A case study examining the secondary co-teaching Program at a South Jersey high school
Creators: name: Lederle Foglia, Karen R.
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2015

description: A review of secondary co-teaching literature investigated the relationship between general and special educators in the high school inclusive classroom.  The studies, using qualitative methods, examined the construction of co-teaching and identified characteristics of, preparation for, and factors such as professional development associated with secondary co-teaching teams.  These studies have focused on the elements that help to ensure successful secondary co-teaching.  Co-teachers at the secondary level, however, face obstacles in the implementation of the co-teaching program.  This research provided a background for studying the several characteristics and actions of co-teaching to determine how special and general educators implement a south Jersey high school co-teaching program. In addition, data collected during this study generated a clearer understanding of co-teachers’ needs for resources and training.  Co-teachers’ expressed that planning time and professional development can assist them in further development of their co-teaching knowledge and skills and improve their instruction in their inclusive classrooms.  The results will benefit many groups of program stakeholders in the high school district including administrators, all students in inclusive general education classrooms, and especially co-teachers.      This study utilized surveys, co-teacher classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and co-teaching documents such as lessons and assessments.  Survey participants included all high school co-teaching teams and four teams from the various content areas and backgrounds to participate in two sets of classroom observations and semi-structured interviews.  Participants in the survey rated co-teaching characteristics and offered anecdotal comment about the co-teaching program.  Co-teaching observations were made using a structured observation form and semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded.  Field notes were taken during the observation and interview phases.  All participant responses are confidential and reported as group analysis only.      Four major themes emerged from this research: (1) how co-teaching teams are assigned – special education co-teachers are scheduled into the general education inclusive classroom, there is little to no teacher input and often the special educator works with many co-teachers daily generating complications and inconsistencies in the co-taught classroom.  In addition, co-teaching teams change from year to year which is disruptive to co-teaching team relationships; (2) what the secondary co-taught classroom looks like – there are many interpretations with limited consistency between co-taught classrooms; (3) planning time – there is very limited planning time and in many cases no planning time which impacts effective instruction; (4) co-teacher training – co-teachers expressed a need for co-teaching guidelines and district support that provides assistance to co-teachers for improvement of co-teaching skills.  Training and support is especially needed for new co-teaching teams.  Across these themes it was the assignment of co-teaching teams that constrained each of the other factors.  Co-teaching partnerships were affected by unfamiliarity with the co-teacher and working with many co-teachers daily.  These conditions impacted co-planning, the structure of the co-taught classroom, and co-teacher instructional roles.     The aim of this study is to use findings to inform the instructional decisions by administrators and co-teachers.  This case study demonstrated the importance of talking with special and general education co-teachers to understand how co-teaching is implemented and, more importantly, to understand the needs of co-teachers.  The ability of special and general educators to work together collaboratively to deliver effective instruction to students in the inclusive classroom will strengthen the capacity of the district co-teaching program.