Co-teaching Partnerships for Excellence in the Age of Accountability: A Preliminary Study of the Effects of Co-teaching in Student Teaching

Accountability measures for educators have made districts reluctant to accept teacher candidates for clinical experience in a traditional take-over model. Difficulty placing teacher candidates prompted Richard Stockton College to research innovative student teaching models to strengthen clinical partnerships with P-12 districts. Studies of co-teaching in student teaching from St. Cloud State University showed a model that provided many benefits to the teacher candidate and cooperating teacher, as well as notable gains in student achievement. That research inspired this pilot study, whichidentified co-teaching strengths in professionalism, teaching time, student learning, and cooperating teacher growth, with implications for strengthening future research