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Two-thirds of students who receive special education services spend 80 percent or more of their days in general education classrooms, where co-teaching has become a common approach for inclusion.

At its best, the model-in which a general and special educator share responsibilities for planning lessons, teaching, and testing students-can help students with disabilities succeed in general education classes and create a less stressful working environment for educators. But too often, collaborative instruction is hamstrung by cramped schedules, power struggles, and confusion over how to adapt lessons for a partner.

In a nationally representative survey, K-12 educators told the EdWeek Research Center that a lack of support from administrators and little time to plan lessons with their teaching partner were their biggest concerns about co-teaching. About 1 in 4 general and special educators said this lack of support turned them off collaborative instruction.

"We commonly hear from teachers that, yes, they have special education support in their schools-it's legally required-but in practice, the everyday reality is that the support can often be sort of inconsistent or unreliable," said Virginia Lovison, an education researcher at Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Even so, she added, "teachers value full-time support from a special education specialist more than any other working condition."

Studies have found teacher turnover is higher in schools with larger concentrations of students with disabilities, but Lovison and Cecilia Mo, an associate professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, found strong team structures can be a boon to recruitment and retention. The researchers asked 1,000 educators to choose a teaching position among hypothetical schools, created to be identical but for differences in the salary, class size, availability of co-teachers, or support staff. The researchers found that general education teachers valued having a full-time special education co-teacher more than perks like a 20 percent raise, teaching three fewer students, or access to an instructional coach.

Team teaching training limited

But teachers often get relatively little preservice training on how to teach collaboratively and rely on school or district professional development. General education teachers were more than twice as likely as special education teachers to tell the EdWeek Research Center that they wouldn't receive enough training to participate in teaching teams with special educators-and special education teachers were five times as likely to worry that general education teachers couldn't adapt content instruction to align with their recommendations.

"We need more training in this area-not just training in the collaboration, but training to teach specific content side by side," said Alyson Collins, a special education assistant professor at Texas State, "so teachers feel confident in the academic area they are teaching and can learn new strategies to work together to identify the children who may struggle the most."

In New York, for example, researchers found in middle school reading teaching teams, special education teachers spent the majority of their time "subordinate," serving as an assistant to the general education teacher's whole-group lessons, rather than targeting lessons to students with disabilities or leading flexible groups.

"We have data that it's not good when the special ed. teacher doesn't get to really teach with the general ed. teacher-that they are more of a paraprofessional or an aid-just in the classroom but not really doing the co-planning and co-teaching," said Margaret King-Sears, a professor of special education at George Mason University.

In part, special education teachers may defer to their general education colleagues because they feel less prepared in specific content areas. For example, researchers at Arizona State University and Texas State University at San Marcos found that general education teachers were more confident in their own skills as writers and believed they were better prepared to teach writing than did their special education counterparts. General education teachers were also more likely than special education teachers to believe that writing skill developed through effort and process rather than being something purely innate.

Co-teaching may help build special education teachers' confidence in tailoring lessons in content areas, Collins said.

Collins and her colleagues are testing a writing professional development program intended to target teams of general-special education teachers. After the educators learn a writing instructional framework and components, they work through how to plan lessons and formative assessments for the framework, as well as their day-to-day roles.

"That's where a lot of the co-teaching and co-planning comes in," Collins said. "They're thinking through what are the big components we're working on, when are they going to be teaching simultaneously, and when are we going to see more small-group instruction? A big part of this is learning to set goals for students and make sure they are realistic goals."

Experts say school and district leaders can take a few immediate steps to support co-teaching teams:

Ensure teachers have no scheduling conflicts during co-teaching times. Lovison noted that special educators are particularly vulnerable to being double-booked. "When I talk to school leaders about this, scheduling is an absolute nightmare, there are legal constraints, and there's only so many ways to fit the puzzle pieces together to get all the kids in the classes that they need," Lovison said.

Provide collaborative planning time, the lack of which is one of the most common needs that teachers report hindering co-teaching.

Guide teams in ways to share duties and target instruction in different subject areas. Special education teachers were more than twice as likely as general education teachers to tell the EdWeek Research Center that they did not want to co-teach because one teacher would control the class.

Create ongoing professional development for teams. This training would be given to the teachers in their teams, rather than special and general educators receiving separate professional development.

In a 2021 research analysis, King-Sears, from George Mason University, and her colleagues found that students with disabilities performed better on average in both language arts and math in classrooms team-taught by a special and general teacher than they did when taught by a special education teacher alone.

However, across two decades and more than 460 studies, King-Sears found little data on what approaches to balancing roles and support are most effective.

"We need to know more about what goes on in the co-taught settings, and we need to acknowledge that it's not just about academic performance," King-Sears said. "There are also some social-emotional goals that are very important for the kids with and without disabilities that need to be investigated as well."

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Co-Teaching: Valuable But Hard to Get Right

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Two-thirds of students who receive special education services spend 80 percent or more of their days in general education classrooms, where co-teaching has become a common approach for inclusion. At its best, the model-in which a general and special educator share responsibilities for planning lessons, teaching, and testing students-can help students with disabilities succeed in general education classes and create a less stressful working environment for educators.

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Students see teachers working together so they learn how to work together.

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When collaborating or co-teaching a teacher must obtain the following skills:
Be able to be a leader
Also be able to be a follower (sometimes you have to follow your co-teacher's lead)
Good communication
Time management skills
Good listener
Classroom Management

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1:16 gives a list of many different individuals that can be included in a collaborative team

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Individuals Involved in a Collaborative Team

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Individuals Involved in a Collaborative Team

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Teacher
Special Education Teacher
Physical Therapist
Occupational Therapist
Speech Therapist

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In special education, the term "collaboration" refers to a team teaching approach. In addition to the regular classroom teacher and the special education teacher, a collaborative team may also include speech, occupational, and/or physical therapists. Today, more special education students are taught in regular classrooms, and collaboration is increasing. Collaboration helps to ensure children with learning disabilities get a free appropriate public education, including specialized instruction, in a regular classroom.﻿﻿

There are several ways to ensure students get the instructional support they need. Collaboration provides options to allow students to be educated (as required by American law) in the least restrictive environment.﻿﻿

The Lead Teacher Collaboration Model

In classrooms with a lead teacher, often the regular classroom teacher delivers the instruction in the subject area. The special education teacher is an observer who works with children after instruction to provide specially designed instruction, ensure understanding, and to provide adaptations and modifications.

The Learning Centers Collaboration Model

Each teacher is responsible for instruction in a specific area of the room. Students are assembled into groups that rotate through the centers for instruction. Special education teachers may deliver instruction in areas of their certifications and may also serve as support to other teachers without a special education background.﻿﻿

The learning center collaboration approach is particularly appropriate for younger students, for whom center-based education is more typical.

Pull-Out Collaboration Model

In some settings, rather than having special education teachers or therapists "push into" general education classrooms, students are "pulled out" for services. In such situations, students might leave the classroom for therapies or particular subjects, and then return to the general education classroom.﻿﻿ When this occurs, the general education teacher collaborates with the special needs professional to be sure the student's needs are being met.

Alternative Collaborative Setting

Partially or entirely separate educational settings are relatively rare, even for students with significant learning or developmental challenges. A substantially separate setting is designed specifically for students with particular disabilities; for example, some classrooms are set up to serve students with autism while others are set up for students with speech and language disabilities, etc.

Students work one-on-one or in small groups with a special education teacher and possibly with instructional assistants for all or part of the instructional day. Even when students are placed full time in special education classrooms, teachers may communicate with each other to ensure students' programs include appropriate instruction.

Separate settings are typically used with students who have a more significant need for direct instruction.

Team Teaching

Team teaching involves general education and special needs teachers working together simultaneously to teach a classroom of students. Either teacher who has the necessary background knowledge in the subject introduces new concepts and materials to the class. Both teachers work as a team to reinforce learning and provide assistance to students as needed. Special education teachers provide specially designed instruction to students with IEPs, and regular education teachers can assist with this as well.

Consultation Models of Collaboration

A special education teacher may provide some instruction to students, but the majority of service is indirect. The special education teacher mostly provides guidance to the regular education teacher on how to modify instruction to meet the student's needs.

By Ann Logsdon
Ann Logsdon is a school psychologist specializing in helping parents and teachers support students with a range of educational and developmental disabilities.

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Models of Collaborative Teaching for Special Education Students

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In special education, the term "collaboration" refers to a team teaching approach. In addition to the regular classroom teacher and the special education teacher, a collaborative team may also include speech, occupational, and/or physical therapists. Today, more special education students are taught in regular classrooms, and collaboration is increasing.

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Collaboration
Cooperation
Balance
Time management

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Thursday, February 18, 2021

by Matt Christensen

Five clear benefits to the multi-teacher classroom

Every classroom, whether general or special ed., is full of challenges and opportunities. Among these is the unique task of being able to engage students on a whole-class level, as well as in ways that appeal to their unique strengths and address their needs as individuals.

Co-teaching is more than just "two teachers, one classroom." It's a model of shared responsibility that allows for professional collaboration during planning, instructing, and assessing students. In any classroom setting, co-teaching allows students and teachers to experience and benefit from a wide range of learning styles, teaching techniques, and data-driven instruction, while promoting inclusion and a sense of community among a unique group of people working toward the same goals of success and growth.

"By using a co-teaching model, our intervention specialists are able to rely on each other to differentiate learning for our students," says Jodi Johnston, Principal and Director of Admissions at Julie Billiart's Lyndhurst campus. "One intervention specialist can be leading the lesson, while the other intervention specialist is redirecting, providing needed support, or collecting data. This approach benefits our students because it provides more personalized instruction, which allows us to see how those supports are working and what may need to be adjusted."

Benefits of the co-teaching model are numerous, but there are five that can directly impact the day-to-day and long term progress of your student.
1. Reduced teacher-to-student ratio
JB models classrooms so that two teachers educate a maximum of 16 students, resulting in a 1:8 teacher:student ratio. This ratio is 1:6 in grades K-2 at JB. According to the Education Commission of the United States, the average ideal teacher:student ratio in all classrooms is 1:15. By employing a co-teaching model, a classroom with a maximum of 16 students essentially cuts that ratio in half, allowing for more individualized attention, less potential for distraction, and greater student engagement on both individual and whole group levels.
2. Increased instructional options
When two teachers facilitate a classroom community, students are able to connect with each one differently. Co-teaching affords both students and teachers more one-on-one / small group time during which they can bond more meaningfully, observe each other, and ultimately become aware of the most productive ways to interact. In addition, co-teaching allows for the co-planning process of lesson design to include insight from both instructors regarding how to reach students most effectively based on data taken during these small group sessions.
3. Greater student engagement time
"It's great having a co-teacher because I can focus more on the content I'm teaching while the other teacher serves as a nonverbal prompter," says Patrick Koenig, first grade intervention specialist. "While the lead co-teacher presents a lesson, the other co-teacher can float around the room while helping students follow the group plan and absorb the content more efficiently. Instead of letting students get distracted by needing to sharpen pencils, or having difficulty finding the correct page, the floating co-teacher helps them remain focused on the main points of the lesson, which is especially important at the primary level."
4. Modeled teamwork
What better way to shape social skills than seeing two teachers work together? Collaboration and cooperation are at the heart of the co-teaching model, which allows the teachers to model appropriate behavior while interacting with one another. With effective co-teaching, students are exposed to daily lessons in encouragement, politeness, teamwork, and support without ever having to open a book. Instead, the co-teachers instill the importance of such behaviors through their example, interactions with each other, and direction of the class.
5. Balance and time management
Teaching can be exhausting. But, to be an effective educator each day, a teacher has to be aware, alert, and engaged. The co-teaching model supports teachers in this way by allowing them to divide and conquer everything from daily routines, to progress reports and parent conferences, to grading papers. Having another adult in the classroom is essential for giving students the resources they need to succeed, avoiding wasted time, and establishing procedures that allow students to feel comfortable in any learning environment.

Thanks to the students and teachers who have passed through Julie Billiart's halls, we've continued to refine the co-teaching model to be an effective tool in special education. To learn more about how Julie Billiart educators collaborate and cooperate in and out of the classroom, contact our admissions team at admissions@jbschool.org.

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How The Co-Teaching Model Benefits Children | February 18, 2021 | Julie Billiart Schools | Helping K-8 students with learning differences in Akron, Lyndhurst, and Westlake, Ohio

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by Matt Christensen Five clear benefits to the multi-teacher classroom Every classroom, whether general or special ed., is full of challenges and opportunities. Among these is the unique task of being able to engage students on a whole-class level, as well as in ways that appeal to their unique strengths and address...

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Benefits listed on pages 399-402