Margaret P. Weiss

Congruence Between Roles and Actions of Secondary Special Educators in Co-Taught and Special Education Settings

We examined co-teaching in secondary classrooms by interviewing and observing special education teachers in co-taught and special education classrooms. Using qualitative methods and a grounded theory (constant—comparative) method of data analysis, we identified salient, recurrent patterns that suggested a description of co-teaching definitions, roles, and instructional actions and then compared this description to roles and actions in special education classrooms. We found that special educators take on various roles when co-teaching that are different from the roles that they reportedly assume when they are teaching in special education classrooms; the differences between these roles are influenced by personal definitions of co-teaching and perceived pressures from the classroom, administration, and professional community. During co-taught classes, special educators may simply provide support for students in the general education classroom, teach the same content in a separate classroom, teach a separate part of the content in the same classroom, or teach as a team with the general educator. In co-teaching situations, teachers engaged in actions that helped students get through assignments and instruction given to the entire class. In special education classrooms, however, special educators engaged in different strategic and explicit forms of these actions.

Conditions for Co-teaching: Lessons from a Case Study

Co-teaching–general and special education teachers teaching together in a general education classroom–is frequently offered as a means of promoting inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education curriculum but few researchers have examined the context in which special educators co-teach. Six special educators at the middle school and high school level were observed and interviewed in their co-taught classrooms. Using grounded theory methods for data analysis, a description of the roles the special educators took in the co-taught classrooms, the influences upon those roles, and the reasons these teachers participated in co-teaching was developed. These special educators took on roles ranging from providing support to the general educator to team teaching, some of which deviated a great deal from the co-teaching literature. Knowledge of content, attitude of the general educator, and scheduling issues influenced the roles that each teacher took and most teachers felt pressured by administrators, other professionals, and the community to participate in co-teaching without much support. These results raise questions about what the expectations are of co-teaching from both administrative and teacher perspectives and what teachers need in order to implement co-teaching programs.

An Exploratory Study of Universal Design for Teaching Chemistry to Students With and Without Disabilities

In this exploratory study, students in four co-taught high school chemistry classes were randomly assigned to a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) treatment or a comparison condition. Each co-teaching team taught one comparison and treatment class. UDL principles were operationalized for treatment: (a) a self-management strategy (using a mnemonic, IDEAS) for the multi-step mole conversion process; (b) multi-media lessons with narration, visuals, and animations; (c) procedural facilitators with IDEAS for conversion support; and (d) student workbooks mirroring video content and containing scaffolded practice problems. All students completed a pre-test, post-test, and a 4-week delayed post-test. There were no significant differences between conditions; however, there was an interaction effect between students with and without disabilities for post-tests. Social validity indicated students found IDEAS helpful. Implications for future research include continued focus on disaggregated learning outcomes for students with and without disabilities for UDL interventions, and refinements for UDL interventions that benefit students with and without disabilities.

Social Network Placement of Rural Secondary Students with Disabilities: Affiliation and Centrality:

This study examined social network centrality (i.e., social salience, peer group linkages) and peer affiliations in 20 rural high schools across the United States. The total sample consisted of 1,672 students in Grades 9 to 12, including 164 students with disabilities (69 females). In comparison to their peers without disabilities, students with disabilities were more likely to be identified as isolated, peripheral, or secondary in their school social structures. This finding suggested that they had lower levels of social visibility and social connections. Further, peer associates of students with disabilities tended to have less favorable interpersonal characteristics; and the peer groups in which they were members tended to be characterized by risk configurations that are associated with poor educational outcomes.

Learning to Collaborate: General and Special Educators in Teacher Education

One of the foremost challenges for K–12 teachers is to provide relevant learning experiences in an environment of increasing accountability and student diversity. This balance is particularly consequential for students with disabilities who rely on special and general education teachers to ensure access to and success within the general curriculum. Teacher collaboration has been viewed as a critical part of the equation to help meet the needs of those learners. In this article, we present a case study from a course codeveloped and cotaught by secondary and special education faculty working in a teacher preparation program. Findings indicate that the teacher candidates with whom we worked showed a more complex sense of collaboration and recognition of critical elements of successful collaborative partnerships at the conclusion of the course.

The Effects of Guided Video Analysis on Teacher Candidates' Reflective Ability and Instructional Skills.

Internships are central to teacher preparation, but many novice teachers do not feel such student teaching experiences prepared them for teaching realities. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to understand the effects of guiding teacher candidates through common video-recording and self-reflection activities during student teaching internships to determine whether such activities improve teacher candidates’ reflective abilities and instructional skills. Thirty-six teacher candidates with similar prior experience were divided into two groups. Both groups participated in semester long internships where candidates video-recorded their instruction 4 times and wrote four corresponding reflections. Treatment group candidates (n = 17) also received directed guidance and feedback to supplement video analysis procedures. Both groups self-reported significant improvements in their teaching ability, but only the treatment group demonstrated significant growth in reflective ability and instructional skills over time. Addressing challenges in special education teacher preparation research as well as possible future directions are discussed.

Beyond the Blind Date: Collaborative Course Development and Co-Teaching by Teacher Educators.

Given the current climate of accountability, teachers must collaborate across disciplines to meet the diverse needs of students. Few, however, are prepared to collaborate in school settings upon completing teacher preparation programs. In this article, a participatory action research study undertaken by teacher educators who approached the lack of cross-disciplinary collaborations in two teacher preparation programs by developing and implementing a co-taught course on collaboration for general and special education teachers is presented. The described process was informed by interviews, observations, and analysis of course materials. Results contribute to the development of a framework for educator collaborations in higher education.

Practicing Collaboration in Teacher Preparation Effects of Learning by Doing Together

Collaboration among professionals is a vital component for successful inclusion of students with disabilities. In many cases, teacher preparation programs assume that teacher candidates know how to collaborate without explicit instruction or authentic practice and, therefore, omit coursework on collaboration. Alternatively, some programs may require coursework in collaboration but that coursework may exclude candidates from any other programs. In this article, we describe candidate outcomes from a course about collaboration that was taught in two ways: (a) as a co-taught course with faculty and candidates from social studies and special education and (b) as a course in the special education program that included only faculty and candidates in special education. Candidates in both groups constructed pre- and post-course concept maps about collaboration. We conducted both quantitative and qualitative analyses to determine depth, breadth, and complexity of understanding of collaboration as well as growth in these areas. Findings and implications are discussed.

Examining Collaboration in Teacher Preparation and Clinical Practice.

ABSTRACT Collaboration among educators is a vital component for teachers’ success working with diverse students. Teacher preparation programs, however, have not sufficiently included experiences in which teacher candidates can learn about professional collaboration in preparation for clinical and professional experiences. In this article, the authors describe the experiences from two pairs of teacher candidates—one pair who completed a cotaught teacher preparation course focused on collaboration, and the other pair who did not. The authors used interviews, observations, and content analysis of candidate artifacts to examine these experiences within the framework of symbolic interactionism. Findings suggest differences between these pairs of teacher candidates related to how they understood and managed collaborative situations. Implications for teacher preparation and clinical practice are included.

Collaboration in Social Studies Teacher Education: Crossing the (Disciplinary) Line

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a rich description of the development, implementation, and evaluation of a course, co-taught by the authors who are Secondary Social Studies and Special Education faculty, focused on the development of effective collaborative skills in teacher candidates. Until this course was developed, Secondary Social Studies teacher candidates in our program did not have any systematic experiences collaborating with other education professionals until student teaching or thereafter. Together, we report our journey from initial concept to implementation, revision, and student outcomes from the course implementation, including: (1) a case study of the development of the relationship between faculty, (2) a study of the first implementation of the course, and (3) a study of the revision and second implementation of the course, as well as student outcomes for each. Finally, we discuss implications and future directions.