Rural General Education Teachers' Opinions of Adaptations for Inclusive Classrooms: A Renewed Call for Dual Licensure

Abstract

The process of including students with learning disabilities (LD) into general education classes has afforded these children the opportunity to learn alongside their same-age peers. Often, LD students require accommodations and/or modifications in order to succeed in the general education setting. General education teachers must provide these students with the accommodations/modifications that are recommended on each child's individualized education plan. The current study examined rural teachers' attitudes toward accommodations/modifications in their classrooms. Three questions were asked: 1) How effective are the recommended/implemented accommodations/modifications?, 2) How fair are the recommended/implemented accommodations/modifications to use in the general education classroom?, and 3) How efficient are the recommended/implemented accommodations/modifications to use in the general class setting? The results of this study revealed that rural general education teachers favored accommodations/modifications that are less intrusive to their day-to-day teaching procedures, take the least amount of time to implement, and separate less the learning disabled from non-disabled students.

Keywords

rural special education inclusion disabilities general education adaptations licensure least restrictive environment accommodations modifications attitudes

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Boyer,

W. A. R.

, & Bandy,

(1997). Rural teachers' perceptions of the current state of inclusion: Knowledge, training, teaching practices, and adequacy of support systems. Exceptionality, 7(1), 1–18.

Chalmers,

, & Faliede,

(1996). Successful inclusion of students with mild/moderate disabilities in rural school settings. Teaching Exceptional Children, 29(1), 22–25.

The Council for Exceptional Children. (1993, April). Statement on inclusive schools and communities. Reston, VA: Author.

Din,

F. S.

(1997). The inclusion practice in Kentucky rural regular schools. Rural Educator, 19(2), 6–10.

Giangreco,

M. F.

(1996). What do I do now? A teacher's guide to including students with disabilities. Educational Leadership, 53(5), 56–59.

K-III Reference Corporation. (1997). The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1998. Mahwah, NJ: Author.

Johnson,

, Elrod,

G. F.

, & Smith,

(1999, March). A comparative study of the adequacy of special education services in a high wealth and a low wealth school district. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Finance Association, Seattle, WA.

Lambert,

, Dodd,

J.M.

, Christensen,

, & Fishbaugh,

M. S. E.

(1996). Rural secondary teachers' willingness to provide accommodations for students with learning disabilities. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 15(2), 36–42.

Mississippi Department of Education. (1998). Individualized education program: Students reaching goals through meaningful school experiences. Jackson, MS: Author.

10.

Payne,

J. S.

(1990). Dialogue: Dual certification as a necessary component of teacher education programs. National Forum of Special Education, 1(2), 53–55.

11.

Sebastian,

J. P.

, & Mathot-Buckner,

(1998, March). Including students with severe disabilities in rural middle and high schools: Perceptions of classroom teachers. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Council on Rural Special Education, Charleston, SC.

12.

Skirtic,

(1991). Behind special education: A critical analysis of professional organization and culture. Denver, CO: Love Publishing.

13.

Vaughn,

, Schumm,

J. S.

, Jallad,

, Slusher,

, & Saumell,

(1996). Teachers' views of inclusion. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 11(2), 96–106.

14.

Wigle,

S. E.

, & Wilcox,

D. J.

(1997). Teacher and administrator attitudes toward full inclusion in rural mid-America. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 16(1), 3–7.