Abstract Two purposes guided this study. First, the researcher explored in-service teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and barriers physical activity had on students with exceptionalities in school-based activities. Second, the researcher explored in-service teachers’ perceptions of physical activity and how their attitudes affected student’s learning. One hundred and fifty eight in-service, postgraduate (teachers taking courses in Education) and graduate teachers (teachers taking graduate level courses) volunteered to participate in this study. In-service teachers teaching in Kindergarten to grade 12 classrooms were either employed with a rural school division in Central Saskatchewan or a rural school division in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. Data was collected using adapted versions the Physical Educators’ Attitude Toward Teaching Individual with Disabilities-III (PEATID-III) (Rizzo, 1993) and the Physical Educators’ Judgement about Inclusion (PEJI) (Hodge, Murata, & Kozub, 2002) in this study. Volunteered participants completed the amalgamated adapted survey titled, Physical Educators’ Judgments and Attitude Towards Teaching Individuals with Exceptionalities. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between teacher characteristics (e.g., gender, age, whether participants had taught physical education, participants ratings of fitness) and the six survey subscales (e.g., outcomes of teaching students with exceptionalities, effects on student learning, need for more academic preparation, judgement about inclusion, judgement about acceptance of students with exceptionalities, and judgement about perceived training needs) to investigate if there were any statistically significant relationships. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also used to examine potential differences between teachers’ attitudes toward instructing students with exceptionalities and the teacher characteristics (number of special education courses taken, years of teaching experience with exceptionalities, and number of adapted PE courses taken). All six subscales were examined compared with teacher characteristics to find potential differences between teachers’ attitudes toward instructing students with exceptionalities and varying levels of experience and pre-service training. Results showed years of teaching experience and academic preparation influenced teachers’ attitudes towards instructing students with exceptionalities. Physical education teachers who had more additional training had higher self-reported ratings of their ability to teach physical education to all students than physical education teachers with less additional training. Results also indicated the older teachers were, the more negative attitudes they had toward wanting students with exceptionalities in their classrooms. These results support the body of evidence that shows there is a need to promote positive attitudes in the schools toward teaching individuals with exceptionalities physical activity.

Parental involvement in education, such as parent-teacher communication, is important for promoting students' success (e.g., Jeynes, 2007). Parental involvement is especially important for students with exceptionalities who face greater challenges to their learning than their peers (Keen, 2007; Taylor, 2000). However, there is very little research on the subject. This study investigated the present state of parent-teacher communication regarding students with exceptionalities and compared it to communication regarding students without exceptionalities. It also examined the barriers to satisfactory parent-teacher communication and solutions for improvement. Family systems theory provided the framework for the research questions (Friend & Cook, 2013) and data analysis. Parents or primary caregivers of a student with an exceptionality (n = 199) or without an exceptionality (n = 423) completed the Parent-Teacher Communication Survey (PTCS). Results found parents and teachers of students with exceptionalities chose to communicate by text or email when communication was infrequent. However, the few parents that were in contact more than once a week tended to use written or face-to-face interactions. Parents of children with and without exceptionalities did not differ significantly in how often they communicated. However, parents of students with exceptionalities were more likely to discuss a variety of topics related to their child's performance in school (e.g., homework completion, peer relationships, classroom behaviour) and be less satisfied with their communication experiences. While some parents reported satisfactory parent-teacher communication experiences, many parents of children with and without exceptionalities struggled to obtain high quality, high frequency, two-way communication with teachers. This research provides an initial understanding of parents' perspectives on the current practices of parent-teacher communication (e.g., modes of communication, topics, frequency, barriers to satisfactory communication) that can inform educators, and other professionals who work with students with exceptionalities and their families, and enable all parties to evaluate and improve their own communication practices. Future research is needed to further our understanding of parents' and teachers' experiences communicating about students with exceptionalities, particularly explorations into teachers' perspectives and the effect of student age on parent-teacher communication.

Low motivation levels experienced by students with exceptionalities in the area of mathematics are often cited as a major factor negatively affecting their potential for success (Baird & Scott, 2009; Reichrath, de Witte, & Winkens, 2010). In the wake of many ongoing experiments using new mobile technology and tablet devices in schools, this study examines the use of iPads from Apple in a secondary mathematics classroom and its potential effect on the motivation of students with exceptionalities. In addition, the study also takes an exploratory approach to documenting the factors impacting the planning, implementation and student use of mobile devices in the classroom. A total of 16 students, 1 teacher and 1 educational assistant participated in this study. A mixed methodology approach was taken which included collecting evidence from surveys and scales as well as from descriptive journals, interviews and observational field notes. In order to assess the students’ level of motivation, the four attributes from Keller’s 2006 ARCS Model were used as the basic analysis framework. These were: attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction (Keller, ARCS Model, 2006). Preliminary analysis of the attributes indicates relative consistency over the course of the study, with some minor oddities explained further in the conclusions. An extensive list of exploratory findings regarding planning, implementation and student use of mobile devices in the mathematics classroom with students with exceptionalities indicated both positive and negative aspects regarding the integration of the devices. Some positive aspects include the ability to meet the needs of different levels, and types, of learners with a number of applications, as well as a noticed increase in the collaboration and healthy competition among students. Contrary to this, some negative aspects include the lack of availability of topic-specific applications and the level of frustration experienced by some student in the initial stages of learning a new application. / UOIT