114 elementary teachers were examined on knowledge of exceptional children and attitudes toward mentally retarded children in a pretest-posttest experimental control group design. 20 teachers were enrolled in a 10-wk. course in which characteristics of exceptional students were discussed. These 20 teachers, called administrative teachers, provided inservice training to 57 participating teachers (experimental group). Statistically significant changes in knowledge occurred for the 57 participating teachers but not in a control group of 57 used for comparison. No significant changes in attitudes toward mentally retarded children were observed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ChapmanM. E. (1975) A comparative study of the effects of Title III inservice teacher training on teacher personality, attitude and knowledge of exceptional children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Woman's Univer.
2.
EdwardsA. L. (1957) The social desirability variable in personality assessment and research. New York: Dryden.
3.
FiorentinoM. (1978) A study of the effects of a short-term inservice education program on regular classroom teachers' attitudes toward and knowledeg of main-streaming. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Massachusetts.
4.
HagtonE. V. (1980) The effects of an inservice program upon a secondary school faculty's attitude toward and knowledge about handicapped students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Cincinnati.
5.
KulbeidaR. (1972) A comparative study of attitudes of elementary school teachers toward mentally handicapped children in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, school district five. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Alabama.
6.
LordF. E. (1972) Instructor's manual to accompany educating exceptional children. (2nd ed.) Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
7.
MortzD. M. (1977) An investigation of a faculty controlled inservice training model on attitudes and knowledge related to handicapped children in regular classrooms. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Kansas.
8.
Public Law 94–142. (1975) The education for all handicapped children act.
9.
YukerH. E. (1960) A scale to measure attitudes toward disabled persons. Human Resources Study No. 5, Human Resource Foundation, New York.
