The Benefits of Two CoTeaching Models Team Teaching

The Benefits of Two Co-Teaching Models: Team Teaching & One Teach-One Assist Janet Downing Monmouth University Background • What is co-teaching? – Co-teaching is used to place students with disabilities in general education environment to provide them with equal access as their typically developing peers (Montgomery & Akerson, 2019 • Laws related to co-teaching – Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA), and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) require students with disabilities to be educated in a least restrictive environment (LRE). – Co-teaching is used to make a general education environment an LRE for students with disabilities. • Models of co-teaching – There are six models of co-teaching but the two discussed in the literature review are team teaching and one teach-one assist. – Team teaching= two teachers share the responsibility of planning, teaching, and assessing the students equally (Killingsworth & Xue, 2015). – One teach-one assist= One teacher lead the instruction while the other teacher circulates and helps students individually as the lesson is going on (Friend, 2015). Purpose • The purpose of this literature review was to look at two specific models of co-teaching and determine if there are benefits for students with disabilities in an inclusive general education environment. Findings: Benefits of Co-Teaching • Additional Support for Students – Co-teaching allows for the teachers to provide assistance to students as questions and problems arise – Teachers can redirect students with disabilities who get easily distracted without interrupting the lesson for the rest of the class – Student-to-teacher ratio is cut in half, allowing for increased attention from the teachers (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 2017) Methods • • Limitations • • Targeted Instruction – Teachers can design the instruction with research-based practices to help students with disabilities understand the material better (Cook & Mc. Duffie- Landrum, 2019). – Allows teachers to deliver the accommodation for diverse learners within their classroom to target their specific needs (Stobaugh & Everson, 2019) – Co-teachers can combine their different backgrounds and skill sets to help meet the needs of all the students in their class. • A big limitation of this study was the lack of research on the long term gains that students get from being in a co-taught classroom. There is not a lot of research on the benefits of a specific co-teaching model, but rather co-teaching in general. Discussion • • Increased Academic Performance – Stobaugh & Everson (2019) said that students in co-taught classrooms outperformed students in traditional classrooms – Two qualified teachers can combine their skill sets to help teach the content and increase performance – Co-assessment allows for individualized assessment for the teacher to monitor progress in a manner than the student can understand Literature reviewed came from peerreviewed journal articles that were released within the past ten years. Key Terms: co-teaching, team teaching, one teach-one assist, students with disabilities, special education, general education • • Over 200, 000 students were classified as needing special education services in New Jersey (NJDOE, 2019), therefore, co-teaching is a strategy to immerse students into general education environments. The three main benefits found across research were additional supports for students, targeted instruction, and increased academic performance. Collaboration between the two teachers is vital for successful coteaching partnership. Implications • The next steps for the research in this review is to conduct more quantitative research to see if students benefit more academically from teaching or one teach- one assist.