In this study, I explored how (a) a team-based instructional method rather than a one-teacher-one-classroom, traditional teaching model and (b) an inquiry-based learning approach affected teachers attitudes and self-efficacy for teaching and students attitudes, self-efficacy, engagement, and connections to school. The study was conducted within…

Federal laws require schools to incorporate co-teaching environments, often comprised of an inclusion specialist and content specialist. Research shows individual teachers can make improvements to their practice by engaging in critical reflection through noticing. The authors present a research-based professional development model designed for…

Given what we know about new teacher attrition--most teachers leave within their first five years in the field--specialized support during early years of teaching is critical. But should this support look different across different contexts and grade bands? What does supportive teacher education and induction look like for middle level educators…

Through a mixed-methods study, teacher education faculty members investigated the implementation of a new block of courses and an associated secondary clinical experience designed to prepare preservice secondary special educators. Seventy-three preservice candidates (a) completed then-and-now surveys assessing their confidence implementing 25…

One way to meet the unique challenges in diverse classrooms is co-teaching. Friend and Cook (2010) described co-teaching as an approach that provides specialized services to individual students in a general education classroom. Specifically, co-teaching involves two or more educators working collaboratively to deliver instruction to a…

With pressures from NCLB intensifying due to low test scores in subgroups including special education, the authors' district, like many others, approached students not as individuals but as rigid categories: "poor," "Hispanic," "African American," "disabled," or "regular"--a category particularly insulting to any student not included in it by…

Coteaching benefits both students and teachers, and the benefits grow as coteaching relationships mature. Effective coteaching relationships often evolve in stages (Gately & Gately, 2000), and coteachers can take steps to help their relationships flourish (Cramer, 2006). Drawing on the practices of successful coteaching teams, this article offers…

Purpose. The purposes of this study were to compare the perceptions of public middle school AVID and Non-AVID teachers regarding (a) their partnership in the AVID program, (b) the effectiveness of AVID program implementation, and (c) the factors that impede or facilitate AVID program implementation. Methodology. A descriptive, ex post facto…