Teachers’ Unpreparedness to Accommodate Student Needs

Abstract

Many students require special education and programming to succeed in the classroom. This study analyzed international and national assessment teacher survey data regarding inclusive education to better characterize student classroom needs and teacher preparedness to support them. Most teachers indicated that they relied on teacher-based accommodations and some teachers did not have access to external resources. While many teachers did not indicate receiving adequate teacher training courses and professional development (PD) on inclusive education, results indicate students from classrooms in which teachers took inclusive education PD statistically significantly outperform their peers (F[1, 5.2] = 526.60, p < .05). As school psychologists support teachers in their classrooms to meet the needs of all their students, it is important for school psychologists to consider the minimal training and lack of PD attended by these teachers coupled with their relaxed attitude toward attending PD on teaching students with special needs.