And Then There Was Two: How to Maximize Collaborative Teaching To Achieve Results For All Students

Dr. Asya Johnson • Cahn Fellow 2021

Collaborative teaching (co-teaching) is a practice in which a general education teacher and special education teacher collaboratively teach students with and without disabilities. The practice of co-teaching has led to effective instruction for students with disabilities. The problem identified at Longwood Preparatory Academy’s practice is the lack of effective co-teaching practices has led to a low number of students with disabilities graduating within four years. During the 2021-2022 school year, we explored how teachers could use data to make decisions about the co-teaching model they used during instruction. Through our partnership with Blue Engine, we optimized co-taught instruction and increased the number of students with disabilities who graduate within four years by 5%.  

Targeted professional development and coaching provided to a specific cohort of teachers yielded positive results in three co-taught classes. The targeted group of co-teachers engaged in monthly communities of practices, inter-visitations and data driven lesson delivery in their co-taught classes. Co-teachers received co-planning support and in-class coaching about not only what co-teaching model to implement, but what instruction strategy should be used while co-teaching. Increasing teacher professional development in specific co-teaching models, co-planning and examining student data revealed that when co-teachers pre-selected a co-teaching model using data, student achievement increased.