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Nebraska public school principals' attitudes toward special education issues
Abstract
The primary purposes of this study were to examine Nebraska school principals' perceptions and attitudes toward special education, to survey principals' level of special education training and experience, and to determine principals' perceived need for, and interest in, such training. Principals' perceptions of the need/importance of formal training in special education, and principals' interest in receiving inservice training in the area of special education were compared to principals' school setting, level of school, special education training, exposure to persons with handicaps, and responsibility for special education. A survey, Principals' Attitudes Toward Special Education-Revised, was used to gather data from 450 principals in Class II-V school districts in Nebraska. Descriptive statistics were used to report quantitative data. The Kruskal-Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) by Ranks, a nonparametric ANOVA, was used to compare groups. Post hoc analyses were completed with the Mann-Whitney U-Test. Significant differences were found in principals' perceptions of the need for special education training according to locale, level, special education training, and exposure to persons with handicaps. Significant differences also were found in principals' interests in receiving special education training, exposure to persons with handicaps, and responsibility for special education supervision. Major findings of the study were: (1) Principals lacked special education training. Nearly 40% of principals had completed no special education coursework. (2) Over 85% of principals perceived special education training for school principals to be moderately to extremely important. (3) Over 80% of principals indicated a moderate to very high interest in receiving special education inservice training. (4) Principals had limited exposure to persons with handicaps. Nearly 72% of principals reported no, some, or only moderate exposure to persons with handicaps. (5) Over 75% of principals had exclusive or shared responsibility for supervision and evaluation of special education teachers in their schools. (6) Principals reported that they had become more positive and supportive of special education as a result of their involvement in special education programs.
Subject Area
School administration|Special education|Education
Recommended Citation
Aspedon, Mary D, "Nebraska public school principals' attitudes toward special education issues" (1990). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9121908.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9121908