Several strategies that demonstrate promise are available for educators to improve reading comprehension outcomes for students. However, some students, including students with and at risk for learning disabilities, require more intensive supports to develop proficiency in reading comprehension. To support these students, teachers must intensify…

U.S. schools are required to educate students in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The number of students with high incidence disabilities, including those with speech or language impairments (SLI), who spend most of their day in the general education classroom has increased in the last decade. Establishing classrooms that proactively…

The Project CALI (Content Area Literacy Instruction) instructional framework is designed to enhance reading comprehension for all students, those with disabilities as well as their typically developing peers, in inclusive co-taught middle school content-area classrooms. For students with and at-risk for disabilities, even well-designed,…

This unique special issue features five articles that provide guidance for middle school special education and general education content-area co-teachers on how to implement enhanced co-teaching models including specialized literacy instruction and best practices for co-teachers (e.g., co-planning; using station teaching to differentiate…

Being able to identify the main ideas within a complex multi-paragraph content-area text is an essential reading comprehension skill. It is especially important for content-area and special education co-teachers to provide explicit instruction in this skill to meet the needs of their students with learning disabilities who frequently struggle with…

In co-taught classes, general education and special education teachers can improve the content-area learning and literacy skills of students with learning disabilities by helping them read texts effectively. Co-teachers can improve comprehension by providing students with background and vocabulary knowledge before reading. In this article, a…

Co-teaching is the most popular model for supporting students with disabilities in the general education setting. However, the limited research that supports this framework as effective for increasing outcomes for students with disabilities may indicate co-teachers have difficulty providing students with specialized instruction to meet individual…

It is essential that middle school content-area and special education co-teachers adopt evidence-based literacy practices that they can integrate into their content-area instruction to address the needs of all of the students in their classes. This article provides co-teachers with four planning tips to improve implementation of the practices they…

One-teach/one-assist and one-teach/one-observe are the two most widely used co-teaching models. Special educators often take on the support role when these models are used. At times, co-teachers in the support role may be unclear about how to implement active instructional practices that engage students and improve student outcomes. In this…

Co-planning is considered an integral part of a successful co-teaching relationship in which both teachers have parity and use their individual expertise to benefit all students. However, the literature has not discussed adequately how co-planning is achieved within the parameters of the already full schedules of two teachers. This column shares…

Despite the popularity of co-teaching and widespread professional literature describing exemplary co-teaching practices, this instructional approach has yet to realize its potential. One way to increase the effectiveness of co-teaching is for special educators to contribute meaningfully by assuming the role of strategy leader in the co-taught…

A large percentage of students with disabilities are being educated in the general education environment for a majority of the academic day. Many educators have chosen co-teaching as the most appropriate method of educational service delivery to meet the needs of this population of students. To ensure the success of this delivery method,…

As a service delivery option for students with disabilities, coteaching continues to gain popularity. Successful coteaching largely rests upon the compatibility of coteachers. Sometimes conflict may occur when two teachers with different backgrounds and views work closely together. This article focuses on why conflict is inevitable in cotaught…

Current research and practice indicate that some children with disabilities learn best in inclusive classrooms. Bringing together children with diverse abilities and typically achieving students often brings with it the need for general and special education teachers to collaborate. All too often, special education teachers and general education…

Literature circles or book clubs are small, heterogeneous groups of students who have chosen to read and discuss the same book together. The research on literature circles suggests that they hold great promise for increasing students' enjoyment of reading and honing their literacy skills. When evidence-based strategies are embedded into a…