Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes of general education teachers toward reintegrating mildly learning-handicapped students into their regular classroom for reading instruction, when data from standardized tests, curriculum-based measurement, and the resource teacher's recommendation were used to identify appropriate reintegration candidates. The study identified variables beyond information about academic performance influencing the attitude of the teachers. Methodology. The researcher used a same-group pretest/posttest design to conduct quasi-experimental/correlational research. The population consisted of general education teachers who taught third grade and had both mildly learning-disabled students, and low achieving (Title 1) students, in their classroom. The first survey assessed teacher attitudes toward reintegrating specific learning-disabled students into their general education classroom for reading instruction. The second survey provided academic achievement information about the same mildly learning-disabled students as compared to other low readers in the classroom. It assessed the impact of this information on the teacher's attitude toward reintegration. The survey also reassessed teacher attitude about the importance of social pressure and student behaviors as impacting successful reintegration. Findings. Although data about specific academic achievement had some influence, it was not statistically significant at the .05 level. Student behavior along with a student's desire to be reintegrated had the greatest impact on the teacher's willingness to reintegrate the student. Teachers were asked to rank five types of data influencing their attitude toward reintegration. Of those, the resource teacher's recommendation was the most influential. Teachers were asked about the importance of student behaviors. These questions elicited the strongest responses concerning successful student reintegration. Teachers were most concerned about the student behaviors that create classroom disruptions. Conclusions and recommendations. Negative student behaviors, rather than academic achievement, were the greatest barriers to teacher acceptance of reintegration. Although remediation of student academics is important, further research is needed to replicate and verify these findings. These findings are consistent with past research that identified behavior as a major factor in the successful reintegration of mildly learning-disable students in the general classroom.