Special Education ETDs

Publication Date

5-30-1969

Abstract

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether an inservice workshop could be instrumental in persuading regular class teachers to accept integration of EMR pupils in the regular classroom. The study also explored the relationship between teachers' initial degree of involvement with integration and their end-of-experiment acceptance of integration. The hypotheses of the study were: ( 1) There will be no significant difference in end-of-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale scores for regular class teachers who participated in the workshop and those who did not; (2) Teachers initially identified as "relatively involved" or "relatively uninvolved" on the basis of their Integration Involvement Inventory latitudes of rejection, will not differ significantly on end-of-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale scores; (3) End-of-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale scores will reveal no significant interaction between degree of involvement and inservice training.

Procedure

Fifty-eight regular class elementary teachers comprised the total sample. Random distribution of the teachers into experimental and control groups was made following their identification as ''relatively involved" and "relatively uninvolved'' on the basis of pre-experiment Integration Involvement Inventory performance. Both the experimental and control groups had 11 involved and 18 uninvolved teachers. The 29 experimental teachers participated in the workshop while the remaining 29 did not participate and served as the control group. Two instruments were developed for this investigation. The first was the Integration Involvement Inventory, an adaptation of Sherif, Sherif, and Nebergall's Social Judgment-Involvement Statements devised to assess involvement in the 1960 presidential election. The second instrument constructed for this study was the Acceptance of Integration Scale. This 22-item Likert scale was designed to determine teachers' post-experiment acceptance of EMR integration in the regular classroom, the dependent variable in this investigation. Following the fifteen week workshop, both the experimental and control teachers completed the Acceptance of Integration Scale. A 2 X 2 multiple class analysis of variance was conducted to determine the effects of inservice training, involvement, and their interaction on end-of-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale scores.

Findings

The first hypothesis was rejected since the Acceptance of Integration Scale scores of the experimental teachers were significantly higher than the scores of the control teachers. The analysis of variance resulted in an F-ratio of 8.91, significant beyond the .01 level. The second hypothesis was accepted. There was no significant difference in end-of-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale performance for the involved and uninvolved teachers. The third hypothesis was also accepted. The interaction of inservice training and involvement did not have a significant main effect on teachers’ end-of-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale scores. Profiles for the pre-experiment and post-experiment Integration Involvement Inventory responses were constructed for all groups compared in the statistical analysis. Generally speaking, teacher groups with the highest mean scores on the post-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale also made the greatest change in Integration Involvement Inventory responses. The profiles presented a general picture of confirmed neutrality on the part of the teachers in this investigation.

Conclusions

The end-of-experiment Acceptance of Integration Scale scores were apparently affected by participation in the workshop. Those teachers who attended the workshop were more accepting of integration than those who did not receive inservice training. This study provides little justification for screening regular class teachers on the basis of relative involvement. It would appear that pre-experiment Integration Involvement Inventory performance could best be used to provide direction for planning inservice training. Further consideration of confirmed teacher neutrality and its implications for inservice training should be made.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Special Education

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Special Education

First Committee Member (Chair)

Edward James Kelly

Second Committee Member

Louis Alexander Bransford

Third Committee Member

Miles Vernon Zintz

Fourth Committee Member

Dolores Smith Butt

Download

Share

COinS