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Collaborating across boundaries.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The article describes the cooperative efforts by general educators and special educators from university and public school settings to implement collaborative teaching practices. The project examined the effects of general education/special education collaborative teaching of various stakeholders in a rural community of southeast Georgia.

Introduction

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments (1997) and the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) have placed increased focus on providing high quality learning opportunities to all learners within the general education setting. In order to meet these mandates it is necessary for general and special education teachers to work collaboratively in the school setting (Hutchinson & Martin, 1999; Maheady, Michielli-Pendl, Mallette & Harper, 2002). As schools began to implement general and special education collaborative teaching, it became apparent that teacher preparation programs had not prepared their teacher education candidates to work collaboratively (Fisher, Frey, & Thousand, 2003; Glatthorn, 1990). Past experiences with the use of collaborative models has taught us that there are certain preconditions that need to be met and specific skills that need to be developed. Among the most important preconditions are administrative support and time allotted for joint planning (Dettmer, Thurston & Dyck, 2001; Pugach & Johnson, 2002.). School administrators report that it is necessary to retool teachers on various skills such as additional subject content information, process skills and the dispositions necessary for effective collaborative teaching (Jobe, Rust & Brissie, 1996).

We know, however, that the skill set inferred in collaboration is developmental in nature and the best results occur when teachers are supported as they grow in their collaboration understandings, skills and dispositions (Cook, 2002; Friend & Cook, 1991). Recently the state of Georgia, recognizing the importance of equipping all candidates with the understandings, skills and dispositions necessary to teach all learners, offered grant funding to develop model programs that provide teacher candidates the opportunity to learn about and observe general education/special education collaborative teaching.

The Study

The purpose of the research project is to examine the effects of general education/special education collaborative teaching on various stakeholders in a rural community of Southeast Georgia. Specifically, four perspectives are being examined:

(1) the perceptions of collaborative teachers at the higher education and elementary public school teaching levels regarding the collaborative process; (2) the perceptions of pre-service teachers regarding the collaborative process; (3) the effects of elementary public school collaborative teaching on P-5 students; and (4) the perceptions of administrators regarding the collaborative teaching process. Participants involved include two university instructors (one elementary general education and one...

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