Karen Colucci

The Professional Development School Without Walls A Partnership Between a University and Two School Districts

The Professional Development School Without Walls is a partnership between the Departments of Special Education and Elementary Education at the University of South Florida and two large school districts. The goals of the partnership are to simultaneously improve teacher education and K—12 classroom practice and to study the effectiveness and sustainability of the developed model for partnering over time. This article describes how the partnering model was developed; the challenges, needs, and contexts influencing the development and implementation process; and the outcomes to date. One of the most unique features of the partnership is the way in which the roles of mentor teachers have been defined.

Working Together: Emerging Roles of Special and General Education Teachers in Inclusive Settings

Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine those factors that facilitate or inhibit the work of regular and special education teachers in inclusionary settings. The roles of these teachers are emerging rather than fixed, and frequently not well-defined. This empirical study examined the roles of exemplary teachers and the contexts in which they work in order to identify factors that either enhance or impede their work with general students and students with special needs. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed.