Recent national legislation (P.L. 94-142) and State of Florida Legislation (CSHB 1327) have mandated a civic responsibility for mainstreaming handicapped children in public schools. The details for implementing the law have been delegated to local school districts, making educational administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers strategically important as leaders who influence how and the extent to which mainstreaming is implemented. The purpose of the present investigation was to survey the existing attitudes of educational administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers toward mainstreaming the handicapped and to determine whether or not the attitudes of administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers differ significantly. / In order to accomplish this study, the investigator administered an attitude inventory to a random sampling of education administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers who are presently employed in public schools in a nine-county area in Northwest Florida. / The data gathered from this inventory were analyzed in terms of general acceptance of mainstreaming, adjustments in the classroom, emotional demands and sensitivity to the handicapped, confidence in ability to cope with mainstreaming, positive expectations of the handicapped, treatment of the handicapped, views of parents and effect on non-handicapped students. The data revealed that neither administrators, guidance counselors, nor teachers held clearly positive attitudes on any of the above variables. / The characteristics of respondents were analyzed in terms of sex, years of experience, academic preparation, professional contact with a mainstreaming program, personal contact with a handicapped person, issue importance, and educational level. One way analysis of variance revealed statistically significant differences for setting, academic preparation, professional contact with a mainstreaming program, personal contact with a handicapped person, and issue importance. Evidence supports the need for comprehensive preservice and inservice training programs for each of the three groups which provide an opportunity for successful personal and professional contact experiences with the handicapped. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-01, Section: A, page: 0145. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75715 |
| Contributors | CLEMMONS, TRACY L., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 125 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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