Research+Paper

** The Impact of Co-Teaching in the Secondary Mathematics Classroom ** ** Department of Teacher Education ** ** Shippensburg University ** ** Samantha J. Mowery ** ** May 02, 2012 ** ** In Partial Fulfillment of TCH 501 – Effective Teaching: Theory and Practice ** ** Dr. Han Liu **
 * Is Two Better than One? **

** Problem Statement ** Co-teaching is a merging of general and special education instruction in order to meet the needs of a diverse group of students. Over the past decade, co-teaching has become a popular method of teaching in an inclusive environment. Studies have been done to determine the effectiveness of co-teaching on various aspect of the educational process. The purpose of this research proposal is to determine what effect co-teaching has on the academic achievement of both students with and without disabilities in a secondary mathematics setting. ** Hypothesis ** Students who are taught Algebra I in a co-teaching environment will have a higher increase, over the course of a year, in their in standardized test scores than students who are taught Algebra I in a solo-teaching environment. ** Literature Review ** Co-teaching exists when two professionals co-plan, co-instruct and co-assess a diverse group of students (Murawski, 2008). Co-teaching is a merging of general and special education instruction that forms a unified delivery system for meeting the needs of students of varying abilities (Will, 1986). It requires a restructuring of teaching procedures where two or more educators possessing distinct sets of skills work in a co-active and coordinated fashion to jointly teach academically and behaviorally heterogeneous groups of students in integrated educational setting (Walther-Thomas, 1997). In a co-teaching model students with disabilities and their special education teacher are integrated into general education classes (Magiera, Smith, Zigmond & Gebauer, 2005); a special educator’s role in a co-taught class is not to become the content area specialist but to teach processes that help students with disabilities understand concepts (Magiera et al., 2005)
 * Intro to Co-teaching **

Research has shown that certain problems do exist with implementing the co-teaching model in the modern classroom. According to Dieker & Murawski “Planning time is the number one issue for many educators related to co-teaching” (2003, p. 3). In addition to co-planning time, initial training is necessary to implement the co-teaching model and benefit students (Magiera & Zigmond, 2005). Due to educational constraints, “finding scheduled time for co-teachers to plan together during school hours is a serious problem for many schools” (Walther-Thomas, 1997, p. 402). Other problems with co-teaching include: Many special educators working within content areas have limited credits in core curricular areas thus having limited content specific curricular knowledge (Dieker & Murawski, 2003) and Students with disabilities experienced difficulty adjusting to the higher expectations of their mainstream classroom (Walther-Thomas, 1997). “Co-teaching partners share responsibility for direct instruction, curriculum development and/or modification, guided practice, re-teaching and enrichments activities, progress, monitoring, communication with families and student evaluation” (Walther-Thomas, 1997, p. 396). Administrators need to reinforce that both teachers are equally responsible for the co-taught class and must therefore be present and consistently engaged (Murawski, 2008). According to research, “ensuring that co-teachers have a regular time to co-plan, co-assess student work, and progress through the stages of storming, forming and norming is a huge asset in ensuring student success” (Dieker & Murawski, 2003, p. 9); “Teachers need time to discuss the curricular goals and the individual needs of students with disabilities” (Magiera et al., 2005). Classrooms should be limited to having no more than 30 percent of the class with special needs (Murawski, 2008). In a co-taught classroom smaller group instruction should become the norm and teachers should design instruction to meet the needs of students, as stated in their individualized education program (IEP) (Magiera et al., 2005). Finally, assisting students without disabilities before checking the progress of students with disabilities helps to keep students with disabilities from feeling “singled out” by their teachers (Walther-Thomas, 1997). Full-time mainstream inclusion is long overdue and students will benefit from these experiences academically and socially (Walther-Thomas, 1997). Research has found, “significant positive student academic gains for students with disabilities in co-taught classes under idealized conditions” (Magiera & Zigmond, 2005). When both teachers involved in the co-teaching classroom uphold the co-teaching process, a climate is established whereby differences are considered an asset and many exciting instructional practices emerge (Salend & Garrick-Duhaney, 2002). Students with disabilities learned appropriate classroom behaviors from their peers and performed more appropriately in mainstream settings than they did in special education classrooms (Walther-Thomas, 1997, p. 399). Also, inclusive programs (such as co-teaching) helped improve special education students’ feelings of self-esteem and self-confidence; the students were also more active in classroom and extracurricular activities (Walther-Thomas, 1997). Effective co-teachers in classrooms can make learning for all students, including students with disabilities, a dynamic process. By blending the content skills of the content specific teacher and the strategy skills of the special education teacher, students with a variety of abilities can become more fully engaged in acquiring knowledge (Magiera et al., 2005, p.24). Low achieving students without disabilities did better in co taught classrooms than they did in more traditional settings (Walther-Thomas, 1997). ** Research Design ** The research will be done through a completely randomized experimental design. Quantitative data will be collected.
 * Problems with Co-teaching **
 * Effective Co-teaching Strategies **
 * Successes of Co-Teaching **

** Participants ** The participants are all students enrolled in Algebra I for the 2012-2013 school year at a given high school. ** Intervention and Procedure ** At the beginning of the school year all enrolled Algebra I students will be randomly assigned to either a co-taught or solo-taught Algebra I class. The students who are assigned to the solo-taught class will be considered the control group while the students who are assigned the co-taught class will be considered the treatment group. The treatment or independent variable is the co-taught instruction.

** Data Collection ** One the 1st day of class, each subject (student) will take a pre-test and the score will be recorded. On the last day of class, each subject will take a standardized final and the score will be recorded. The researcher will then find the difference (Final – Pre) in each subject’s scores.

** Data Analysis ** The researcher will calculate the mean and standard deviation of differences for each group. He or she will then conduct a 2-sample t-test to determine if there is a significant increase in scores for those students in the co-taught classroom.

** Results Prediction ** Based on previous research and the hypothesis statement, it is the researcher’s opinion that there will be a significant increase in scores for those students in the co-taught classroom.

** References ** Dieker, L. A., & Murawski, W. W. (2003). Co-teaching at the secondary level: unique issues, current trends, and suggestions for success. //The High School Journal//. 86(4) 1-13. Magiera, K., Smith, C., Zigmond, N., & Gebauer, K. (2005). Benefits of co-teaching secondary mathematics classes. //Teaching Exceptional Children.// 37(3), 20-24. Magiera, K., & Zigmond, N. (2005) Co-teaching in middle school classrooms under routine conditions: does the instructional experience differ for students with disabilities in co-taught and solo-taught classes? //Learning Disabilities Research and Practice.// 20(2), 79-85. Murawski, W. W. (2008). Five keys to co-teaching in inclusive classrooms. //The School Administrator.// 65(8). Retrieved from [] Salend, S.J., & Garrick-Duhaney, L. M. (2002) Grading students in inclusive settings. //Teaching Exceptional Children.// 34(3), 8-15. Walther-Thomas, C. S. (1997). Co-teaching experiences: the benefits and problems that teachers and principals report over time. //Journal of Learning Disabilities.// 30(4), 395-407. Will, M. C. (1986). Educating children with learning problems: a shared responsibility. //Exceptional Children,// 52, 411-416.

Mowery Research Proposal