Attitudes of teachers toward inclusion of exceptional students in the regular education classroom of St Croix Public Elementary Schools

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of regular and special education teachers toward mainstreaming or inclusion of exceptional students in the regular education classes of the St. Croix public elementary schools, United States Virgin Islands.Data utilized for this study were obtained from the distribution of the same standardized survey questionnaire to regular and special education teachers. Data were also obtained from interviews conducted with regular and special education teachers. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed.Teachers were surveyed about the inclusion of exceptional students in the regular education classrooms of the St. Croix public elementary schools. The purpose of the five interview questions was to further probe how teachers felt about the inclusion of exceptional students in the regular education classrooms. Interviews helped give insights and explanations of the more structural standardized survey questionnaires. Attitude responses of teachers obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed and the findings were described. Responses from interviews of regular and special education teachers were summarized and examples were presented in the text.Findings indicated that although teachers had favorable attitudes toward inclusion of exceptional students in the regular classroom, there were also areas of concern. Teachers were concerned that significant changes in regular classroom procedures would be required and that regular classroom teachers did not have the ability or training necessary to teach exceptional students.