Date of Award
6-19-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Twila Patten
Second Advisor
Bronwyn MacFarlane
Committee Members
Dana Brown
Abstract
This study analyzed how educators’ attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities impact summative assessment scores of students with learning disabilities. The research problem addressed in this study was the increase in the number of special education students receiving inclusive instruction who scored at Levels 3 or 4 on the Arkansas Teaching and Learning Assessment System (ATLAS) mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) summative assessment. The findings are relevant to educators and education stakeholders wanting to improve inclusion practices. The purpose of this correlational quantitative study was to determine whether there was a significant difference in students’ summative assessment scores and educators’ attitudes toward, familiarity with, discomfort toward, and interaction with individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Grounded in the conceptual framework of Social Constructivism, the study focused on the empirical analysis of the average summative assessment performance scores of 15 seventh-grade through 10th-grade students in mathematics and ELA, as well as on responses to the Attitudes Toward Intellectual Disability Questionnaire from six educators. Results proved inconclusive for all four research hypotheses due to the small sample size and the time parameter of this study. The statistical findings did not indicate that educators’ attitudes impacted student success, as cited by multiple prior researchers. The study’s conclusions highlighted the potential effects of the small sample size on the research results, and compared the current data with previous research, including how student growth was reportedly highly dependent on positive attitudes among educators, educator self-efficacy, collective commitments, and enhanced inclusion training. Future expansions of this research should increase the sample size to include multiple schools across different geographic locations and more diverse student and educator populations. A longitudinal study that tracks student progress and changes in educators’ attitudes would provide a more comprehensive understanding of long-term student growth and the effectiveness of educator professional development programs. Practical recommendations included increasing time for educator collaboration, expanding educator self-efficacy training, and improving inclusion training to maximize student learning.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Goings, Felicia Baty, "An Analysis of How Educators’ Attitudes Toward Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities Impact Assessment Scores of Students with Learning Disabilities" (2026). Student Theses and Dissertations. 1172.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/1172
