General educators ( N = 188) were surveyed regarding their responses to including students with disabilities in their classrooms. Two dimensions of responses were identified: hostility/receptivity and anxiety/calmness. Results indicated that teacher attributes and beliefs, student characteristics, and school climate relate to both dimensions. Specifically, receptivity toward inclusion was associated with higher teacher efficacy, inclusion of students with physical rather than cognitive or behavior disorders, use of differentiated teaching practices, and teacher collaboration. Findings further suggest that with experience, teachers become more hostile toward inclusion. Lower anxiety was associated with the inclusion of students with learning or behavior disorders, high teacher efficacy, and small class size. Results demonstrate the complex nature of teachers' thinking about inclusion and suggest that teacher, student, and school factors need to be considered in the analysis of teachers' willingness to support this innovation.
We investigated the influence of teacher efficacy and student problem type on teachers' placement and referral decisions. Regular and special educators ( N= 192) were randomly assigned a case study describing a student having a learning and/or behavior problem and asked to judge (a) whether the student was appropriately placed in regular education and (b) whether they would refer this student to special education. Analysis of an efficacy scale yielded two factors: personal efficacy and teaching efficacy. Results indicated that regular and special educators were most likely to agree with regular class placement when they were high in both dimensions of efficacy. Regular educators higher in personal efficacy were more likely to agree with regular education placement than those with lower personal efficacy. In addition, students with combined learning and behavior problems were found to be the most susceptible to referral. This study suggests that teachers' sense of efficacy underlies their placement decisions.
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