This paper describes co-teaching as a collaborative, equal relationship between a regular classroom teacher and a special educator which allows for meeting the needs of a greater number of students with disabilities within a single regular classroom program. The co-teaching relationship is thought to develop through a series of three stages: (1)…

The author defines mainstreaming and discusses how business education teachers and special needs instructors can work as a team on instructional and materials adaptation to meet the special needs of students. (CH)

This article describes four ways experienced co-teachers, especially regular and special educators, can maintain mature co-teaching relationships. Celebrating accomplishments, re-evaluating team goals, sustaining equitable practices, and maintaining continuous improvement are suggested as specific strategies for keeping the co-teaching…

This article provides guidelines and strategies that can be employed to examine the experiences and perceptions of cooperative teaching teams, to validate successful collaborative practices, and to identify practices in need of revision. It discusses interviews and surveys, use of best practices checklists, conducting teaching observations, and…

This paper describes an approach to transitioning 106 junior high special education students into mainstream settings by drawing regular education teachers into special education settings for regular instruction sessions prior to full mainstreaming. Following a 3-5 week period of instructional visits by regular teachers to special education…

This study explored the reliability of the Co-Teacher Rating Scale (CRS), completed by 10 teacher co-teams working to support the inclusion of young children with disabilities in early childhood programs. Results suggest that the CRS, when completed by external raters, is useful for summative evaluation, but co-teacher self-ratings are…

A study examined co-teaching in secondary classrooms by interviewing and observing six secondary special educators in co-taught and special education classrooms. The educators took on various roles when co-teaching and in three of the four roles they assumed, they participated in some aspect of instruction to the general education class. (Contains…

Provides suggestions for teaching library skills to mainstreamed special education students for each of the four components of the instructional model: (1) determining skill level; (2) setting objectives; (3) instructing with modification (methods, materials, and motivation); and (4) monitoring progress. (seven references) (MES)

Explains the concept of coteaching in the mainstream, which involves a special education and a regular education teacher teaming in the classroom. The article notes coteaching creates a dynamic, high-energy classroom situation that promotes increased learning for students and teachers. Two teachers discuss their experiences with teaming. (SM)

Using a teaching case based on an actual experience of a first-year resource teacher, this article explores several issues related to the effective and efficient implementation of collaborative models. It examines forms of collaboration; skills, qualities, and competencies needed; barriers and facilitators; and potential benefits. (JDD)

Discussions with exemplary Colorado general and special education coteachers led to development of three metaphors for the coteaching process: (1) yin and yang (the uniqueness and unity of the two teachers); (2) the dance (the rhythm, fluidity, and automaticity of effective collaboration); and (3) the particle and the stream (the thriving of…

General educators offer their perspective on inclusion of students with disabilities. They point out the advantages of ongoing collaboration among regular and special educators, paraprofessionals, and specialists. They note that general education classes are already highly diverse but the single teacher lacks the advantages of collaborative…

Discusses problems with the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education and characteristics of successful inclusion programs, including real collaboration between special-education and general-education teachers, involvement of parents in the education of their children, and considering inclusion to be a process, not an event. (CR)

The Individual Student Planning Team Process is presented as a method for planning effective educational programs for all students in inclusive classrooms. The process involves identifying student educational strengths and needs, determining which needs can be met through general education activities, supporting individual student programs in…

In this interview, Dr. Marilyn Friend discusses why collaboration is important in schools, what it takes to make collaboration work effectively in schools, what teachers need to learn about working with others, the biggest challenges that collaborators face, how school leaders can facilitate collaboration, and resources on teacher collaboration.…