Students’ Opinions Regarding Inclusion

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine students' opinions in regard to inclusive education programs and the effectiveness of these programs. The subjects involved were 150 high school students from a suburban school district in western New York. Of those 150 students, 114 were regular education students and 36 were special education students. All participants were students in blended English classes. Students were asked to anonymously complete a 16-item questionnaire in which they were asked to respond "yes, no, or unsure." As students returned the questionnaires to the classroom teacher, the teacher placed an identifying mark on the top of each special education student's paper. The findings revealed a significant difference in the opinions of special education and regular education students on whether special needs students should be placed in regular education classes. However, almost all of the respondents accepted students with special needs in their classes. Therefore, while regular education students would prefer not to have inclusive classes, it seems to be agreeable to them after their placement. Also, the results showed that both regular and special education students preferred to be in a class that has two teachers and, they felt they did better in such a class.