A comparison study on collaboration between regular and special education teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine the collaboration between regular and special education teachers in a South New Jersey School District. A secondary purpose of the study was to evaluate the current inclusion program in the district where an inclusion program was implemented approximately 5 years ago. A survey was distributed to approximately 50 teachers in this particular district. Thirty-two of the fifty teachers participating in an inclusion program completed the survey with 26 questions. Four categories were analyzed: Training/Preparation, Role of the Special Education Teacher, Role of the Regular Education Teacher and Improvements. The results indicated that the participants have a clear understanding of both the role of the regular and special education teacher. However, as noted by many teachers in the section of Training/Preparation 56% of respondents agreed that teachers would benefit from training in order to provide appropriate instructional strategies to teach diverse students in an inclusion program. Sixty-three percent of the respondents strongly agreed that the role of the special education teacher should include modifying the same lessons the regular education teacher presents to the class to meet the needs of the classified student. Overall, the participants appear to give many comments on inclusion such as more planning time, training and selection of students to improve the existing inclusion program