Academic Self-Concept Change in Special Education Students: Some Suggestions for Interpreting Self-Concept Scores'

Abstract

Changes in academic self-concept, as measured by the Student's Perception of Ability Scale, were studied in elementary special education students receiving full-time remedial placement. Pre-post data were collected over a 12-month period on 50 severely learning disabled, 18 educable mentally handicapped, and 83 reg-' ular class children. The results revealed that full-time placement was accompanied by statistically significant increases in academic self-concept, especially in the areas of reading/ spelling and confidence. The discussion deals with possible causes for these changes, e.g., achievement gains and peer reference-group comparisons. Implications of the findings in terms of assessing changes in academic self-concept as a function of remedial placement are discussed.