PREPARATION IN PRESCHOOL MAINSTREAMING AS REPORTED BY GENERAL EARLY EDUCATION FACULTY

This report describes a mail survey of faculty members in general earl y childhood education designed to secure training program information as it relates to preschool mainstreaming. A 22-item questionnaire was mailed to 204 randomly selected general early education faculty member s from nine geographic regions of the United States. A total of 114 (5 5.9%) questionnaires were returned in usable form. The respondents wer e from a full range of institutions of higher education including 2-ye ar colleges, 4-year colleges without graduate programs, and 4-year col leges with graduate programs. A majority of the respondents at each de gree level reported that their programs required a course in normal ch ild/human development, and that at the undergraduate level, their trai ning programs required at least one course in special education; howev er, fewer programs required courses in preschool mainstreaming. Field experiences in mainstreamed programs were possible in the majority of programs; however less than a quarter of the programs at any degree le vel required field experiences in mainstreamed settings. About 30% of the programs plan to increase the amount of special education or mains treamed training, but they list a variety of barriers to providing tra ining in preschool mainstreaming. The implications of these findings a re described.