INCLUSION: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF INSERVlCE GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS' ATTITUDES AND CONCERNS

Of the students with special needs, such as the gifted student or the at risk student, the majority have had their educational needs satisfied in the general education class. However, most students with disabilities have been historically served in segregated special education classes. In 1975, Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, was passed which opened the doors of public education and general education to students with learning disabilities. Prior to the passage of this legislation, few students with disabilities were provided services in public schools. The students that were provided service in public schools were usually served in segregated classrooms and had very little, or no, contact with their nondisabled peers. Following this legislation, it was mandated that school-age students with disabilities should be provided a free appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. This was a very significant improvement in education for these students. As a result, there was a rapid growth of special education programs. The model of service for most of these students was the resource room with appropriate mainstreaming. However, since the 1980's many parents of students with special needs together with special education professionals have been pressing for more integrated services for students with disabilities. In 1990, Public Law 94-142 was reauthorized and the name was changed to The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). There has been a thrust on the part of many special educators for total Inclusion of all students with special needs into the general classroom. Instead of taking students with disabilities out of the general education classroom and providing them with special instruction in a resource room, the supporters of total inclusion propose that all students with moderate to severe disabilities should be educated in the general education program. This movement has been endorsed and implemented by many schools and school districts and at the same time ignored and criticized by others. There are many pros and cons of the inclusion movement. Those in favor of total inclusion are convinced that it is the most effective way of providing service to all students. Those not in favor of total inclusion strongly recommend not implementing the model without further research. Some of the advantages of inclusion noted by Huefner (1988), were reduction in stigma of the students with disabilities, encouragement of collaboration between the special education and general education teachers, and increased interaction between students with disabilities and their nondisabled peers. Brady and Taylor (1989) noted that the general education classroom can be appropriate for many students with disabilities. Supporters of inclusion maintain that with including students with disabilities in the general classroom, fewer students will be identified with negative labels (Wang & Birch, 1984). Those not in favor of total inclusion are concerned that there has not been sufficient research to warrant the abandonment of existing special education programs. They believe that inclusion if" it is adopted too quickly on a widespread basis, could bring serious harm to the very students it is designed to help" (Davis, 1989, p.144). Students with learning disabilities generally do not succeed academically in the general education classroom without support from the special education teacher (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Fernstrom, 1993). Academic instruction in the general education classroom is often large group instruction (Baker & Zigmond, 1990) and not all teachers make adaptations for the students with learning disabilities (McIntosh, Vaughn, Schumm, Haager, & Lee, 1993; Schumm, Vaughn, Haager, McDowell, Rothlein, & Samuell, 1995). At the 1995, International Conference on Learning Disabilities, in Orlando, Florida, Cecil Mercer, a prominent professional in special education, in his keynote address, stated that we need more research in the area of inclusion and that it was not necessarily the best for all students with disabilities. …