Special and regular education teachers' perceptions of effective coteaching experiences for children with disabilities

The purpose of this study was to determine coteachers' perceptions of effective coteaching experiences. The questions that guided this study were: What are teachers' perceptions of effective coteaching experiences? What instructional practices do teachers in a coteaching setting perceive as having a positive impact on student achievement? What do teachers perceive that principals need to know and do to facilitate coteaching experiences? In this qualitative study, a total of 15 coteachers were interviewed regarding their perceptions of effective coteaching experiences, instructional strategies that may impact achievement for students with disabilities, and the role of the principal in facilitating effective coteaching experiences. Erickson's inductive analysis method was utilized to analyze data. The participants in this study view opportunities for common planning, sharing coteaching responsibilities, receiving initial and ongoing coteaching training, effective matching ofteacher characteristics, and effective matching ofteacher content knowledge as the five components that facilitate effective coteaching experiences. Additionally, the participants assert that a strong understanding ofand implementation ofthe students' Individualized Education Plan (IEP), utilizing mixed ability grouping, accommodating various learning styles, and integrating technology are four instructional practices that may impact student achievement for students with disabilities in a coteaching setting. Finally, the participants in this study suggest that providing effective initial and ongoing coteaching training, providing common planning time for coteachers, being visible and accessible to students and teachers, informing teachers of coteaching assignments in advance of the school year, and effectively matching teacher characteristics are five specific characteristics of principals that facilitate effective coteaching experiences. This study may inform the practice of principals, staff development coordinators, and members of higher education, but especially that ofthe school principal. Department of Leadership, Foundations, and Policy Curry School of Education University ofVirginia Charlottesville, Virginia APPROVAL OF THE DISSERTATION This dissertation, Special and Regular Education Teachers' Perceptions of Effective Co-teaching Experiences for Children with Disabilities, has been approved by the Graduate Faculty of the Curry School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Doctor of Education.

Note: Abstract extracted from PDF file via OCR.

Digitization of this thesis was made possible by a generous grant from the Jefferson Trust, 2015.

Thesis originally deposited on 2016-03-14 in version 1.28 of Libra. This thesis was migrated to Libra2 on 2017-03-23 16:35:35.