The purpose of this paper is to share the results of multiphase initiatives funded by four separate grants. The projects were designed to improve and enhance collaborative teaching at the secondary level. Each project provided opportunities for increased collaboration between special education faculty, secondary education faculty, and…

One of the foremost challenges for K-12 teachers is to provide relevant learning experiences in an environment of increasing accountability and student diversity. This balance is particularly consequential for students with disabilities who rely on special and general education teachers to ensure access to and success within the general…

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…

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…

Co-teaching and team teaching represent collaborative opportunities that can counteract the historic isolation of special education teachers. They also have the potential for supporting novice teacher socialization in the school setting. More knowledge is needed to realize the benefit of these approaches in the context of induction. This Brief…

Any given year, general and special education teachers may find themselves managing and supervising one or more paraprofessionals within their classrooms. Paraprofessionals represent a growing and important segment of personnel used to provide support for students with severe learning or behavioral needs in self-contained and inclusive settings.…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have influenced an increase in the numbers of students who receive special education services in general education classrooms. The (IDEA) emphasizes the general education setting as the initial and natural setting for all students to be educated in the…

Adolescents with learning disabilities are not educated in a vacuum. Successful programming for these students involves many school professionals working together to integrate their programs for the benefit of students with learning disabilities. Collaborative teaming probably can best be described as an attitude rather than a certain way of…

This paper describes the use of special "Intervention Teachers" to address the needs of severely learning disabled (LD) high school students in a Chicago Public High School. In this approach the Intervention Teacher, a trained LD teacher, consults with, helps, and observes the regular teacher's instructional plans and implementation.…

Adolescents with learning disabilities are not educated in a vacuum. Successful programming for these students involves many school professionals working together to integrate their programs for the benefit of students with learning disabilities. Collaborative teaming probably can best be described as an attitude rather than a certain way of…

Provides an overview of cooperative teaching, in which a general educator and a special services provider teach together simultaneously in a general education classroom composed of academically heterogeneous students. It identifies problems sometimes experienced and offers practical suggestions for enhancing this method's effectiveness. (Author/DB)