How
effective are collaborative teaching models for
student success?
Summary
Teacher
action research has proven to assist legislatures
in developing policy that can shape the culture
of a school. Currently, we are in the age of restructuring
to improve secondary education, and teachers’ voices
can impact the decisions made. The changes need
to be sustainable. By developing the process of
collaboration in the school community, we can renew
our most important resource in education—learning—and
become an enduring professional learning community.
My research
has shown a positive relationship between co-teaching
and the success of special education students in
that setting. It also qualitatively demonstrates
the efforts of a team of educators and administrators
to incorporate collaborative teaching models into
a school community. The vision of improving student
achievement and having all students succeed is based
on this collaboration to build a professional learning
community.
There
is a legal precedent for providing students with
special needs with the least restrictive environment
(LRE) in which to learn. One LRE approach is co-teaching.
This gives an opportunity for all students to benefit
from the collaboration of two teachers. It becomes
important to clarify how to collaborate for the
best interests of the students. By establishing
strong relationships as partners, teachers can begin
to change the perception of students: that two teachers
in a classroom are a positive thing rather than
indicative that the students are placed in the slow
class. With the reauthorized IDEA that took effect
on July 1, 2005, districts and schools must provide
intensive professional development to all school
staff to improve academic achievement of children
with learning needs.
Reflection
is another important process for learning. Since
this action research is more qualitative, it reveals
the need to record quantitative data in all core
cotaught courses, looking at the most successful
models and working toward analyzing and sharing
that information. It also discloses the desire of
staff to collaborate as a school community to organize
consistent, researched, and exemplary teaching models.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Institute
in all classrooms collaborative teaching of children
with learning needs.
- Study
the interviews, failure analysis reports, meeting
analyses, and video recordings of faculty presentations
to gain insight into the importance of collaborative
teaching methods.
- Review
the analysis of data identifying the correlation
between the amount of time spent in a coteaching
classroom and the success rate of special education
students.
- Consider
other collaborative models, including Richard
DuFour’s work on professional learning communities.
- Provide
the least restrictive environment in which students
can learn at an achievable level, instituting
coteaching as a means of addressing diverse needs.
- Create
professional learning communities throughout all
public schools.
- Restructure
secondary schools to meet time factors so school
professionals can collaborate.
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