children as they came up in the teacher's
daily classroom experience. The workshop experience was
found to be "a supportive experience for teachers who are
engaged in teaching exceptional children within their
classrooms" (Haring ep_e;., p. 133). The present study
provides data with which to strengthen the concept that
orientation programs designed to develop knowledge and
understanding about exceptional children and more positive
teaching approaches to them, is an effective approach to
the improvement of classroom integration for exceptional

children.

Implications for Research

 

The unexpected reversal of the mean score rankings
for both the classroom integration inventory and the
general information inventory as related to amount of
teaching experience suggests that amount of teaching
experience with exceptional children tends to widen the
gap between knowledge and attitude. Teachers who have
had a more recent education may tend to express an atti-
tude which is in closer agreement with the thinking of
current experts in the field of education than teachers
who have not had recent pre-service or in-service edu-
cation. This research also suggests that academic course
work which deals with exceptionalities is the most signifi—
cant variable affecting attitudes toward classroom place-

ment. From the results obtained in the present research

209

it is evident that academic course work pertaining to
exceptionalities of children is the only variable tested
that enables teachers to make a realistic appraisal of
classroom integration for exceptional children.

0n the other hand, it was found that three of the
four variables tested in relation to teachers' knowledge
of exceptional children made a significant difference at
the .05 level of confidence: (a) close and continuous
type of experience, (b) giving of consultations pertain-
ing to one or more of the exceptionalities, and (c) an
extensive amount of course work dealing with exceptional
children, were found to be important in influencing
teachers' knowledgeability as measured on the general
information inventory.

The findings of the present study are based on data
designed to measure type and amount of teaching experience
with exceptional children, type and amount of consultation
experience concerning exceptional children, and amount of
academic course work pertaining to exceptionalities of
children covered by the following subareas: (a) behavior
disorders, (b) emotional disorders, (c) impaired hearing,
(d) impaired speech, (e) impaired vision, (f) orthopedic
and cardiac, (g) physical attractiveness, (h) seizures,
(1) mental retardation, and (j) intellectual superiority.
Inspection of the CII test and the GII test revealed a

lack of uniformity in number of items used for the

210

respective subareas of the general information inventory.
The number of items in the GII test ranged from four items
in the seizures area to 18 items for the mentally retarded
subarea. The classroom integration subareas were originally
equal in number of items per area. Each subarea for the
CII test contained six items1 until the six items in the
learning area were separated into three items dealing with
the intellectually superior and three items dealing with
mentally retarded. Item number 17, which deals with
emotional disturbance, was omitted from the classroom
integration inventory test used in the present study since
it lacked inter-judge reliability. The GII behavior sub-
scores (11 items) and vision subscores (9 items) showed
the highest correlation (.75 and .72) with the GII total
score, whereas the CII seizures subscores (6 items) and
the orthopedic subscores (6 items) and the special handling
subscores (6 items) represented the subscore areas of the
CII test which had the highest correlations (.65 for sei-
zures and .62 for orthopedic and special handling) with
the total CII test score.

Although there are six items in each area of the
CII test divisions listed above, there are too few items
in each subarea to predict that teachers who are able to

make the best judgments concerning classroom integration

 

1 lIn the present study the CII subarea on emotional
disorders has only five items.

211

for children with seizures, orthopedic and special handl-
ing problems would also be able to approach the judgments
of special education experts concerning the present day
thinking on educational placement for children with the
other exceptionalities listed in the present research.
The above limitations of test structure have obvious
implications. A carefully structured general information
inventory in which the subareas have been validated and
tested for inter—judge reliability on well-constructed
items should yield subscore data which lends itself more
readily for subscore correlations between amount of in-
formation in a given area and attitude toward classroom
integration of children in that particular subarea of
investigation. It is also recommended that the classroom
integration inventory be revised for both structure and
content; the number of items for each degree of severity
(slight, moderate, severe) to be increased in order to
strengthen the reliability of the CII subscores and the
item content restructured to strengthen the validity of
future correlations between attitude toward educational
placement in a particular area and amount of knowledge
possessed by the respondent in that area of exceptionality.
Although the C11 and GII scales were not equated
for comparability of the respective subareas of exception-
ality, it was somewhat gratifying to find that the high-

est correlation (.25) occurred between the speech

212

subareas of the two measuring instruments. It was also
of interest to find that the next highest correlation
(.24) was between the CII behavior disorders subscores and
the GII impaired hearing subscores.

The fact that the speech sub-tests obtained the
highest correlation might be interpreted to mean that
most teachers are better informed and know more about the
educational placement of children who have impaired speech.
It is possible that many of the respondents had never been
in an orthopedic classroom, but there are few teachers who
are not acquainted with some speech correctionist who
comes to their school. Hearing problems often "cause"
behavior problems so it was not surprising to find that
these two subscore areas correlated. It is readily under-
standable that one needs to be informed concerning problems
of emotional disturbance in order to know what kind of
educational placement is best for emotionally disturbed
children. But before it can be determined with any cer-
tainty to what extent the teacher's knowledge of an ex-
ceptionality is predictive of his attitude toward edu-
cational arrangements for a child with that exceptionality,
more research is needed.

Administrative attitudes toward educational place-
ment have a way of seeping down to where they affect pupils
in the classroom. The findings of this study should be

of value to coordination of cooperative program planning

213

for exceptional children, and serve as a basis for further
research on classroom integration. Cooperative program
planning for exceptional children within a school system
involves much more than knowledge concerning exceptional
children. Wise educational placement for these children
must also take into consideration the characteristics and
orientation of those teachers who are most accepting and
sympathetic toward educational arrangements which best
fit the requirements of children who happen to be ex-
ceptional in relation to their educational needs. Data
derived from this study is pertinent both to a coherent
approach to the discussion of teacher attitudes toward
classroom integration of exceptional children and to
curriculum development for exceptional children. Edu—
cators should make use of all available research which
helps teachers to know and understand the uniqueness of
an exceptional child in order to adjust the curriculum

to this uniqueness. As the demand for teachers of ex-
ceptional children increases there will also be an in-
creasing demand for pre-service and in-service education.
Therefore, the united efforts of teacher education per-
sonnel and research investigators committed to the ethical
and moral values of our society are needed to initiate a
plan of educational placement which is designed to im-
prove the educational opportunity of exceptional children

in our public school system.

214

Educational institutions need to put more emphasis
upon social development and responsibility as well as
upon academic excellence. The citizens of tomorrow are
the pupils of today. The growth and development of school
children is interdependent with the growth of teachers and
administrative personnel. Through shared experiences with
minority groups such as exceptional children, educational
communications pertaining to their problems becomes more
effective (Haring ep_el., 1958, p. 130). "Lack of moti-
vation," rather than serving as an explanation for un—
satisfactory academic progress, should serve as a challenge
for educators to develop techniques, attitudes, and edu-
cational programs which meet the needs of individual

pupils.

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215

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J. Teacher Education, March, 1960, 11, 97-102.

VanDalen, D. B. Understanding educational research.
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1962.

Vinacke, W. E. The psychology of thinking. New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1952.

Wallin, W. 20th century milestones in clinical psychology,
special education and mental hygiene. In Special
Education Review, 1957, 14, 4.

Wandt, E. Measurement of teachers' attitudes toward groups
contacted in the schools: a progress report. E;
Educational Research, October, 1952, 46, 113-122.

Wrightstone, J. W. Studies of orthopedically handicapped
pupils. Exceptional Children, 1957, 23, 4.

White House Conference on Children and Youth Golden Anniver-
sary. The States Report on Children and Youth.
Washington: the Conference, 1960.

APPENDICES

226

APPENDIX A

JACKSON UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT
STATEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

REPORT OF
SPECIAL EDUCATION STEERING COMMITTEE

JACKSON UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT
SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES

227

228

STATEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT
JACKSON
1964-1965

We, the Board of Education as elected representatives of
the people, believe that education is a necessary and
continuing part of life and that in a democracy, all
children are entitled to appropriate educational oppor-
tunities according to their individual needs and abilities.

We believe that our school should strive to interpret to
each individual the ideals of a free society and its
accompanying privileges and responsibilities.

Because we believe the foregoing values are held by the
citizens of the Union School District, we through our
professional staff should:

1. Recognize that all children are citizens of
individual worth and dignity.

2. Provide a comprehensive, continuous program
that will assure a basic educational foundation
for each individual, as well as enriched pro-
grams to meet the needs of all students.

3. Help the individual develop a high regard
for scholarship by stimulating logical,
critical and creative thinking.

4. Make every effort to inspire within the
pupil personal integrity and moral strength.

5. Assist every child in developing an under-
standing of and a respect for the rights,
privileges and abilities of others.

6. Provide for the optimum development of both
physical and mental health of all children.

7. Encourage a closer co-operation with parents
to better serve the needs of the child.

8. Assist students to acquire those skills and
values in quality, depth and flexibility
essential to successful living in a rapidly
changing society.

229

To: Miss Mildred Sommers, Director of Instruction

From: Special Education Steering Committee: Mildred Baker,
David Barrett, William Diekman, Royal Dressel, Carroll
Fortress, George Gentry, Ethel Green, Earl Holman,
Harold Matthews, Carrie Sissala, William Warnock

Subject:

Report and recommendations regarding special edu-

cation in the Union School District.

The Special Education Steering Committee was appointed
by the Director of Instruction in September, 1959, to study
the present organization and status of special education in
the Union School District, and report its findings, together
with recommendations, to her. The Committee has reached the
following conclusions:

1.

General philosophy of special education:

 

a.

Handicapped children are basically children
with normal needs, interests, desires, fears.
The handicap is important to the extent that
it hinders normal growth, development, and
learning. In all educational planning for
the handicapped child, it is the child and
not the handicap which is the center of
attention. -

The aim of special education is to help the
child learn to function as effectively as
possible in the world of normal individuals,
at all ages.

Each child shall be given as normal an edu-
cational experience as possible, in the light
of his handicap. He should be given only
such special help as his handicap demands.

A proper special education program is based
primarily on the similarities between the
handicapped child and his peers--not on the
differences.

An effective special education program will
have direction and continuity from the pre-
school level through junior college. The
program must be kept under continuing review
and evaluation, and changed when and where
necessary.

Special education is appart of the instructional

 

program, and should be placed in the department

of instruction.

230

§pecial education should consist of a planned,
coordinated program of instructional services
for the:

 

 

educable mentally retarded
orthopedically handicapped

aurally handicapped

visually handicapped

hospitalized and homebound

speech handicapped

emotionally disturbed

lowered vitality (see Staff Manual for
definition)

U‘mwmaoo‘m

At present, there is no coordinatedjprogram of
special education in Jackson. Special education
involves planning and coordination of the total
educational program from pre—school through
junior college. In cooperation with building
administrators and teachers, a continuous pro—
gram of instruction, adapted to the special

needs and limitations of the pupils, needs to

be planned and kept under continuous review.

At present there are 35 professional and non-
professional persons directly involved in

special education. Special education is

operating in 5 different schools, and soon will
operate in the high school. These numbers will
increase as the program grows to meet the needs

in the community. Without competent coordination,
the program cannot operate and develop effectively.

 

231

 

 

 

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APPENDIX B

MEMORANDUMS TO PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

232

233

MEMORANDUM May 21, 1965

 

TO:
FROM: Dr. Mildred Sommers, Director of Instruction

RE: RESEARCH PROJECT

Miss Doris Proctor, Senior Speech Correctioist on our staff,
is conducting research for her doctoral thesis. She will

be studying the relationship between knowledge of, and
experience with, exceptional children among teachers.

Miss Proctor has discussed this study with Dr. Gentry, Mr.
Barrett and me, and we believe that it will be of value to
the district in our planning for handicapped children.

The study will involve all the teachers in your buildings
and will require two meetings with them, no longer than
one hour each. Miss Proctor will be contacting you to
discuss this project. I hope you will cooperate with her.

234

June 15, 1965

MEMORANDUM

To: Teachers of the Participating Schools
From: Doris I. Proctor, Speech Correctionist

Re: RESEARCH PROJECT

Thank you very much for participating in the collection
of data for my study concerning the relationship between
knowledge of disabilities, kind and amount of experience
and class room integration of exceptional children.

APPENDIX C

PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE

235

236

PERSONAL DATA CHECK LIST

No.: Location:

 

Date: Group:
Day Month Year

 

Years Taught

 

 

 

Male: Female:
A. Behavior disorders G. Cardiac disorders
B Emotional disturbance H. Seizures
C. Impaired hearing I. Mental retardation
D. Impaired speech J. Intellectual superior-
ity
E. Impaired vision
K. Bowel and bladder
F. Orthopedic disorders incontinence

 

 

1. Course Work If you have had any course work covering
the exceptionalities listed in the above
box, indicate by encircling the matching
letter:

A B C D E F G H I J K

Check one of these three course credit descriptions
which most nearly matches your own course credit back-
ground in the exceptionalities listed above:

1. I have had no special education, psychology,
or other courses covering any of the disabili-
ties listed above.

2. I have had one or two terms (1 semester) credit
in special education, psychology, or other
courses covering the exceptionalities I en-
circled under Question 1.

3. I have had one year of more of course work
covering the exceptionalities I encircled under
Question 1.

2. Types of Teachinngxperience Contacts with Exceptional
Children

 

Encircle one or more of these letters which correspond
to the exceptionalities listed in the above box to
indicate the exceptionalities with which you have had
experience.

237

 

 

Behavior disorders G. Cardiac disorders
Emotional disturbance H. Seizures
Impaired hearing I. Mental retardation
Impaired speech J. Intellectual
superiority

Impaired vision

K. Bowel and bladder
Orthopedic disorders incontinence

 

 

A B C D E F G H I J K

Check only one of the three teaching experience con-
tacts described below. Check the one that most nearly
matches your own teaching experience with the children
whose exceptionalities you have indicated by encircling
the letters under Question 2.

1. I have had no teaching contacts with children
whose exceptionalities could be listed in
the above box.

2. I have had a part-time type of teaching experi-
ence contact with the exceptionalities encircled
under Question 2. By part-time experience, I

 

mean:

a. I am a classroom teacher who has shared
the educational program of children with
a specialist in the area of the child's
impairment.

b. I am a special teacher or therapist.
The children listed under letter
come to me days per week for
time allowed

3. I have had a full—time teaching experience con-

tact with children who could be listed under

the exceptionalities encircled under Question
2. By full-time teaching experience contact,
I mean:

 

a. I am a regular classroom teacher who
has had the entire teaching responsi-
bility for children who could be
listed under the exceptionalities en-
circled under Question 2.

238

 

 

 

 

A Behavior disorders G. Cardiac disorders
B Emotional disturbance H. Seizures
C Impaired hearing 1. Mental retardation
D Impaired speech J. Intellectual
superiority
E Impaired vision
K. Bowel and bladder
F Orthopedic disorders incontinence
b. I am a special education teacher who

has had the entire teaching responsi-
bility for children who could be
listed under the exceptionalities
encircled under Question 2.

This question can be omitted by all those who have had

no experience in teaching children whose exceptionalities
could be listed under the eleven given in the above box.
Teachers and therapists who have had experience with
teaching exceptional children should check only one of
the following:

 

 

1. I have had periodic consultations with a
specialist in the areas encircled as follows:

A B C D E F G H I J K

2. I have had no opportunity for consultation with
a specialist in the areas encircled here: (En-
circle only those with which you have had teach-
ing experience.)

A B C D E F G H I J K

3. As a special teacher or therapist I have given
consultations to parents and teachers in the
areas encircled here: (Experience only)

A B C D E F G H I J K

Check the amount of teaching experience described below
that most nearly agrees with your own years of teaching
experience with exceptional children:

239

 

 

Behavior disorders G. Cardiac disorders

Emotional disturbance H. Seizures

Impaired hearing I. Mental retardation

Impaired speech J. Intellectual
superiority

Impaired vision

Orthopedic disorders incontinence

K. Bowel and bladder

 

 

I have had no teaching experience with children
who could be listed under any of the exception-
alities listed in the above box.

I have had one or more years of part-time
experience in teaching children with the
exceptionalities I have encircled here:

 

C D E F G H I J K

I have had one or more years of full-time
experience in teaching children who could be
listed under the exceptionalities listed here:

 

C D E F G H I J K

The teaching experiences with exceptional
children designated by letter(s):

C D E F G H I J K
have been within the past five years.
I have had little or no teaching experience with
exceptional children since 1960 (or during the
last five years).
With what type of exceptionality (if any) have
you had most of your teaching experience con-
tact? (Encircle the appropriate letter.)

C D D F G H I J K

240

 

 

Behavior disorders
Emotional disturbance
Impaired hearing
Impaired speech
Impaired vision

Orthopedic disorders

Cardiac disorders
Seizures
Mental retardation

Intellectual
superiority

Bowel and bladder
incontinence

 

Assuming that you were to be given a choice, which of

the types of exceptionalities would you rather have
in your classroom? (Give appropriate letter.)

Which type of exceptionality would you least
rather have in your classroom to teach?
(Give appropriate letter.)

Check the answer which most nearly matches your future

educational goal:

1. It is in my educational plan to become a
special education teacher.

2. I do not plan to become a special education

teacher.

 

APPENDIX D

MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

CLASSROOM INTEGRATION INVENTORY
GENERAL INFORMATION INVENTORY

DIRECTIONS FOR ADMINISTERING

241

 

Illlllllll lllll’l'allll

242

CLASSROOM INTEGRATION INVENTORY*

Teachers are ordinarily faced with a wide variety of problems,
arising from the many different kinds of students they work
with each day. On the following pages you will find brief
descriptions of a number of exceptional children. In each
case you are to indicate how you would prefer to handle the
situation if the decision were entirely up to you.

General Directions: Make sure that Classroom Integration
Inventory and today's date are written in the spaces pro-
vided at the side of the answer sheet. Do not write your
name on the answer sheet or on any part of the inventory.
There are no right or wrong answers to these questions so
feel free to indicate how you feel the situation should be
handled. Check to see that the number on the left hand
corner of the personal data sheet is the same number that
is on your answer sheet. It is important to have your
number on each of your answer sheets so that the answers
of one person can be put together.

 

 

 

Directions for the Second Session onTy: If you are writing
the General Information Inventory at a second session please
follow these instructions: Look on the back of your answer
sheet and make sure that the number written there is the
same number given in the upper left hand corner of the
personal data questionnaire. Write your number on the card
you'll find in the envelope provided. Fold the card, seal
it in the envelope and hand them to me. Then when you re—
turn to write on the G11, I will give the envelope back to
you so that you can make sure that you put the same number
on the back of your answer sheet for the GII. DON'T FORGET
TO WRITE YOUR NAME ON YOUR ENVELOPE!

 

 

READ EACH ITEM AND MARK THE CORRESPONDINGLY NUMBERED SPACE
ON THE ANSWER SHEET AS FOLLOWS:

1. If you feel you could handle such a student in
your regular classroom without any fundamental
change in your present procedures.

 

2. If you feel you could handle such a student in
your regular classroom provided that advice
from a specialist or consultant were occasionally
made available to you whenever you felt a need
for such aid in dealing with some particular
problem.

 

*Reproduced from N. Haring, G. Stern and W. Cruick-
shank, Attitudes of Educators Towards Exceptional Children.
Syracuse University Press, 1958, with the express permission
of George G. Stern.

 

243

3. If you feel you could handle such a student
in your regular classroom provided that a
full-time specialist were available at your
school who could provide supplementary train-
ing for the student and frequent consultation
with you.

4. If you feel that such a student would benefit
most by being assigned to a special class or
school.

5. If you feel that such a child cannot be handled
profitably within the context of regular or
special public school education.

Mark each item clearly, filling the space between the dotted
lines on the special answer sheet. Please do not make nay
marks in this booklet.

Ill lllllrlllllllllll 1" (rill?! l l

21345

32145

43215

23145

43215

23145

12345

12345

21345

244

*1 - In regular classroom

2 — With part-time aid

3 - With full-time aid

4 - In special class or school

5 - Not for public education

Alfred is defiant and stubborn, likely to argue

with the teacher, be willfully disobedient, and

otherwise interfere with normal classroom disci-
pline.

Barbara wears thick glasses, and her eye-balls
jerk spasmodically from side to side; she can't
see the blackboard very well, and reads poorly.

Chuck can get about only in a wheelchair; some-
one must move it for him, or carry him in their
arms, because he is unable to control any of
his limbs.

Donald is six years old and does not speak very
much; what he does say is indistinct and child-
ish, with many missing or incorrect sounds.

Earl is eight and wears cowboy boots to class
because he hasn't learned to tie his own shoe—
laces; he is generally cheerful and well-behaved,
but talks very little and is incapable of follow-
ing any but the most simple instructions.

Florence is immature and oversensitive, likely to
burst into tears at the slightest provocation.

When Alice wears her hearing aid she hears as
well as any other youngster; her voice sounds
flat and hollow, however, and is somewhat un-
pleasant to hear.

Suzy frequently gets so excited she looses
control of herself and wets the floor.

Ruth is very much like other eleven-year-olds
in most respects but occasionally, during the
day, a rhythmical quiver will pass over her
face and she becomes totally oblivious for a
few seconds.

 

item.

*Answer of judges indicated to the left of the

12345 10.
12345 11.
12345 12.
23145 13.
12345 14.
23145 15.
43215 16.

Omitted 17.

21345 18.

12345 19.

245

- In regular classroom

- With part-time aid

With full-time aid

— In special class or school
- Not for public education

UTEUJMH
I

Roger's face was severely disfigured in an
auto accident; although he is completely re-
covered physically, the surgeons do not ex-
pect to be able to make his appearance more
acceptable for many years.

Alan wears a leg brace and walks with the aid
of crutches; he gets along quite well by him-
self though, and ordinarily needs no help
from anyone.

Bernard is a bully, given to teasing other
children and provoking fights with them.

Cora is supposed to have a hearing loss, but
she seems to hear all right when she sits at
the right end of the front row of seats.

Debby cannot use bathroom facilities unless
someone is there to help her; she is per-
fectly capable of making her needs known in

yample time to avoid accidents.

Clara has a noticeable scar on her upper lip;
her speech seems to be coming through her
nose, and she is hard to understand.

Dotty is eight; she has difficulty following
the class, and doesn't seem able to learn to
read at all.

Eight-year-old Edward sucks his thumb all the
time, apparently indifferent to the reactions
of parents, teachers, or other children.

Every few weeks, without any warning, Stella
will have a violent physical convulsion during
which she may bite her tongue or lose control
of her sphincters; after several minutes she
returns to consciousness with a severe head-
ache, nausea, and acute feelings of depression.

Sylvia's height is grotesque; she towers over
every other child in elementary school and
wears adult-size clothing.

43215

32145

23145

23145

23145

12345

43215

43215

12345

21345

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

246

In regular classroom

With part—time aid

With full-time aid

In special class or school
Not for public education

UltLUNH
I

Flora has neither bladder nor bowel control
and must be taken to the bathroom at frequent
intervals.

David squints through his eye-glasses, even
when he sits at the front of the room, and
cannot read the blackboard or his book quite
as rapidly as many of the other children.

Occasionally Edward will repeat a sound two

or three times before he seems able to go on;

he speaks when called on, but does not volunteer
much.

Chuck doesn't seem to catch on to things as
quickly as most, and needs to have things
explained over and over again; eventually,
though, he appears to learn everything the
others do even though it has taken longer.

Doris is slow, absent-minded, and a daydreamer;
she seems unusually quiet and withdrawn, avoids
others, and is inhibited and restrained in her
behavior.

Every hour or so Henry stares upwards at the
ceiling for several seconds and loses con-
sciousness; he has been like this for several
years but is otherwise developing normally.

Fred can feel the vibrations of loud music
from a radio or phonograph, knows when a door
has been slammed, but does not hear speech
unless it is shouted.

Greg tires easily and needs frequent oppor-
tunities to rest; excessive stimulation or
excitement must also be avoided.

Harold is a capable student but he has a
physical defect which appears to evoke laughter,
ridicule, avoidance and rejection from the
other children.

Irv is sexually precocious; masturbates in
class, uses obscene language, and has made
advances to several girls in his class.

43215

23145

12345

32145

23145

23145

23145

23145

12345

12345

21345

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

247

In regular classroom

With part-time aid

With full-time aid

In special class or school
Not for public education

mthI—I
I

Jane can tell the direction from which the
sunshine enters her classroom; she cannot read
the letters in an ordinary book.

Albert does not pronounce all of his speech
sounds correctly, but can be understood.

Betty is only a little over seven but she can
read the fifth grade reader very well; however,
her handwriting is poor and she is about average
in most other things.

Chester is deceitful, tells lies, and cheats
in school and at play; he has been involved
in several thefts, and is a persistent truant.

Generally speaking, Everett can control his
bladder or bowel, although he is likely to
have an occasional accident.

Jerry does perfectly good work as long as he
is left alone--he becomes extremely tense and
anxious, however, whenever an adult speaks to
him.

Virginia rubs and blinks her eyes occasionally
when reading, and seems to find it difficult
to distinguish between certain letters of the
alphabet.

Andy hears most, but not everything, that is
said in class even though he wears a hearing
aid.

Stan's walk is a slow shuffle; he gets along
on level surfaces or moderate inclides quite
well, but is unable to manage stairs at all.

Roy has a bright purple birthmark which covers
one cheek and the side of his neck.

Several times a day Lester says he can smell
bananas; usually this means that he will soon
fall to the floor in a convulsion which may
last for several minutes.

23145

12345

12345

23145

23145

23145

12345

12345

43215

21345

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

248

In regular classroom

With part-time aid

With full-time aid

In special class or school
— Not for public education

UltUQNP-J
I

Carla is a persistent talker, whisperer and
notepasser.

Bert could play songs with one finger on the
piano when he was four; now, in first grade,
he has begun composing little melodies to
which he gives names like "Rainy Day, "Bert's
Bike," or "Juice-Time."

June's eyes are crossed but she has adequate
vision in either eye despite the muscle im-
balance.

Laura's speech is laboriously slow, tortured,
jerky and indistinct; her voice is monotonous
in pitch and she cannot control its intensity.

Harry sulks, and sometimes gets quite noisy,
whenever he loses the direct attention of the
teacher.

William can't hear anything with his left ear,
but he gets along fairly well if he can sit in
one row by the window, in a room on the quiet
side of the building, with the class to his
right.

Ben is unable to walk and has been confined to
a wheelchair; he manages this very skillfully
and needs very little help.

Les was born with a malformed left hand which
is withered and misshapen up to the elbow.

When Terry was five he was run over, losing
his legs and genitals; he gets around quite
well now but his bladder discharges into a
bag which must be emptied several times a day.

Once or twice during the year Peter has com-
plained of a peculiar feeling in his stomach;
about a minute afterwards he has lost con-
sciousness, his breathing has stopped, and
his body has been first rigid and then con-
vulsed for several minutes.

21345

21345

21345

12345

21345

32145

12345

12345

21345

12345

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

249

In regular classroom

With part-time aid

With full-time aid

In special class or school
Not for public education

U'l-C'UJNI-J
I

John has no difficulty on the playground or

at the blackboard but he gets quite uncomfortable
when he has to use his eyes at close range for
any length of time.

Hugh eventually mutilates or destroys everything
that gets into his hands; his books are marked
and torn, his desk ink-stained and scarred,

and he has even managed to crack a blackboard
panel.

When anything happens to John the whole school
knows it--a bump on the playground produces
tears and wailing, an A for an exam brings on
unrestrained shrieks of delight.

Sam moves about somewhat awkwardly and his limbs
are in a slight but continual tremor that be-
comes pronounced only when he is nervous or
excited.

Arnold is an extremely bright nine-year-old who
is far ahead of the rest of the class in most
subjects; he spends a good deal of his time
working on a mathematical system he calls
"kinestatics."

Bill has difficulty in starting to talk, grimaces
and strains, and repeats sounds on about half the
words he says in class.

Kate weighs enough for two children her age--it
is almost impossible for her to squeeze into
the standard desk.

Although Melvin does not really soil himself, as
the day draws on he begins to smell more and more
of feces.

A hearing aid provides no help for Harriet; she
lip-reads fairly well, and can hear when she is
not facing the speaker if shouted at.

Helen's right hand may sometimes begin to tremble
uncontrollably--during the next few minutes the
spasmodic movement spreads along her arm, shoulder
and head before it finally stops.

250

GENERAL INFORMATION INVENTORY*

Directions for Second Session:

Now I will return the envelope to the person whose name
was written on it. Be sure to check the number you have
sealed inside of the envelope before writing it on the
back of this second answer sheet. Please write the
number carefully on the back of the answer sheet so there
will be no chance for error in matching it to your first
answer sheet. You must do this first before starting to
mark your answers.

General Directions:

 

At the side of the answer sheet in the spaces provided,
write--General Information Inventory and today's date.
Read each item and mark the correspondingly numbered
space on the answer sheet.

Mark each item clearly, filling the space between the
dotted lines on the special answer sheet. Please do not
make any marks in this booklet.

 

*Reproduced from N. Haring, G. Stern and W. Cruick-
shank, Attitudes of Educators Towards Exceptional Children.
Syracuse University Press, 1958, with the express per-
mission of George G. Stern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 1.
4 2.
l 3.
2 4.
2 5.
l 6.
2 7 o
2 8.

 

251

*UNDERSTANDING AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ABOUT EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN

Which of the following is a preferred method of
educating mentally handicapped children: (1)

to give the child work he can do with his hands
(handicraft, weaving), (2) to place the child in
a vocational training school, (3) to make the
program practical and less academic, (4) to pre—
sent the same material presented to the average
child but allowing more time for practice.

In educating the mentally handicapped (IQ 50-75)
child, occupational training should begin: (1)
upon entering high school, (2) the second year
of high school, (3) the last year of high school,
(4) when the child enters school.

The major goal of training the mentally handicapped
is: (1) social adequacy, (2) academic proficiency,
(3) occupational adequacy, (4) occupational ad-
justment.

Normal children reject mentally handicapped children
because: (1) of their poor learning ability, (2)

of unacceptable behavior, (3) they are usually

dirty and poor, (4) they do not "catch on."

The emotional needs of mentally handicapped are:
(1) stronger than normal children, (2) the same

as normal children, (3) not as strong as normal
children, (4) nothing to be particularly concerned
with.

The proper placement for the slow learner (IQ 75-90)
is in: (l) the regular classroom, (2) special
class, (3) vocational arts, (4) regular class

until age of 16 and then dropped out of school.

In school, the slow learner usually: (1) is given
a‘lot of successful experiences, (2) meets with a
great many failures, (3) is a leader, (4) is
aggressive.

In grading the slow learner, the teacher should:
(1) be realistic, if the child is a failure, fail
him, (2) grade him according to his achievement
with relation to his ability, (3) not be parti-
cularly concerned with a grade, (4) grade him
according to his IQ.

 

item.

*Answer of judges indicated to the left of the

 

omit-

ted 11.

Omit-

ted 15.

252

The studies with regard to changing intelligence
of pre—school children indicate that: (l)
intellectual change may be accompolished, (2)

no change can be demonstrated, (3) change may
take place more readily with older children,

(4) the IQ can be increased at least 20 points
if accelerated training begins early enough.

The development and organization of a compre-
hensive educational program for the mentally
handicapped is dependent upon: (1) adequate
diagnoses, (2) proper training facilities, (3)
a psychiatrist, (4) the P.T.A.

The most value can be gained from a group achieve-
ment test: (1) if the test reveals the academic
achievement level of the child, (2) if the achieve-
ment test can be related to the IQ, (3) if it
reveals that the child is academically retarded,
(4) if each item of the test is diagnosed with
respect to each child.

The mentally handicapped are physically (l)
markedly taller, (2) markedly shorter, (3)
heavier, (4) about the same as the average child
of the same age.

The mentally handicapped child (1) looks quite
different from other children, (2) is in need of
an educational program especially designed for
his needs and characteristics, (3) can never be
self-supporting, (4) cannot benefit from any edu-
cational program.

The mentally handicapped individual usually be-
comes: (1) a skilled craftsman, (2) a professional
person, (3) a semi-skilled or unskilled laborer,
(4) unemployable.

The mentally deficient are: (l) potentially
employable, (2) potentially unemployable, (3) edu-
cable, (4) just slightly below average in intelli-
gence.

The educationally handicapped have: (1) at least
average intelligence, (2) superior intelligence
only, (3) always have retarded intelligence, (4)
may have somewhat retarded, average, or superior
intelligence.

The most common educational handicap is: (1)
reading, (2) arithmetic, (3) spelling, (4)
geography.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

253

The educationally handicapped as a group commonly

show all of the following characteristics but one:
(1) good emotional adjustment, (2) emotional pro-

blems, (3) educational problems, (4) only retarded
mentality.

The mentally handicapped have: (1) markedly
inferior motor development, (2) superior motor
development, (3) superior physical development,
(4) about average motor development.

The reaction of the public toward the retarded
child seems to be: (1) rejecting, (2) somewhat
understanding but not completely accepting,

(3) accepting, (4) express feelings of accep-
tance but really feel rejecting.

Which of the following are not articulatory defects:
(1) thome for some (2) wun for run (3) perty for
pretty (4) doddie for doggie.

The presence of adenoidal growths may result in
(l) nasality (2) denasality (3) hoarseness (4)
breathiness.

Which of the following problems is most likely

to be associated with mentally retarded: (1)
functional articulatory problems (2) cleft palate
speech (3) idioglossia (4) stuttering.

The congenital deaf child will probably display:
(1) articulatory errors (2) voice abnormalities
(3) retarded language growth (4) all of the above.

The deaf, deafened, and hard-of-hearing are differ-
ent categories based mainly on (1) degree of hear-
ing loss (2) speech development (3) lip reading
ability (4) amount of hearing loss and age of
onset.

Hard-of-hearing children usually have a decibel
loss of: (1) 0-15 (2) 20-60 (3) 70-90 (4) 90—100.

The criticism of the manual method of teaching
the deaf is that: (1) it is too difficult to
learn (2) it is difficult for these pupils to
communicate with hearing people (3) few teachers
know the method (4) it is too symbolic.

4 28.
1 29
l 30
4 31.
2 32
2 33.
Omit-
ted 34.
Omit-
ted 35.
l 36.

254

Educating and rehabilitating the hard—of-hearing
is primarily: (1) developing language (2) fitting
hearing aids (3) giving audiometric tests (4)
teaching lip reading and speech correction and
auditory training.

The Oral method of teaching the deaf refers to:
(1) teaching by means of speech and lip reading
(2) only by auditory training (3) developing
speech and language (4) teaching of arithmetic
and reading.

The criterion used for placement of a child in

a class for the deaf is (1) speech development,
intelligence and hearing loss (2) disease causing
the loss and intelligence (3) speech development
alone (4) hearing loss alone.

Speech correctionists in the public schools do
all of the following but one: (1) give speech
correction to individual children (2) give lip
reading to hard-of-hearing children (3) instruct
teachers in methods of speech correction that
they can use in their regular classes (4) teach
classes for the deaf.

Disorders of articulation refer to all of the
following but one: (1) omission of sounds, (2)
pitch, (3) distortion of sounds, (4) substitutions
of sounds.

Stuttering is often the result of: (l) cleft
palate, (2) emotional problems, (3) malformation
of the teeth, (4) brain lesions.

Which of the following voice problems are likely
to be more frequent in high school girls: (1)
nasality, (2) breathiness, (3) rapid rate, (4)
insufficient loudness.

Which one of the following articulatory errors

is the most serious contributor to speech un-
intelligibility: (l) substitution of d for g

and t for k, (2) omission of the final consonants
in words, (3) distortion of sibilant sounds such
as: s,z,sh,th, (4) all of the above will contri-
bute equally to unintelligibility.

With respect to chronological age, the following
sounds last to be produced correctly by the
child are: (l) r and l, (2) p and b, (3) m,n,
and g, (4) f and v.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

255

The most common speech problem among elementary
school children is: (1) functional articulatory
problems, (2) cleft palate speech, (3) stuttering,
(4) voice problems.

According to contemporary research which of the
following is the principal etiological factor

in stuttering: (l) endocrine disturbances,

(2) inadequate cerebral dominance, (3) acquired
anxiety relating to speech fluency, (4) hereditary
predisposition.

The symptom most diagnostic of stuttering in the
young child's speech is: (l) repetition of
parts of words, (2) prolonging vowel sounds,

(3) attempts to avoid non-fluencies in speech,
(4) hesitations between words and phrases.

Teachers help the stuttering child most effectively
by: (l) supplying him with words which he cannot
say, (2) urging him to relax and speak more slowly,
(3) give him as much practice as possible by
calling upon him to read more often, (4) waiting
for the child to finish speaking regardless of

the difficulty he is experiencing, (5) have the
child stop and think of what he is going to say.

Functional nasality is usually associated with:
(l) inadequate naso-pharyngeal closure, (2) block-
age of the nasal pharynx by excessive adenoid
tissue, (3) misuse of the vocal cords, (4) speak-
ing on inspiration.

All but one of the following choices affect the
thinking and performance of brain injured children:
(1) lack of ability to discriminate between
essential and non—essential details, (2) evasion
from reality, (3) long-attention span, (4) in-
coherence and flight of ideas.

The most important etiological factor of cerebral
palsy is: (1) Rh factor, (2) birth injury, (3)
rubella during the first trimester,(4) hereditary.

Which one of the following is not a clinical
type of cerebral palsy: (l) spasticity, (2)
athetosis, (3) poliomyelitis, (4) rigidity.

The intellectual ability of cerebral-palsied
childred as a group is: (1) normal, (2) below
normal, (3) above normal, (4) impossible to
evaluate.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

256

The principal reason that severe spastics with
normal intelligence are sometimes found in insti-
tutions for the feebleminded is: (l) the parents
do not want them around, (2) they cannot be helped
anyway, (3) it is impossible to obtain an adequate
mental test on them, (4) the institution has the
best training facilities for them.

Brain injured children display all of the follow-
ing characteristics except one: (1) disinhibition,
(2) distractibility, (3) foreground and background
disturbance, (4) high organization ability.

The mentally retarded brain injured child is very
frequently described as: (1) an exogenous child,
(2) a psychopathic child, (3) an endogenous child,
(4) a schizophrenic child.

The classroom to be used for teaching brain injured
children should be: (1) very colorful, (2) include
much stimuli, (3) have window area, (4) have a
minimum amount of stimuli.

In teaching brain injured children, the material
such as numbers, letters and figures should be:
(1) uniform in size and shape, (2) varied in size,
shapes and colors, (3) very small, (4) all the
same color.

The most common clinical type of cerebral palsy
is: (l) ataxia, (2) athetosis, (3) rigidity,
(4) spasticity.

Anoxia is a condition in which the brain: (1)
receives insufficient oxygen, (2) is underdeveloped,
(3) is too large, (4) has suffered from hemorrhage.

Which one of the following men is pep noted for
research with regard to brain injury: (1) Martin
Palmer, (2) W. M. Cruickshank, (3) Lewis Terman,
(4) A. A. Strauss.

Studies have shown that the emotional adjustment

of the cerebral palsied as a group is: (1) normal,
(2) inadequate, (3) above normal, (4) more adequate
in spastics than athetoids.

The emotional adjustment in the home of the cerebral
palsied would be expected to be: (1) about the same
as the average home, (2) more stable than the average
home, (3) probably less stable than the average home,
(4) extremely unstable.

1 56.
3 57.
1 58.
l 59.
Omit—
ted 60.
2 61.
1 62
l 63.
Omit-
ted 64.
2 65.
2 66.

257

The reaction of society as a whole toward the
cerebral palsied is: (l) somewhat rejecting,
(2) as accepting as toward the normal, (3) com-
pletely accepting, (4) completely rejecting.

Poliomyelitis is caused by: (l) heredity,
negative, (3) a virus, (4) lack of rest.

(2) Rh

(1) brain injury, (2)

(4) malnutrition.

Epilepsy is caused by:
seizures, (3) Rh factor,

Epilepsy occurs in approximately: (1) one person
in every 200, (2) one person in every 20, (3) one
person in every 400, (4) one person in every 10.

In general the clinical type of epileptic seizures
in which emotional maladjustment occurs more often
is: (l) petit mal, (2) psychomotor attacks, (3)
Jacksonian, (4) grand mal.

If one of your pupils has an epileptic seizure
you should: (1) run out of the room for help,
(2) keep him from getting into a dangerous posi—
tion, (3) stick your fingers in his mouth to keep
him from biting his tongue, (4) rush all of the
children out of the room.

After a child has had an epileptic seizure in your
room you should: (1) reassure the child and calm
his classmates, (2) see that a doctor is called,
(3) point out to his classmates that he may be
dangerous, (4) send the child home for a week.

Tuberculosis is more prevalent: (l) in cities,
(2) in rural areas, (3) areas near water, (4)
areas of high altitude.

With the exception of accidents, the cause of death
in children of school age by rheumatic heart disease
is in: (1) second place, (2) first place, (3) tenth
place, (4) sixth place.

The major debilitating factor in rheumatic fever:
(1) is the weakening of the lungs, (2) involvement
of the heart, (3) weakening of the limbs, (4)
weakening of the eyes.

In children there are many instances, particularly
in adolescence, of obesity which are most frequently
caused by: (1) pituitary disorders, (2) excessive
intake of food, (3) lack of activity, (4) rapid
development.

67.

68.

69.

70.

71.

72.

73.

74.

_ 258

The gland that has to do with the general metabolic
activity is the: (l) thyroid gland, (2) pituitary
gland, (3) lymph gland, (4) pancreatic gland.

Social and emotional maladjustment in physically
handicapped children: (1) is present in all cases,
(2) can be related to their mental ability, (3)

is dependent upon the number and severity of the
problems, (4) is less of a problem than in normal
children.

Studies by means of interviews, observations, and
reports of informants indicate that physically dis-
abled persons are: (1) better adjusted than normal
children, (2) as well adjusted as normal children,
(3) all maladjusted, (4) more frequently maladjusted
than physically normal children.

The attitudes of parents toward their disabled
children tend to be: (1) oversolicitous, rejecting,
(2) accepting, understanding, (3) the same as toward
their normal children, (4) more positive than toward
their normal children.

The attitude of teachers toward handicapped children
is: (l) verbalized acceptance but somewhat rejecting,
(2) completely accepting, (3) the same as toward
normal children, (4) more understanding.

The attitudes of disabled persons toward themselves
tend to be: (1) not significantly different from
normal children, (2) negative, (3) accepting, (4)
more positive than normal children.

The plan in which the blind child is enrolled with

a teacher of blind children in a special room from
which he goes to the regular classroom for a portion
of his school day is the: (1) cooperative plan,

(2) itinerant teacher plan, (3) Dalton plan (4)
flexible plan.

The plan in which the blind child is enrolled in
the regular class in his home school where his
needs are met through the cooperative efforts of
the regular teacher and those of the teacher who
is made available at certain times to offer this
special service is the: (l) cooperative plan,
(2) itinerant teacher plan, (3) Dalton plan, (4)
integrated plan.

75.

76.

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.

82.

83.

259

The plan in which the blind child is enrolled in
the regular classroom, and has available to him
and to his regular teachers a full-time qualified
teacher of blind children and also a resource
room is the: (1) itinerant teacher plan, (2)
cooperative plan, (3) integrated plan, (4) the
sharing plan.

The responsibility for the education of exceptional
children should be placed upon: (1) the local
school districts, (2) the community, (3) the

state, (4) the parents of the exceptional children.

An educationally blind child is one who has a
visual acuity after correction of: (1) 20/70 to
20/150, (2) 20/150 to 20/200, (3) 20/20 to 20/70,
(4) 20/200 or less.

A partially-seeing child is one who has a visual
acuity after correction of: (1) 20/20 to 20/60,
(2) 20/70 to 20/200, (3) 20/200 to 20/300, (4)
20/300 or less.

The blind: (l) have superior sensory acuity,
(2) pay attention to auditory cues more than do
seeing people, (3) develop a sixth sense, (4)
have markedly superior musical ability.

The school in which the program for the education
of the blind is housed should be one in which the
enrollment: (l) is made up of blind or partially
sighted children, (2) is made up of sighted
children, (3) is made up of crippled children,
(4) is made up of mentally retarded children.

The realistic goal of the educational program of

the blind child should be: (1) to de-emphasize

the handicap to the extent that attention is

focused on the child, (2) to help the child for-

get about his blindness, (3) train the child's

sixth sense, (4) integrate the child with physically
handicapped children.

The most helpful attitude toward the blind child's
achievement is: (l) sympathetic, (2) non-senti-
mental, (3) emotional, (4) narcissistic.

In a school situation, the intellectually gifted
differ most from the average in: (1) physical
development, (2) motor abilities, (3) participation
in athletics, (4) academic achievement.

84.

85.

86.

87.

88.

89.

90.

91.

260

Gifted children tend to play with children who:
(1) are slightly older, (2) of the same age,
(3) slightly younger, (4) of all ages indis-
criminately.

Persons with superior mathematical ability usually
have: (1) average intelligence, (2) superior
intelligence, (3) slightly retarded intelligence,
(4) can do the mathematical manipulations but can
put them to no practical use.

The most common method of handling the problem
of the gifted child in the public schools today
is: (1) special classes, (2) acceleration, (3)
multiple track programs, (4) enrichment.

From personality studies of the gifted, we find:
(1) they are better adjusted than most children,
(2) they have an abnormally large number of fears,
(3) they are most apt to become psychotic, (4)
they adjust poorly to social conditions.

Which of the following methods is the least ef-
fective in helping a child to behave adequately
in any particular situation: (1) providing more
time for the effective solution of the child's
problems, (2) removing psychological restraint
upon his behavior, (3) giving the child good ad-
vice as to how he should behave, (4) giving him
an opportunity to express his feelings.

The most effective method to use in preparing a
child to intelligently solve problems in adult
life is to: (1) require the child to solve that
problem in childhood, (2) give the child good
examples of solutions to adult problems, (3) give
the child increased opportunity and freedom to
differentiate the solution of his own immediate
problems, (4) point out to the child the mistakes
he makes in his solutions and show him how he
could have made a better solution.

In most school room situations the chief motive
of the children's behavior and learning is:

(1) their need for self—esteem and a feeling

of personal adequacy, (2) their need for learning
socially acceptable skills, (3) their need for
seeking knowledge, (4) their feeling of superiority.

Habits that children form are a result of: (l)
repetition, (2) success in the satisfaction of
needs, (3) practice, (4) avoidance techniques.

92.

93.

4 94.

95.

96.

97.

261

If repetition is imposed by the teacher in such
a manner that the child is unable to notice
progress and feels that he is failing, the re-
sult usually causes the child to: (1) work
harder, in order to find success, (2) discover
a technique of avoidance, (3) gain new insights,
(4) become encouraged.

To the extent that the schools attempt to develop
each child to maximum capacity as a productive and
happy member of society, the real test of their
success is: (l) the degree to which the pupils
can use desirable techniques in school, (2) the
degree to which they voluntarily use desirable
techniques in their daily living, (3) the degree
to which the subject matter is meaningful to them,
(4) the degree to which they can transfer the
subject matter.

The most effective method of helping a child over-
come a phobia is: (l) ignoring the child's fears,
(2) removing the child from the object or situation
which causes his fears, (3) practical demonstrations
of the harmlessness of the object he fears, (4)
helping the child to develop skills so that he will
be able to cope with the object of his fears.

It is not at all uncommon to find children having
educational difficulties during adolescence.

This may be a result of: (1) the acceleration in
the growth of the central nervous system, (2)
preoccupation with gang activities, (3) increased
interest in physical activities, (4) accelerated
physical growth.

Probably the handicap which is the most widely
rejected by society is: (1) visual handicap,
(2) orthopedic handicap, (3) hearing handicap,
(4) behavior disorder.

The most logical approach to understanding behavior
disorders in children is to: (1) understand the
cause of the disorder, (2) deal with the symptom,
(3) ask the child why he misbehaves, (4) find out
from the child's parents why he misbehaves.

262

PROCEDURES FOR ADMINISTRATION

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN

KNOWLEDGE OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN,
'AND AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE AND
ATTITUDES TOWARD THEIR
CLASSROOM INTEGRATION

Doris I. Proctor

Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
June, 1965

The specific instructions will vary somewhat from

school to school. Nevertheless, the following outline is

proposed on the basis of my knowledge of the information

and integration inventories questionnaire assigned to

collect related personal data.

1.

Arrange for two meetins of the staff in each of
the ten participating schools. Allow an hour

either before or after school for each meeting.
Keep a calendar and schedule each school during
the conference with their respective principals.

Arrange for a meeting room in each of the school
buildings. The respondents should have a table
on which to write and ample room between re-
spondents to minimize influencing each other.

Make sure that the teachers know the reason for
the study:

"This is a study which aims to find out the re-
lationship between the amount of knowledge of
disabilities, kind and amount of teaching experi-
ence and classroom integration of exceptional
children. There will be three parts in the

data gathering questionnaires: A personal data
check list for the purpose of collecting perti-
nent information on background course credit,

kind and amount of experience and future edu-
cational goals in relation to special education.
The second part will be the classroom integration
inventory in which you will find brief descriptions
of the behavior of a number of exceptional children.

263

In each case you are to indicate (by checking
one of five possible responses) how you would
prefer to handle the situation if the decision
were entirely up to you. Remember, there is
no right or wrong answer in this part of the
questionnaire. Just check the answer that most
nearly indicates how you feel about the parti-
cular problem. Just answer quickly, with your
first idea, and do not spend a lot of time
thinking about each item. If there is no
answer that particularly fits what you would
like to answer, choose the alternative nearest
to your desired answer. The third part of the
questionnaire is the general information in—
ventory and may be answered at the second
meeting. This part consists of questions con-
cerning general information in seven areas of
the exceptional child. More than one answer
may be correct; however, you are to select the
most appropriate answer. There will be no
attempt to evaluate you on the basis of this
inventory. We merely want to know what in-
formation you now have. A special answer
sheet will be provided for each of the in-
ventory sections of the questionnaire. Be
sure to mark each item clearly, filling the
space between the dotted lines on the special
answer sheet. Please do not make any marks in
the booklet.

 

Please answer all items.

If you have any questions as you proceed, please
raise your hand and I will come to you and dis-
cuss it individually so as not to disturb others."

 

Your name is not wanted on the questionnaire. It
is desired to keep the respondents anonymous.
The plan for doing this is as follows:

"On your desk you will find an envelope with a
small slip of paper. Look on the back of your
answer sheet for a number. Adopt this number
as your number to write on the back of the
answer sheet that you will receive at our
second meeting. To help you to remember this
number, write it on the small slip of paper,
seal it in the envelope and place it on my
table before you leave. Do not leave the
answer sheet and your envelope together. I
will return the envelope to you next time so
be surethat your name is written clearly on
the outside."

264

Distribute the personal data check list and
the inventories in the following order:

Order of Administration of Instruments

 

1. Personal Data check list with identifying
number in corner

2. Classroom Integration Inventorijith.answer
sheet. Be sure that identifying numbers on
(1) and (2) match.

 

3. General Information Inventorijith answer
sheet

 

Distribute the Personal Data check list and
Integration Inventory. Have the respondents
fill out the name of the inventory and the date
at the side of the answer sheet. Have them
check the back of the answer sheet for a number
and copy the number on the slip of paper pro-
vided and seal it in the envelope on their desk.
Make sure that the respondents read the in-
structions at the beginning of the classroom
inventory and ask any questions before beginning
to answer the questionnaire. The instructions
are so clearly stated that most of them will be
able to proceed without much help. Let them go
ahead and finish the questionnaire as soon as
possible.

When finished each one should place his answer
sheet in a pile on the table designated for that
purpose. The envelopes with the concealed
identifying numbers should be put in another
pile so that name on the envelope does not
identify the one who handed in a particular
sheet. Put a rubber binder around the envelopes
when they are all in and keep them to hand out
at the second meeting. The answer sheets should
be put into an envelope and kept by the adminis-
trator until the second answer sheets are col-
lected with their respective identifying numbers
and put with the corresponding answer sheet from
the first meeting.

 

APPENDIX E

THE CODE BOOK

CLASSROOM INTEGRATION
INVENTORY KEY

265

266

CODE BOOK

A STUDY ON THE ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS TOWARD
EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN IN RELATION TO
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Union School District Study
Jackson, Michigan

Doris I. Proctor
College of Education

Michigan State University

April 18, 1966

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USE OF THIS CODE BOOK

1.

Code 0 or 00 will always mean Not Applicable or Nothing,

except as Hated.

Code :_for a one column no response, or :9 for a two
column no reSponse, or :29 for a three column no
response will mean there was No Information or Respon-
dent did not answer.

 

 

In each case in the following pages the column to the
left contains the column number of the IBM card; the
second column contains the question number from the
questionnaire; the third column (item detail) contains
an abbreviated form of the item; and the fourth column
contains the code within each column of the IBM card
with an explanation of the code.

 

 

 

 

 

Coder instructions always follow a line across the
page and are clearly indicated.

In some cases when codes are equal to others already
used, they are not repeated each time, but reference
is made to a previous code or the immediately previous
code with "same."

 

Under Code, the first number is the questionnaire
question alternative and the second number is the
actual code which is entered on the data Sheets
(i.e., 1-4; one (E) is the questionnaire question
alternative and 4 is the code).

267

 

 

Card 1 1-1
Column Question Item Detail Code
1,2 Heading Type of School and Union School District
Location Jackson, Michigan
11 - Allen
12 - Tomlinson
l3 - Bennett
14 - Wilson
15 - Blackman
l6 - Admin.
21 - Griswold
22 - Cascades
23 — Longfellow
24 - Lincoln
25 - Blair-Reed
3 Teacher Group 1 - Spec. Educ. Tch.
Number 2 — Regular Teacher
3 _ Aucil. Personnel
4 — Student Teacher
4,5 Heading Respondent Number 01-30
(within schools)
6 Heading Sex of Respondent l - Masculine
2 - Feminine
7,8 Heading Total number of 01-40
Years Taught
9 Questionnaire I Course work of 1 - None

10

11

Questionnaire
II

Questionnaire
IV

Respondent
(Specific)

Types Teaching
Experience
Description

Amount of Exper.
Description

2 - Some (1 or 2 terms)
3 - Extensive (1

yr. or more)
1-1 None
2a-2 Part-time,
regular class
2b-3 Part-time,
auxilliary
3a—4 FullHtime,
regular class
3b-5 Full-time,
spec. ed. class
1 - None

2 - Extensive part-time
(1 or more years)

3 - Extensive full-time
(l or more years)

268

 

 

1-2
Column Question Item Detail Code
12 Questionnaire Consultations 1 Periodic con-
III Description sultations
2 No opportunity
for consultations
3 Have given con-
sultations
l3 Heading Deck or Card 1
Number
14 Questionnaire Course work 1 9 Record number
I Number of Areas of different
areas of course
work indicated
by respondent
15 Questionnaire Teaching Exper. l 9 Record number
II Number of Areas of areas of
teaching exper.
indicated by
respondent
16 Questionnaire Consultations 1 9 Record number
III Number of Areas of different
areas of con-
sultations
indicated by
respondent
17 Questionnaire Exten. Part; 1 9 Record number
IV, 2 or 3 Exten. Full of different
Experience areas of exten-
Number of Areas sive part-time
or full-time
experience
indicated by
respondent
18 Questionnaire Has the 4 1 Yes
IV described exper. 5 2 No

been within the
years 1960-65?

269

 

 

 

1-3
Column Question Item Detail Code
19 Questionnaire Areas of greatest A-l behavior dis-
IV, 6 amount of , order
contactl B-2 emotional
disturbance
C-3 impaired
hearing
D-4 impaired speech
E-5 impaired vision
F,G,K-6 orthopedic,
cardiac, bowel
and bladder
H-7 seizures
I-8 mental retarded
J-9 intellectually
superior
20 Questionnaire Most desired Same as above
Va area
21 Questionnaire Least desired Same as in No. 19
Vb areal
22 Questionnaire Future Spec. Ed. l-l Yes
VI Tch. Plans 2-2 No
23— C11 Realism Score 59-295
25 Total
26- GII Knowledge Score 01-91
27 Total
1

record as "C."

If a teacher of the deaf encircled "D" as well as "C,"

If a speech teacher encircled "C" as well as "D," record

as 'IID . II

If a regular classroom teacher encircled "B" as well as

"A," record as "A."

270

 

 

1—4
No. Items
Column Question Item Detail Code Per Area
28- CII Realism Subscores 03-30 A—l behav. dis. 6
49 B-2 emot. dis. 5
C-3 imp. hear. 6
D-4 imp. sph. 6
E-5 imp. vis. 6
F-6 ortho. and/or
card. 6
G-7 phy. attract. 6
H-8 seizures 6
I-9 men. ret. 3
J-lO intell. super. 3
K-11 spec. handling 6
50- GII Knowledge Sub- 00-18 A-l behav. dis. ll
69 scores B-2 emot. dis. 05
C—3 imp. hear. 07
D-4 imp. sph. l2
E-5 imp. vis. 09
F-6 ortho. O8
G-7 miscell. dis. 10
H—8 seizures 04
I-9 men. ret. 18
J-lO intell. super. 07
70- C11 Degree of Sever- 19-95 Same as in 28-49 A-2
71 ity Subscores B-l
(Severe) C—2
D-2
E—2
F-2
G-2
H-2
I-1
J—l
K-2
72- CII Degree of Sever- 20-100 Same as the B-2
74 ity Subscores above except-
(Moderate) ing for "B"
75- CII Degree of Sever- 20-100 Same as 72-74
77 ity Subscores

(Slight)

271

CLASSROOM INTEGRATION INVENTORY

(Haring, Stern and Cruickshank),
Syracuse Univ. Press, 1958

Area Degree Items
Emotional Disturbance Severe 17,24
Moderate 6.35
Slight 45,53
Behavior Disorder Severe 29,33
Moderate 1,52
Slight 12,41
Intelligence Severe 5,55
Moderate 16,42
Slight 23,32
Vision Severe 2,30
Moderate 21,43
Slight 36,51
Hearing Severe 26,59
Moderate 37,46
Slight 7,13
Speech Severe 44,56
Moderate '4,15
Slight 22,31
Orthopedic & Cardiac Severe 3,27
Moderate 38,47
Slight 11,54
Physical Attractiveness Severe 10,19
Moderate 28,57
Slight 39,48
Special Handling Severe 20,49
Moderate 14,34
Slight 8,58
Seizure States Severe 18,40
Moderate 25,50
Slight 9,60

APPENDIX F

STATISTICAL MATERIAL

272

273

TABLE 31.--Highest correlations selected from eleven sub-
score areas of the classroom integration and the general

information inventories, listed in order

of declining

 

 

magnitude.
CII GII
Sub-Area Sub-Area Correlation
Impaired speech Impaired speech .247“
Behavior disorders Impaired hearing .242“
Impaired vision Mental retardation .236“
Emotional distur- Emotional disturbance .232“
bance
Seizures Impaired vision .214“
Impaired hearing Mental retardation .196“
Mental retardation Seizures .194“
Orthopedic and Impaired vision .173“
cardiac
Special handling Impaired vision .149“
Intellectual Seizures .134
superior
Physical attract. Impaired vision .116

 

“ < .05

274

TABLE 32.--Correlation of classroom integration inventory
subscores with class integration inventory total realism
score, listed in order of declining magnitude.

 

 

RS Subscore RS Total Number
Exceptionality Realism Score of

Area Correlation Items
Seizure States .65“ 6
Orthopedic .63“ 6
Special Handling .62" 6
Impaired Vision .59“ 6
Physical Attractiveness .56“ 6
Impaired Speech .50“ 6
Impaired Hearing .46“ 6
Behavior Disorder .42“ 6
Emotional Disturbance .28“ 5
Superior Intelligence .17“ 3
Mental Retardation .13 3

 

“ < .05.

275

TABLE 33.--Correlation of classroom integration inventory
subscores with general information inventory total knowl-
edge score, listed in order of declining magnitude.

 

 

RS Subscore KS Total Score Number
Exceptionality (Knowledge Score) of

Area Correlation Items
Impaired Speech .23“ 6
Behavior Disorder .18" 6
Seizure States .18“ 6
Emotional Disturbance .17“ 5
Impaired Vision .16“ 6
Impaired Hearing .15“ 6
Mental Retardation .15“ 3
Special Handling .13 6
Orthopedic .ll 6
Physical Attractiveness .06 6
Superior Intelligence .05 3

 

“ < .05.

276

TABLE 34.--Correlation of general information inventory
subscores with general information inventory total knowl-
edge score, listed in order of declining magnitude.

 

 

KS Subscore KS Total Number
Exceptionality Score of

Area Correlation Items
Behavior Disorder .75“ ll
Impaired Vision .72“ 9
Orthopedic Disorder .70“ 8
Miscellaneous Disorders .64“ 10
Impaired Speech .62“ 12
Seizures .58“ 4
Superior Intelligence .56“ . 7
Impaired Hearing .55“ 7
Mentally Retarded .53“ 18
Emotional Disturbance .52“ 5

 

“ < .05.

277

TABLE 35.--Correlation of general information inventory
subscores with classroom integration inventory total
realism score, listed in order of declining magnitude.

 

 

KS Subscore Total RS Number
Exceptionality Correlation of

Area Items
Impaired Vision .27“ 9
Mentally Retarded .25“ 18
Behavior Disorder .21“ ll
Orthopedic .20“ 8
Impaired Hearing .20“ 7
Emotional Disturbance .18“ 5
Miscellaneous Disorders .15“ 10
Seizure states .13 u
Impaired Speech .13 12
Superior Intelligence .01 7

 

“ < .05.