STAFF PERCEPTIONS OF THE SCHOOL WORK ENVIRONMENT AND INTEGRATION OF LEARNING-DISABLED STUDENTS INTO THE JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS
Abstract
The study investigated the relationships of professional staff perceptions of school work environment, and the hours of integration into non-special education classes for students labeled learning disabled. Dimensions of the school work environment were assessed by the Work Environment Scale - R (WES). The instrument was sent to a sample of 1,461 school-based professionals in thirty-one junior and senior high schools. Usable data were received from 48.3 percent of the sample and 24.2 percent of the population. Characteristics of respondents such as age, sex, education, race, experience, and certification were surveyed. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and a stepwise multiple regression. No significant relationship was found between scores on the relationship, personal growth, and system maintenance/system change dimensions of the WES and the hours of integration at the.05 level of significance. Factors such as age, years of experience, and the stability of the organizational climate over time may have accounted for the lack of differences on WES scores. A statistically significant relationship was found between race of staff members and hours of intergration. Schools with a higher percentage of black staff were more likely to have learning disabled students in regular classes. Other researchers have found that blacks tend to be less judgmental of students with school problems and more optimistic about the outcomes of special intervention. Also, a slight negative relationship was found between sex and work pressure, which indicated that females felt somewhat more work pressure than males. Recommendations included the need for (1) expanded research to include both qualitative and quantitative studies of the perceptions of school climate and the intergration of handicapped students, and (2) increased training and inservice for professional school people and school systems in the effective management of existing resources to facilitate mainstreaming of learning disabled students.
Subject Area
School administration|Special education
Recommended Citation
DONALD JAMES WIXTED,
"STAFF PERCEPTIONS OF THE SCHOOL WORK ENVIRONMENT AND INTEGRATION OF LEARNING-DISABLED STUDENTS INTO THE JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS"
(1985).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI8802612.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI8802612