Evaluating Co-teaching as a Means for Successful Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in a Rural District

Rural Special Education Quarterly, Summer 2004 by Wischnowski, Michael W, Salmon, Susan J, Eaton, Karen

Abstract

This paper describes the efforts of one school district to implement and evaluate co-teaching as a means for successfully including most students with disabilities into general education classrooms. The evaluation team collected data for two years at the elementary and middle school levels related to student achievement, application of classroom and test modifications, behavioral referrals, student self-concept, and teacher and parent satisfaction. Evaluation results indicated support for co-teaching as a means for providing students with disabilities access to the general education curriculum and their peers without disabilities.

Since the 1997 reauthorization of Public Law 94-142, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school district personnel have been given the charge of ensuring that all students with disabilities have access to the general education curriculum. The authors of IDEA established major goals within the law that would influence systemic changes in public schools across the country. Among these major goals, the authors emphasized that students with disabilities in public schools should reach higher levels of achievement specifically with each school district's version of the general education curriculum. To accomplish this, increases in the placement of students with disabilities in general classroom settings as well as the prevention of inappropriate placements for all students were established as standards, requiring the roles of general and special educators to change toward more formal collaborative activities and responsibilities.

Many school personnel have accepted the charge from the federal law and states have encouraged them further through regulation to implement what amounts to the "inclusion" (a word not specifically mentioned in the law) of students with disabilities in the general educational environment. Increasingly, these students are receiving special education services and are expected to show academic achievement in classrooms alongside peers who are not identified as disabled. In accepting the challenge of establishing these inclusion programs, administrators and teachers have attempted to implement various models to address the letter and the spirit of the law. One popular approach to establishing inclusive practices in district classrooms is through co-teaching, which is defined as two or more professionals jointly [delivering] substantive instruction to a diverse, or blended, group of students in a single physical space. (Cookand Friend, 1995, p.1)

Co-teaching, applied to inclusion, commonly results in a general educator and a special educator (and possibly other related-services staff) sharing the teaching responsibilities within a classroom to include children with and without identified special learning needs. First, the teachers engage in co-planning, making decisions together on the content that will be presented and the accommodations that will allow students with and without disabilities to access the knowledge and skills embedded in each lesson. During instruction, co-teaching could be demonstrated in several ways: (1) one teaching, one supporting, (2) station teaching, (3) parallel teaching, (4) alternative teaching, and (5) team teaching (Friend & Cook, 1996). Co-teachers also work together to develop assessments of learning for all students in the classroom, following closely the testing modifications prescribed in the individual education plan (IEP) or the Section 504 plan for each student with a disability. Other variations on these co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing arrangements have been offered in the literature (Dicker & Barnett, 1996; Harriman, 1998; Vaughn, Schumm, & Arguelles, 1997).

The complexity of co-teaching also has been described in the literature. The discussion often centers on issues of interpersonal communication and teacher compatibility. Mostert (1998) emphasizes that co-teachers must bring a problem-solving orientation to their positions along with mutual respect, exemplary communication skills, and open information sharing. Contributing to a positive atmosphere and engaging in constructive conflict resolution also are important interpersonal dynamics that sustain co-teaching relationships. Some predictable sources of conflict have been identified among co-teachers, including different positions regarding instructional beliefs, use of planning time, parity between teachers, agreement on classroom routines, and rules about confidentiality, noise, and discipline (Cook & Friend, 1995).

The fundamental and occasionally delicate issue of defining each teacher's role in the classroom, providing feedback to one another, and the ability to engage in role release acid to the complex nature of co-teaching. Role release is the effective imparting of content or strategies to each other and providing follow-through to ensure appropriate application (Golightly, 1987; Lyon & Lyon, 1980; Thomas, Corrca, & Morsink, 1995). Role release adds to the multi-dimensional and developmental aspects of co-teaching that suggests a very sophisticated social and organizational relationship relatively new to most educators addressing inclusion.