The Regular Education Initiative

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine education professionals' attitudes toward the Regular Education Initiative (REI). The REI is a proposed reform movement designed to restructure general, compensatory, and special education service delivery systems. A six-page survey was mailed to 1200 educators (400 general education teachers, 400 special education teachers, and 400 building principals) in the state of Michigan. This survey assessed educators' agreement with REI goals and acceptance of proposed methods for impiementing the initiative. In addition, respondents noted their technical assistance needs in carrying out the reform agenda and cited specific factors that they believed impeded or promoted the movement in their own school systems. Of a possible 1,177 scorable questionnaires, 605 were returned, yielding a 51% response rate. Results indicated general agreement with the majority of REI goals and procedures. Some significant differences emerged, however, among the three groups of respondents on specific items.