Early and middle childhood pre-service teachers' perceptions concerning foster children's academic ability and behavior in a regular classroom

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of early and middle level childhood pre-service teachers concerning foster children’s academic abilities and behaviors in a regular classroom. The participants consisted of a convenience sample of students from a junior level education class. The participants rated their degree of agreement to questions on a Likert-type scale. Results of the survey were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric measures to explore differences in perceptions between males versus females and experience with foster children versus no experience. The results indicated no significant difference between the groups, with exception of survey item seven. The participants perceived foster children’s academic abilities and behaviors as being no different from those of other typically developing children.