Using the Schools and Staffing Survey/Teacher Survey to compare general education teachers' and special education teachers\' perceptions on collaborative themes

Abstract

This paper compared the perceptions of secondary special education teachers (SETs) and general education teachers (GETs) on collaborative themes using the Schools and Staffing Survey/Teacher Survey (SASS/TS, 2007-2008) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). In this study, ANOVAs, independent samples t-tests, and simple linear regression were used to analyze SASS/TS data comparing GETs and SETs on three themes derived from collaboration literature: 1) beliefs and values, 2) roles and responsibilities, and 3) teacher satisfaction. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of SETs and GETs on both beliefs and values and roles and responsibilities. This study also found that beliefs and values was a statistically significant predictor of teacher satisfaction for GETs and SETs. Roles and responsibilities was not a statistically significant predictor of teacher satisfaction.