ERIC Number: EJ1379430
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1539-9664
EISSN: EISSN-1539-9672
Are Two Teachers Better than One? The Effect of Co-Teaching on Students with and without Disabilities
Jones, Nathan; Winters, Marcus A.
Education Next, v23 n1 p54-59 Win 2023
Special education law has mandated that students with disabilities be served in the "least restrictive environment" possible. This often takes the form of an inclusive classroom, or a general education classroom where students with disabilities learn alongside their non-disabled peers. In some cases, inclusive classrooms are co-taught by a general education teacher and a special education teacher who share planning and instructional responsibilities. The logic behind co-teaching is intuitively appealing. Co-teaching reduces the student-teacher ratio, and the presence of two educators, each with distinctive expertise, should make it easier to connect students at a range of abilities to grade-level content. In this article, the authors examine a decade of test scores for students in Massachusetts, where co-teaching has experienced rapid growth, and find positive effects on academic achievement for students with and without disabilities in the years they are enrolled in co-taught classes.
Descriptors: Special Education, Students with Disabilities, Team Teaching, Instructional Effectiveness, Inclusion, Special Education Teachers, Regular and Special Education Relationship, Scores, Academic Achievement, Control Groups, Achievement Gains
Education Next Institute, Inc. Harvard Kennedy School, Taubman 310, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; Fax: 617-496–4428; e-mail: Education_Next@hks.harvard.edu; Web site: https://www.educationnext.org/the-journal/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A