Development of the Inclusion Attitude Scale for High School Teachers

Abstract

This study involved the development of a new scale to measure high school teacher attitudes toward the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education classrooms. A second aim was to examine the relationship of teachers’ professional development regarding inclusion, their years of experience with inclusion, access to instructional supports and resources, and gender to their attitudes toward inclusion. A principal axis factor analysis of the 27-item Inclusion Attitude Scale for High School Teachers yielded three factors accounting for 44.5% of the common variance. The coefficient alphas for the three factors and total scale were .91, .85, .77, and .92, respectively. Results of this web-based study suggest that high school teachers who have taken at least one special education course and those with several in-services about inclusion feel positively about it in comparison to teachers with no relevant coursework or in-services. Teachers with experience implementing inclusion in their own classrooms also report positive attitudes. Teachers with access to instructional resources, including curricular materials and fellow professionals with specialized skills, were positively inclined affectively and behaviorally to inclusion. Finally, male teachers reported more favorable attitudes than did female teachers. Limitations of the study and future directions for research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• inclusion scale
• high school teachers
• relation to training and resources

This article was accepted under the editorialship of Dr. Charles A. Maher.

The authors extend sincere appreciation to the participating teachers, and to Joanne Eichenger and Mark Wood for their input about an earlier version of the article.