Secondary Teachers’ Attitudes Toward and Willingness toProvide Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Disabilities

Abstract

The setting of this research study was the Wichita Public Schools, an urban schooldistrict of approximately 50,000 students located in Wichita, Kansas. The sample for thisresearch study included over 500 secondary school teachers that were employed by theschool district during the 2011-2012 school year. The purpose of this research study wasfivefold. The first purpose was to determine the extent of secondary teachers’willingness to provide accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities.The second purpose was to determine the extent that a secondary teachers’ willingness toprovide accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities was affected bythe gender of the teacher (male or female), school level taught (middle school or highschool), teaching assignment (general education or special education), personal disability(yes or no), and family member with a disability (yes or no). The third purpose was todetermine secondary teachers’ attitudes toward persons with disabilities. The fourthpurpose was to determine the extent that secondary teachers’ attitudes toward personswith disabilities were affected by the gender of the teacher (male or female), school leveltaught (middle school or high school), teaching assignment (general education or specialeducation), personal disability (yes or no), and family member with a disability (yes orno). The last purpose was to determine the extent of the relationship between secondaryteachers’ attitudes toward persons with disabilities and secondary teachers’ willingness toprovide accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities.This research study was conducted using survey research and data was collectedelectronically through Survey Monkey, an online survey tool. A quantitative crosssectional descriptive survey and a correlation research design were chosen for use in this research study. The findings of the research study were varied. Secondary teachers werewilling to provide accommodations, but were unwilling to provide some modifications.The findings regarding the extent of secondary teachers’ willingness to provideaccommodations and modifications affected by the independent variables studied weremixed. The willingness of secondary teachers to provide some accommodations andmodifications was affected by the variables of the gender of the teacher (male or female),school level taught (middle school or high school), teaching assignment (generaleducation or special education), and personal disability (yes or no). The attitudes ofsecondary teachers toward persons with disabilities were determined to be positive.Secondary teachers’ attitudes toward persons with disabilities were not affected by thegender of the teacher (male or female), school level taught (middle school or highschool), teaching assignment (general education or special education), personal disability(yes or no), or family member with a disability (yes or no). The findings regarding therelationship between secondary teachers’ attitudes toward persons with disabilities andsecondary teachers’ willingness to provide accommodations and modifications weremixed.School district leaders should consider the results of the research study whenprofessional development is provided. The results provide data that may aid in thedecision making process of determining what groups of teachers need additionalprofessional development related to increasing willingness to provide accommodationsand modifications for students with disabilities.