THE ABILITY OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS OF EMR STUDENTS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN BEHAVIORAL EXAMPLES DESCRIPTIVE OF MENTAL RETARDATION AND BEHAVIORAL EXAMPLES DESCRIPTIVE OF TRADITIONAL BLACK CULTURE
Abstract
This study investigated: (a) the ability of elementary special education teachers of EMR students to distinguish between behavioral examples descriptive of mental retardation (MR) and behavioral examples descriptive of traditional Black culture; (b) their belief concerning the use of traditional Black cultural characteristics as educational tools; and (c) if their ability to distinguish between behavioral examples descriptive of MR and those descriptive of traditional Black culture was differentiated on the basis of ethnicity, sex, age, location of school, percentage of Black students in the total student population, SES background of the majority of students, direct exposure to multicultural education, and the number of years teaching experience with Black students. A questionnaire containing 36 behavioral examples representing six characteristics of MR children and six characteristics of traditional Black culture was developed and mailed to 400 randomly selected elementary special education teachers of EMR students in Indiana. The dependent variables were the teachers' score for the total questionnaire and subscores on the mental retardation and Black culture items, and the teachers' response to the use of traditional Black cultural characteristics as educational tools. The findings of the study indicated: (1) The sample was able to identify MR items significantly better than chance, but not items descriptive of traditional Black culture. Therefore, it was concluded that elementary special education teachers of EMR students cannot distinguish between behavioral examples descriptive of mental retardation and those more descriptive of traditional Black culture. (2) Special education teachers believed traditional Black cultural characteristics can be utilized as educational tools to enhance the learning of Black EMR students. Post-hoc analysis of the traditional Black cultural characteristics revealed that eye management was most often selected as being descriptive of traditional Black culture. Collectively, special education teachers tended to select behavioral examples which depicted assertive or initiative behavior by students and/or behaviors most frequently discussed in the literature and/or media illustrative of Black culture as being more descriptive of traditional Black culture. Further pre- and in-service programs concerning multicultural-special education were recommended.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Special education
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