JAASEP SPRING/SUMMER 2007 Part 1 of 6
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Teachers‘ attitudes are important factors in successful inclusion of students with disabilities (Duquette & O‘Reilly, 1988; Kunzweiler, 1982). Teachers‘ attitudes are not only related to their behaviors toward students with disabilities (Elik, 2002; Sharan & Hertz-Lazarowitz, 1980; Stanovich, 1994; Stanovich & Jordan, 1998), but also influence other students‘ acceptance of learners with disabilities and the academic self-concept of students with and without disabilities (Stanovich & Jordan, 1998). The linkage between teachers‘ attitudes and behaviors toward students with disabilities has led researchers to design interventions to change teachers‘ or prospective teachers‘ attitudes toward these students (Finlayson & Appleton, 1972; Leyser & Abrams, 1983; McDaniel, 1982; Pinckney, 1962). These studies provide conflicting results on the effectiveness of different interventions. Although there are two related reviews that provide useful guidelines (Colosimo, 1984; Stern & Keislar, 1977), there has not been any systematic review of the intervention studies conducted to change teachers‘ attitudes toward students with disabilities. For this reason, a meta-analytic review of interventions to change teachers‘ attitudes was conducted.
Abstract
A meta-analytic review of published and unpublished intervention studies to change teachers’ attitudes and behaviors toward students with disabilities was conducted in order to clarify the concepts of exceptionalities, attitudes, and change. The second objective of this study was to examine the moderating variables that may account for disparate results. The moderators that were examined were the level of intentionality of teachers at the beginning of the interventions, intervention characteristics, measurement characteristics, and teachers’ specialization (regular vs. special education). The findings showed that lectures that used an indirect approach to attitude change and that were accompanied by field experience resulted in more change in attitudes. In addition, those studies that used self-report questionnaires showed more attitude change than the studies that used observational measures. Teachers’ expectations and beliefs were easier to change than their behaviors and emotions. Conclusions and implications of the findings are discussed.