Co-Teaching: An Educational Promise for Children with Disabilities or a Quick Fix to Meet the Mandates of No Child Left Behind?.

Co-teaching: Cure or Quick-Fix? Is co-teaching a fad or the future for teaching students with disabilities in the regular education setting? The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1997(IDEA) required that disabled students, to the extent possible, be taught with nondisabled students in the regular classroom. The least restrictive environment standard (LRE) has led to new ideas and models in special education. The co-teaching model is designed to include disabled students in the regular classroom, but in a manner which provides the necessary accommodations to be successful. The standard special education model utilizes the pull-out approach to educating disabled students (Ross-Kidder, 2003). In the elementary school setting the special education teacher pulls the student out of the regular education class for a period of time each day. At the secondary level disabled students would either be self contained or be serviced by a special education teacher for at least one period per day. Districts are now looking at models for pulling-in disabled students (Ross-Kidder, 2003). As more students with learning disabilities (LD) are being included in regular education classrooms, the challenge for school districts is to continue to provide for both the regular education student and the LD students in the same setting. Co-teaching is a collaboration effort between a general education teacher and a special education teacher. Both teachers are responsible for teaching all of the students in the class (Keefe & Moore, 2004). The goals of co-teaching should be to increase instructional options for students, enhance participation of disabled students within the classroom, and to enhance the performance of students with disabilities (Mastropieri, Scruggs, Graetz, Norland, Gardizi, & McDuffie, 2005). There are several approaches to co-teaching, five of which were identified by Friend and Cooke (1995). In the first approach one teacher would be responsible for the teaching while the other circulated throughout the room providing support. The second approach, station teaching, allows the teachers to divide the content and students into groups, splitting time with each group. Parallel teaching, the third approach, allows the class to be divided and each teacher teaches their own group the same content. In the fourth approach, alternative teaching, students are organized into groups, one large and one small, and each teacher instructs one of the groups. The smaller group is recognized as the one requiring the most attention. Co-teaching is a partnership between two teachers, one special education and one regular education. Elementary teachers, in a study conducted by the Keefe and Moore (2004), had a more positive attitude toward co-teaching than did secondary teachers. Elementary teachers were more likely to share a class for at least half a day if not all day, with one or two teachers, while secondary teachers may only be together for one or two periods. The way teachers were paired also made a difference. Teachers generally reported a more positive working arrangement if they chose their co-teaching partner. This also included better communication which in turn led to an enhanced relationship. Teachers who had no choice in selecting their partners, in general, had more negative views of co-teaching. Teachers utilizing the Co-teaching models in the Mastropieri, et al. (2005) study, the Keefe and Moore (2004) study, and the Lawton (1999) study reported problems with having sufficient planning time, primarily in the secondary levels. When special education teachers partnered with more than one teacher, scheduling planning periods to coincide often proved to be difficult, if not impossible. Teachers either had to meet before or after school to plan the curriculum and determine the roles of each teacher. Teachers reported needing a minimum of 45 minutes per day to plan for co-teaching. …