Location

Room 1005

Proposal Track

Research Project

Session Format

Round Table

Abstract

Co-teaching is an instructional approach usually initiated by school administrators to help general and special education teachers who share a single classroom to ensure students with disabilities have access to the general curriculum. Although research regarding co-teaching is still in need of further development in some areas such as student achievement, co-teaching has increasingly grown in popularity as an option for addressing the multiple needs of diverse learners, including students with disabilities. Some school professionals and researchers who are proponents of this instructional delivery model believe that, "At the core of co-teaching is determining what instructional techniques will be most efficient and effective in helping all students meet academic standards (Murawski and Dieker, 2004). This study explored the knowledge and skills of special educators related to classroom practices for effective co-teaching. Participants (N=43) were certified special educators from different states around the country. Findings suggest positive relationships between instructional communication and several other variables and may potentially help teacher education candidates develop better skills for delivering general education curriculum along with specially designed services to students with disabilities in co-taught classrooms.

Keywords

Collaboration, Co-teaching, General education, Special education, Teacher education

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Oct 17th, 9:00 AM Oct 17th, 10:15 AM

Special Educators Describe the Critical Mass of Co-Teaching

Room 1005

Co-teaching is an instructional approach usually initiated by school administrators to help general and special education teachers who share a single classroom to ensure students with disabilities have access to the general curriculum. Although research regarding co-teaching is still in need of further development in some areas such as student achievement, co-teaching has increasingly grown in popularity as an option for addressing the multiple needs of diverse learners, including students with disabilities. Some school professionals and researchers who are proponents of this instructional delivery model believe that, "At the core of co-teaching is determining what instructional techniques will be most efficient and effective in helping all students meet academic standards (Murawski and Dieker, 2004). This study explored the knowledge and skills of special educators related to classroom practices for effective co-teaching. Participants (N=43) were certified special educators from different states around the country. Findings suggest positive relationships between instructional communication and several other variables and may potentially help teacher education candidates develop better skills for delivering general education curriculum along with specially designed services to students with disabilities in co-taught classrooms.