A descriptive analysis of the impact of co-teaching on the Reading/Language Arts and Math achievement of selected middle school students in a Middle Tennessee school district
Abstract
This research examined the impact of collaborative teaching (co-teaching) on the Reading/Language Arts and Math achievement of Middle Tennessee students in grades 5-8, as measured by the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement test. Within the context of this study, the co-teaching model of instruction is defined as the special and general educator, referred to as co-teachers, sharing equitably the tasks of the lesson planning, implementation, and assessment. Six schools participated in this study. Three of the schools implemented co-teaching practices at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year. The remaining three schools did not implement co-teaching practices at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year. The dependent variables were students’ Reading/Language Arts and Math TCAP Achievement test scores over a two year period. The independent variables were gender, ethnicity, disability categories, type of classroom (one with co-teaching practices and one without co-teaching practices), and type of student (student with a disability or student without a disability). The statistical test used in this study was a paired samples t-test. Results from this study indicated an increase in Math achievement for students with disabilities instructed in classrooms with co-teaching practices and a decrease in Reading/Language Arts achievement for students without disabilities instructed in classrooms with co-teaching practices. No other conditions produced significant increases in this study. The implications that have come forth through the findings of this study is the importance of implementing co-teaching practices successfully and with fidelity. When co-teaching is implemented successfully and with fidelity, evidence of three conditions are observed. The first condition is adequate training for school staff in the areas of including students with disabilities and co-teaching. The second condition involves frequent opportunities for co-teaching partners to collaboratively plan lessons and discuss student needs. The last condition requires co-teaching partners to use a variety of co-teaching approaches (i.e., one teach/one assist, station teaching, parallel teaching, alternative teaching and team teaching) to address student needs. This findings of this study indicate that the most significant increases in academic achievement occurred only when the co-teachers attended training, collaboratively planned on a frequent basis, and used a variety of co-teaching approaches.
Subject Area
Language arts|Mathematics education|Middle School education|Special education|Literacy|Reading instruction|Curriculum development
Recommended Citation
Barbara Michelle Maultsby-Springer,
"A descriptive analysis of the impact of co-teaching on the Reading/Language Arts and Math achievement of selected middle school students in a Middle Tennessee school district"
(2009).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3408564.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3408564