TEACHERS PERCEPTIONS OF THE SUPPORTS CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF INCLUSION PROGRAMS

Two mail surveys, one with a follow-up, were conducted to determine if consensus existed among general and special education teachers on (a) the conditions and supports that are critical to including children w ith substantial disabilities in general education classrooms and (b) p roblems faced in implementing inclusive education. The data were colle cted in three stages. The first stage was a questionnaire sent to teac hers in Pennsylvania who had experience including children with modera te to severe disabilities in general education classrooms. Through two open-ended questions, they were asked to identify critical supports f or inclusion and major problems they faced when including children wit h disabilities. For the second stage, the same respondents were asked to rate the importance of the categories of supports and to rate the s ignificance of the problems they faced. The results indicated that tra ining, support from a team of professionals, and having help in the cl assroom were mentioned by a large portion of the respondents. The thir d stage involved a national sample of elementary, general education te achers responding to the open-ended questions. The respondents in the national sample (teachers who may or may not have been involved in a s upported program of inclusion) identified the same three supports more often than other supports.