Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2004

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

EdD

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Special Education

Committee Chair

Elizabeth Dooley.

Abstract

This study focused on the Five-Year-Teacher Education Program at West Virginia University. Specifically, preservice general education students were asked to complete a questionnaire titled Preservice Teacher Perception Questionnaire at three different times while completing the program. The PTPQ was administered after 80 hours in the field (N = 81), after 224 hours in the field (N = 66), and at the end of the program after completing 600 hours in the field (N = 71). The focus of the questionnaire was to gather data both about the preservice general education students' perceptions of students with disabilities and their perceptions of their special education training needs. The Chi-Square Test for Goodness of Fit (x 2) was used as the analysis tool to determine if the frequency of responses changed over time, with increased field work in the Professional Development Schools (PDSs). The same analysis was conducted to determine if the frequency of responses changed based upon the amount of special education coursework and/or guest lecture that a preservice teacher may have taken. Results from this study indicated that the nature of incidents/experiences that preservice general education students chose to report about students with disabilities changed based upon time spent in classrooms. Results also indicated that preservice general education students' perceptions of special education training needs changed based upon time spent in the classrooms and included such needed content areas as characteristics, legal, teaching strategies, collaboration, social, and behavior. Finally according to analysis, there was a significant difference in preservice general education students' responses both as far as the nature of incidents/experiences and their special education training needs based upon the amount of special education coursework or lectures of which the students were exposed.

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