This dissertation presents the results from a mixed methods study designed to understand what beliefs urban middle school general education teachers hold when it comes to supporting students with disabilities (SWDs) in an inclusion classroom including classrooms that implement the integrated co-teaching (ICT) model. The quantitative portion of…

Historically, students who are identified with a learning disability have struggled with the acquisition of new material. Co-teaching is a model of instruction in which a certified special education teacher works alongside a content teacher to deliver instruction within an inclusion classroom. This research project used a qualitative methodology…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of co-teaching versus inclusive non-co-teaching for students with disabilities (SWD) using algebra I end-of-course scores (EOC) and whether these effects differed by gender. Participants included 244 ninth-grade algebra I SWD. The research design consisted of a posttest only with a…

Much research explores how the arts can support inclusion in the classroom, but this is usually when they are taught as separate subject areas, such as music or visual arts, for children. This paper outlines a unique approach in the classroom using the arts as a connecting language in all subject areas. Known as Arts Immersion, this approach was…

Knowledge of instructional strategies in cotaught K-12 classrooms raises awareness of this unique collaboration for benefitting students with disabilities. The purposes of this qualitative study were to (1) identify pedagogical strategies that facilitate coteaching in inclusive environments and (2) explore the relevance of coteaching teams and…

Students identified as students with disabilities receiving special education services continue to perform below their same grade level peers in mathematics. Since the inception of the Individuals with Disability Act and the subsequent Every Student Succeeds Act, the United States has been shifting to a more inclusive education for all students.…

Throughout the history of education, educators have created a variety of techniques to best support students. As students with disabilities began to be instructed alongside their peers, new collaborative teaching practices started to take shape. As defined by Friend et al. (2010), co-teaching is an educational best practice implemented in various…

Student achievement in education and inclusive support for students with special needs has been a deliberated topic at the federal, state, and local levels of government. The co-teaching approach aims to provide ways for two teachers to work together to create a more inclusive classroom. The co-teaching approach is also known as co-teaching models…

While virtual and online schools for students in grades K-12 gained in popularity before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and served a wide variety of student populations, including students with disabilities during the pandemic virtual teaching became the reluctant norm. As online school sites have begun to welcome students with…

Researchers have shown that restorative processes in middle school improve adolescents' social and emotional skills during a critical time in their academic development, and educational systems worldwide have developed multitiered systems of support to ensure that restorative processes are integrated into the learning culture. This narrative study…

Co-teaching is a progressive approach to teaching using an inclusive model where all students experience the same lesson while receiving individualized resources to meet personal learning needs. The purpose of this case study was to examine one school district's transition from resource rooms to inclusion using the co-teaching model. The middle…

This study features data from middle school Algebra co-teachers and their students with and without disabilities, who completed questionnaires about their co-teaching experiences. Although most students with disabilities believed the general educator was in charge of lessons, students without disabilities also credited the special educator. Most…

Students with disabilities are increasingly participating in co-taught classes where they have access to the general curriculum. However, researchers have discovered that co-teaching often resembles solo teaching and does not include specially designed instruction shown to be effective for students with disabilities. How can middle and secondary…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that all school districts provide a free appropriate public education to students with Individualized Education Plans in their least restrictive environment. Co-teaching in inclusion classrooms is a collaborative effort, with a general education teacher and a special education teacher, to…

Co-teaching may be a promising strategy to improve inclusive secondary mathematics education in rural schools. Professional development (PD) aids in special and general education teachers' co-teaching implementation, yet little empirical research examines how to effectively train and support co-teachers. In this study, we describe one U.S. state's…