School leaders are charged with responding to the challenges presented by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the education of students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. The idea of least restrictive environment moves schools from educating students with disabilities in special education to regular education classrooms, from special education schools to neighborhood schools. Providing inclusive settings poses many obstacles and challenges to school based administrators and in their capacity school leaders can either alleviate or generate barriers for the process; they can inhibit or inspire school personnel to accept the inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. Furthermore, their attitudes are critical in the design and implementation of programs and practices in their schools. Principals' attitudes can either promote or discourage the inclusion practices in their schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors related to school based administrators' attitudes toward inclusive education and the relationship of these attitudes on the placement of students with disabilities. The Principals and Inclusion Survey (PIS) developed by Praisner (2000) was used to collect data from 175 school based principals in a large urban district in the southeastern part of the United States. The results of the study indicate a relationship does exist between principal's attitude toward inclusion and decisions pertaining to student placement. The study also found that those principals with positive experiences with students with disabilities also demonstrated beliefs of serving students with disabilities in less restrictive settings than those principals with negative experiences with students with disabilities.

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<p>Internationally, the rights of persons with disabilities to participate as full members of society through inclusive education has become a high priority with the adoption of the first legally binding treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). In keeping with our culture of acknowledging the rights of all, South Africa has already made great strides towards fulfilling these rights and is in the implementation phase of Education White Paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System (Department of Education, 2001). In spite of this, the practicability of implementing inclusive education is questioned by many. The inclusion of learners who are blind in neighbourhood schools, as opposed to &lsquo / special schools&rsquo / , is a particularly daunting task. However, the more local cases we have from which to draw insights, the better our chances of making inclusive education both practicable and widely accessible across a range of local contexts. A public, mainstream neighbourhood school that included two learners who are blind was therefore investigated to learn more about how the learners who are blind were physically, socially and academically included in the local school community. Qualitative data collection methods including semi-structured interviews and observations were used to uncover useful strategies, challenges and enabling factors that contributed to their successful inclusion. The findings revealed that the participants in this study had very little knowledge or experience in building an inclusive educational setting at the outset, but engaged in the process with open minds, creativity and trust. By adopting a collaborative approach and an attitude of &lsquo / failing forward&rsquo / , the objective of social and academic inclusion was to a great extent achieved in the school.</p>

<p>Internationally, the rights of persons with disabilities to participate as full members of society through inclusive education has become a high priority with the adoption of the first legally binding treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). In keeping with our culture of acknowledging the rights of all, South Africa has already made great strides towards fulfilling these rights and is in the implementation phase of Education White Paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System (Department of Education, 2001). In spite of this, the practicability of implementing inclusive education is questioned by many. The inclusion of learners who are blind in neighbourhood schools, as opposed to &lsquo / special schools&rsquo / , is a particularly daunting task. However, the more local cases we have from which to draw insights, the better our chances of making inclusive education both practicable and widely accessible across a range of local contexts. A public, mainstream neighbourhood school that included two learners who are blind was therefore investigated to learn more about how the learners who are blind were physically, socially and academically included in the local school community. Qualitative data collection methods including semi-structured interviews and observations were used to uncover useful strategies, challenges and enabling factors that contributed to their successful inclusion. The findings revealed that the participants in this study had very little knowledge or experience in building an inclusive educational setting at the outset, but engaged in the process with open minds, creativity and trust. By adopting a collaborative approach and an attitude of &lsquo / failing forward&rsquo / , the objective of social and academic inclusion was to a great extent achieved in the school.</p>

<p>Children with disabilities are more than ever placed in the general education class settings. While special educators are responsible for drafting and writing the IEP, General education teachers are responsible for implementing the IEP in the general education class setting. Studies show that general education teachers lack knowledge, support, and training of the IEP, which affects their attitudes toward inclusion. The purpose of this study was to identify what teachers know about the IEP and the challenges that they face with implementing them in their classrooms. In this study, data was collected from general education teacher surveys, and the results of the data were analyzed. From the data, it was determined that teachers face many challenges with the implementation of the IEP in their classes. From the data collected a handbook was created for general education teachers to utilize as a guide to overcome these challenges that they face when implementing the IEP in their classrooms was completed.<u></u><u></u></p><div><br></div>

Submitted by Mariana Dornelles Vargas (marianadv) on 2015-04-01T17:55:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 imperativo_inclusao.pdf: 2645272 bytes, checksum: 7c86aea1dd8cf82cc494fa80743a7b70 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-01T17:55:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 imperativo_inclusao.pdf: 2645272 bytes, checksum: 7c86aea1dd8cf82cc494fa80743a7b70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-28 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação de mestrado analisa como o imperativo da inclusão na Contemporaneidade vem movimentando não somente a sociedade e as escolas, mas também as Universidades Comunitárias do Rio Grande do Sul. Como recorte metodológico, os sites das doze Universidades Comunitárias Gaúchas foram tomados como campo de visibilidade para a investigação, que teve como objetivo conhecer o que as universidades visibilizam sobre a inclusão no ensino superior, e qual(is) conceito(s) de inclusão baliza(m) o trabalho dessas instituições. A dissertação orientou-se pela perspectiva teórica da pós-metafísica, na qual tanto o conhecimento quanto os sujeitos são constituídos de acordo com o olhar que colocamos sobre eles e com a posição que ocupam na rede social. Para a realização das análises dos materiais que compõem o corpus desta pesquisa, foram utilizados os conceitos de in/exclusão, acessibilidade, imperativo e governamentalidade. As unidades de sentido que se constituíram a partir dos materiais visibilizados nos sites das universidades trataram sobre: o acesso e acessibilidade aliados à inclusão social; os programas e projetos de permanência no ensino superior; e a inclusão como estratégia de marketing nas Universidades Comunitárias Gaúchas. Como alguns resultados deste estudo foi possível apontar que: a inclusão social é o conceito inclusivo mais emergente nas instituições pesquisadas que se materializa, em grande parte, no acesso à universidade. Esse acesso, voltado para diferentes populações, mas principalmente para a população com menores condições econômicas, possibilita a entrada de muitas pessoas que em outros momentos não chegariam à universidade. Contudo, não basta somente permitir ou facilitar o ingresso, é necessário que as universidades criem estratégias para atender aos sujeitos e para mantê-los incluídos. Portanto, a pesquisa procurou investigar se as Universidades Comunitárias Gaúchas produzem “atitudes de inclusão”, com a criação de vários tipos de programas e projetos, buscando objetivar tanto o acesso quanto a permanência de vários grupos de sujeitos no ensino superior. Essas possíveis “atitudes de inclusão”, quando visibilizadas nos sites, podem se tornar estratégias de marketing dessas instituições, uma vez que mostram, de diferentes maneiras, como elas se preparam e tentam ser singulares no atendimento ao imperativo da inclusão. / This Master’s dissertation analyzes how the productivity of imperative inclusion in the Contemporary is moving not only the society and schools, but also the Community Universities of Rio Grande do Sul. For the methodological approach, the websites of the twelve Gaucho Community Universities (Southernmost Brazil Community Universities) were taken as a visibility field for the research, which aimed to find out what universities picture as inclusion in higher education, and which inclusion concept (s) lay (s) the work of those institutions. The dissertation was guided by the theoretical perspective of post-metaphysics, in which both the knowledge and the subjects are constituted according to the look we put on them, as well as the position they occupy in the social network. To carry out the analysis of the materials that make up the corpus of this study, the concepts of in/exclusion, accessibility, imperative, and governmentality were used. The meaningful units that were made up from the material available on the websites of universities dealt with: access and accessibility coupled with social inclusion; programs and projects for students to stay in higher education; and the inclusion as a marketing strategy in Gaucho Community Universities. Through the results of this study, it was possible to point out that: social inclusion is the most inclusive concept emerging in the institutions surveyed that is accomplished, mainly, when joining the university. Such access, aimed at different populations, but especially for people on lower economic scale, allows the entry of many people who at other instances would not make the university. However, it is not enough to grant or facilitate the entry, it is necessary that universities develop strategies to receive the subjects and keep them included. Thus, the research aimed to investigate if the Gaucho Community Universities produce “attitudes of inclusion”, with the creation of various types of programs and projects seeking both the access and the permanence of several groups of subjects in higher education. Such “attitudes of inclusion”, when visualized on the websites, may become marketing strategies of those institutions, since they show, in different ways, how they get prepared and try to be unique in meeting the requirement of inclusion.

Students with disabilities who participate in a fully inclusive educational program have failed to meet district or state goals for adequate yearly progress. This student population is explicitly recognized in state and federal accountability systems. The purpose for this study was to determine how certain factors affected the implementation of inclusive services at one school. This study investigated how teachers' attitudes and perceptions toward inclusion, level of education, exposure to people/students with disabilities, level of support, and knowledge of laws governing the education of students with disabilities affected inclusive classrooms. Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences was used as the theoretical framework to present information about multiple intelligences and differentiated strategies that assisted in the implementation of inclusive services. The sample included 40 teachers who were working in inclusive settings. Teacher Attitudes Toward Inclusion Scale, 1-on-1 interviews, and end-of course scores were used in this sequential explanatory mixed methods study. The quantitative data were analyzed with t tests and ANOVAs, and the qualitative data were analyzed through hand transcription and locating emerging themes. Data showed that teachers had a slightly negative attitude toward inclusion, and student test scores were affected as a result. There were 2 statistically significant differences in attitudes of special education compared to regular education teachers and an average level of knowledge compared to those having very good knowledge of special education laws. The project created based on these results was a series of workshops for school staff. These workshops on inclusive practices could close the achievement gap for this student population and increase teacher effectiveness.