For well over a year, school shutdowns and sputtered reopenings have tested educators' resourcefulness and resolve. As the new school year begins, many are reflecting on small triumphs and lessons learned from that experience. One practice that proved central to many schools' resolve and resilience during this crisis was teachers' collaboration on…

Over the years University of Virginia professor Carol Ann Tomlinson has had several opportunities to teach with colleagues. Most of her experiences, both in her public school teaching days and at the university, have been quite positive and have contributed to her growth as a teacher. In this article Tomlinson describes her first, longest, and…

Too often at the high school level, teachers work in isolation, without the ability to see other practitioners at work. Team teaching offers an effective antidote: It provides a comfortable environment in which to grow because it enables teachers to learn from another professional on a regular basis. "Teaming," notes the authors,…

Most co-teachers agree that there just isn't enough time for co-teachers to appropriately and effectively preplan every aspect of every activity in every lesson. This lack of time leads co-teachers to turn to models that fail to maximize the benefits of a two-teacher classroom. Wilson suggests that if co-teachers use their limited planning time to…

This theme issue of "Educational Leadership" arose after asking a group of educators about their current challenges and they mentioned the intricacies of co-teaching. The topic was broadened to look at not only co-teaching with specialists--particularly, special needs educators and ELL educators--but all team teaching across content…

Imagine getting on the tandem bike of co-teaching. You have a lot to decide. Who sits in the front and takes the lead? Who takes the backseat? The fact is, neither classroom teachers nor secondary content-area teachers have proven eager to give up leading their lesson when they have a co-teacher present, whether to support ELLs or students with…

Co-teaching was originally conceived as a way to push student with special needs into general education so that they could access the general curriculum alongside their peers. What was often lost, however, was the meticulous attention to these students' special needs, as identified in their individualized education programs (IEPs). In this…

When an elementary school learns that its upcoming 4th grade class will include 10 students with special needs, six of whom have significant disabilities, it decides to include these students in a large team-taught classroom. There, everyone belongs--students with disabilities, English language learners, gifted math students, and avid and…

Status, the perception of one's standing in relation to others in a group, negatively influence learning. Status issue have implications for educating students with special learning needs: Both these students and the learning support or special education teachers who serve them often hold low status in a school community. Like adults, children…

Field Elementary School in Littleton, Colorado, had previously seen success with its pullout model of instruction for English language learners. However, as the English language learner (ELL) population increased to 42 percent, the school's performance on state assessments dropped, and it was clear that something different was needed. School…

Beninghof challenges a common misconception--that in a good co-teaching classroom, no one should be able to tell which one is the special education teacher and which is the regular classroom teacher. Co-teaching is a partnership of two teachers with different areas of expertise. Instead of just lending an extra pair of helping hands, the…

Throughout the pandemic, the Getting Smart team (which Tom Vander Ark leads as CEO) worked with public school districts in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas, as well as charter schools in six additional states to support hybrid, virtual, and return-to-school strategies and plans. During the year and a half that education systems spent in crisis…

Co-­teaching is the newest initiative to be implemented in school districts. Students with special needs can no longer be simply physically "included" in general education classes. These students need and deserve authentic opportunities to access and participate in the curriculum. To accomplish this goal, co-­teaching has been embraced.…

What's the difference between accommodations and modifications, and why does the distinction matter? In this article, professor Lee Ann Jung explains that accommodations "provide access to the general curriculum but do not fundamentally alter the learning goal or grade level standard." For instance, if the purpose of an assessment is to…

When Tom Kelner, a 7th grade social studies teacher, realized that under the Common Core standards he'd be responsible for strengthening students' reading, writing, and research skills in his social studies classes, first he panicked. Then he approached Dana Haring, an English language arts teacher on his 7th grade team, and asked if they could…