Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Eugene Costa
Committee Member
Richard Snyder
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
cooperation, inclusion, inclusive teaching, inner city schools, professional development, regular education, special education, student placement, teacher attitudes, teacher perceptions, teachers, training interventions
Abstract
This applied dissertation examined the question of whether professional development can improve teachers’ perceptions of inclusive teaching in an inner city school. The study drew upon survey methods to collect measurements of teachers' perceptions about inclusive teaching before and after professional development sessions. The hypothesis was that exposure to professional development would give teachers an improved impression of inclusive teaching, which in turn could make them more committed to the inclusive teaching paradigm. If the hypothesis was correct, the study would show that professional development should be considered an important component of developing teachers who work in inclusive settings, especially in inner city schools.
One of the key results was that a professional development intervention was highly significant as a factor of teachers’ special needs. It is likely that this result was due to the intervention’s triggering of the Galatea effect in teachers. Other findings were that teachers who were exposed to the intervention radically changed their minds about what kinds of students ought and ought not to be in special education.