<b>Investigating The Teachers' Perspectives on Co-teaching in Middle School</b>
Creators: name: Woehler, Misty Marie
Publisher: name: Purdue University Graduate School
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 390407
subject: Inclusive education
classificationCode: 390411
subject: Special education and disability

description: Special education students are entitled to access the rigor of the general education classroom, which has created environments where special education teachers are co-teaching with general education teachers. Co-teaching has become the most common method for supporting students with disabilities while providing the same rigorous education that their non-disabled peers receive. This study aimed to understand what general education and special education teachers perceived as strengths and challenges in co-teaching.Co-teaching is a common model used in public schools today to address the inclusion of students with disabilities into the general education classroom. Although research suggests that Co-teaching has positive effects, the outcomes are often not as successful as hoped.Research has shown that there are many challenges with implementing coteaching, such as lack of common planning time, special education teachers' lack of content knowledge, control or “turf” issues, differences in teachers’ personalities, differences in teaching Philosophy, and disagreements about discipline and behavior management (Chitiyo, 2017, Scruggs &amp; Mastropieri, 2017, Shin et al., 2016). Successful co-teaching requires general education teachers, special education teachers, and administrators working together for the greater good.This research was conducted by a survey to identify what the teachers perceived as the biggest challenges with co-teaching. This study was based on a peer-reviewed literature review of scholarly journals about co-teaching perceptions in other middle schools. Data was collected from special education and general education teachers using a needs assessment survey. This research provided strategies for special education and general education teachers to collaborate successfully, share responsibilities, and choose the most effective co-teaching method in their classrooms.This research provided a greater understanding of the strengths and challenges of co-teaching in two middle schools compared to previous research. The survey questions explored the perspectives of the general education and the special education teacher on the roles of co-teaching and preservice/in-service preparation. The survey data was organized looking for the themes or patterns to emerge, making note of each one. This process was completed using Qualtrics online survey software.The results of the survey show that although co-teaching is the most common method used to support the inclusion of students with disabilities, the teachers need additional training. The number of years of teaching did not change the responses of the teachers. The survey results also showed that most of the teachers felt they needed adequate time together to plan effective co-teaching strategies in the classroom but were not given that planning time currently.The findings of this study provided educators strategies for effective co-teaching collaborative learning teams. One strategy that is important to effective co-teaching is having the teachers gain knowledge of each other on a personal level. This will allow the teachers to understand the personalities within the co-teaching team. This helps build the mutual trust that is required for co-teaching to be successful.One strategy for the administrators is to investigate the areas in which teachers may require additional training to increase the effectiveness of co-teaching collaboration.<br>