Implementation of Co-Teaching to Benefit Students with Unique Needs

Throughout this project, the research question analyzed is: How can educators learn to implement co-teaching to benefit students with unique needs in the general education classroom? The review of literature contains various co-teaching matters including the history and rationale for co-teaching, the effects of co-teaching on both students and educators, and various implementation strategies. Co-teaching is very powerful and can increase proficiency levels in a variety of subjects for students with unique learning needs. Research shows that co-teaching encourages a sense of belonging and community in the general education classroom. This teaching strategy is unlike any other because it allows two educators to share students, expertise, and responsibilities which leads to higher morale among educators. The final product created is a series of professional development sessions where information regarding co-teaching and implementation strategies are given to a large group of educators in an elementary school setting. Educators have the opportunity to analyze the six co-teaching strategies created by Cook and Friend (1995). The goal of these professional development sessions is to share the benefits of co-teaching for all students in a general education classroom and to encourage educators to participate in the co-teaching strategy with a specialist of their choice