classes must occur according to the law.
It is relatively easy to conceptualize situations in which the integration of a physically handicapped student into a general physical education class might be unsuitable from the perspective of the handicapped student, because such mainstreaming might actually deny equal educational opportunity to the handicapped student. It is somewhat more difficult to conceptualize situations when most mentally handicapped students should be excluded from general physical education classes. There may be, however, situations wherein the integration into general physical education classes of a mentally handicapped student (or a group of such students with similar characteristics and intensity of mental retardation) would effectively deny both equality and quality of educational opportunity to both the mentally handicapped student and the non-mentally handicapped student.
In relation to academically-oriented classes, the situation tends to be reversed. The conceptualization of situations where the mainstreaming of a mentally disabled student might actually work to the detriment of the handicapped student is a relatively easy task, whereas contentions that mainstreaming in academically-oriented classes might prove to be detrimental to physically handicapped students are more difficult to support.
Regardless of the law, and regardless of whether an educational environment is appropriate or less appropriate, the success of any mainstreaming effort will depend largely on the effectiveness of the classroom teacher involved in a mainstreaming situation. The effectiveness of the classroom teacher in a mainstreaming situation may be expected to be affected by her or his attitudes and perceptions toward the mainstreaming of at risk students in regular classrooms.
The principal objective of the proposed study is to measure and identify the attitudes of elementary educators--teachers, education special...