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Co-teaching is a foundational mentoring model used in teacher residency programs in urban classrooms throughout the United States of America. Beyond the basic understanding of co-teaching in categorizing classroom models, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate the dialectical tensions manifested in mentored co-teaching activities through the lens of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT).

Designed as a qualitative case study of 17 pairs of teaching-residents and mentor-teachers, the authors used thematic analysis to scrutinize archival interview data in an urban teacher residency program located in the largest megalopolis of the USA Northeast. The authors used CHAT-based concept coding to analyze the interview narratives from participants across different secondary school placements as they reflected on their co-teaching philosophy and the relationships they built.

The authors found that for teaching-residents and mentor-teachers to co-develop as co-teachers, they jointly must learn to resolve the dialectical tensions of unbalanced classroom ownership vs added co-working responsibilities, breaking from routine so that a partnership can grow. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the prefix co- should be understood as (1) shifts in thinking that transcend the status quo and (2) the orchestration of human capital to change norms.

This new understanding of the prefix co- allows teacher education programs to better mediate the dialectical tensions experienced by co-teachers in a mentored co-teaching activity, from individual teacher learning (e.g. a pair/dyad comprising one teaching-resident and one mentor-teacher) to collective co-learning across activity systems (e.g. partnership-based teacher education).

Thirty-two qualitative research reports on co-teaching in inclusive classrooms, identified through a comprehensive literature search, are reviewed. Studies have included significant diversity in grade level, geographical location, setting, and took place in three different countries. Overall, teachers and administrators reported a high degree of satisfaction with co-teaching. However, a number of needs were also addressed, including administrative support, appropriate caseloads, planning time, student skill level, and co-teacher compatibility. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

A growing body of research has pointed to the potential benefits of a co-teaching clinical residency model in preservice education. Preservice co-teaching research has focused primarily on conditions necessary for effective co-teaching to occur, factors that inhibit successful co-teaching implementation, and teacher candidate development. Researchers have called for further exploration into potential benefits of preservice co-teaching models for the mentor teacher. In this study, the authors explored ways in which mentor teachers who participated in a co-teaching pre-service program experienced professional growth.

In order to gain insights into the perspectives of mentor teachers and ways in which they experienced professional growth through their experiences in the co-teaching program, the authors used a qualitative, descriptive approach. The authors’ primary data source included interviews conducted with 42 mentor teachers from five content-areas. Researcher communication and interactions with co-teachers over time, along with artifacts including field notes, co-teacher reflections on practice, and program documents, served as peripheral data sources.

Results indicated that co-teachers experienced meaningful professional growth in areas represented by the following themes: (1) critical reflection, (2) pedagogical renewal, (3) in situ feedback and refining practice and (4) application of learning to leadership roles.

This study, which is one of only a few studies focusing explicitly on mentor co-teacher professional growth, provided new insights into learning opportunities afforded to mentor teachers through a participation in a blended model of co-teaching and communities of practice.

This chapter reports on the results from several extended qualitative investigations of co-teaching in science and social studies content area classes, on both elementary and secondary levels. In these investigations, co-teaching partners were studied and interviewed over several years, with the view of uncovering attitudes and procedures closely associated with successful collaborative partnerships. In some cases, these investigations took place in the context of implementation of research-based instructional strategies. Analysis of data from these investigations revealed that there was considerable variability in the way co-teaching practices were implemented, the attitudes toward co-teaching expressed by teachers, and the success of the co-teaching partnerships. It was thought that several variables, including content expertise, concerns for high-stakes testing, and the personal compatibility of co-teachers played an important role in the success of the co-teaching relationship.

This chapter considers teacher learning in inclusive co-teaching contexts, specifically the moral dimensions embedded within it. The chapter draws data from a study focusing on teachers’ perceptions of their learning during co-teaching in inclusive classrooms, and salient moral features embedded in co-teaching situations. Data from joint stimulated recall interviews conducted with three co-teacher pairs illuminate that teachers perceived both possibilities and challenges in key learning situations during co-teaching in inclusive classrooms. In these situations, it is possible for teachers to articulate and extract their guiding beliefs toward salient moral aspects in inclusive teaching in order to extend their understanding and revise their inclusive teaching practices. This chapter suggests that co-teaching is a promising practice for promoting inclusive classroom communities where teachers and students can learn together.

This naturalistic observation study sought to identify the activities undertaken by the special education co-teacher in co-taught high school content subject classes in urban, rural, and suburban high schools, and to understand the contributions of the special education teacher, the value-added, to the educational experiences of the students in the class. The work focused on what is accomplished when ordinary special education teachers go about doing their assigned co-teaching jobs. We found that, as a group and across subject areas, special education co-teachers spent more time in contact with students than not, and most of their contact time helping individual students or small groups of students through an assigned task. There were substantial differences in the distribution of co-teacher activities across subject areas.

We have witnessed, over the past century, an evolution in the manner in which students with disabilities are educated. Indeed, the quality of education students with special needs receive, in many ways, may be more aptly termed a revolution – from a legal and pedagogical perspective. The tremendous strides special education has made during this period of time has resulted in the current situation in which students with special needs are placed in the least restrictive environment, which often is an inclusive classroom in which general education and special education teachers work together in a collaborative, co-teaching environment. This chapter traces the events, legislation, and court cases that provide the historical context for this situation. In addition, models and essential components of co-teaching are examined, as well as the roles and requisite skills of general education and special education co-teachers. Of critical importance, in the success of co-teaching, is the need for special education and general education teachers to approach the curriculum planning and instructional processes in a collaborative and cooperative manner in order to achieve optimum results from the resulting co-teaching partnership. Finally, the assessment of special education and general education co-teaching efficacy is discussed, specifically through the use of three assessment rubrics used to evaluate co-teaching, co-planning, and co-assessment.

This action research explored the use of structured writing formats including writing frames and writing guides to improve high school student historical writing.

Collected data involved the result of a pre-test and post-test comparing writing scores of students before and after the intervention, students' survey and co-teacher's interview.

The findings indicated that the intervention of writing frames and writing guides had a positive effect on student writing performances. Discussions and implications for further studies were also included.

The findings informed the teacher that general writing skills could be applied across the curriculum.

Co-teaching is a prevalent and productive coaching activity that coaches can leverage when working with teachers to support teaching and learning. However, there is insufficient research detailing how coaches can and should implement this coaching activity with teachers. Hence, the purpose of this qualitative interview study is to better understand the challenges that make co-teaching coaching cycles difficult for coaches to enact with in-service teachers, as well as the supports that can enhance the co-teaching experience for all involved parties.

Fourteen semi-structured interviews were completed with one instructional coach and three elementary teachers in one school district in the USA. A combination of emergent as well as literature-driven codes was used to code the data.

Overall, the participants pointed to six barriers they encountered when engaging in episodes of co-teaching, which spanned the broad categories of management and logistics, pedagogical dilemmas, and teacher learning. Furthermore, participants identified seven supports, spanning the broad categories of coach preparation, contextual factors, and management and logistics, that enabled them to productively engage in co-teaching.

Although coaches may frequently engage teachers in coaching cycles involving co-teaching, there is a lack of research-based guidance for coaches about how to engage teachers most productively in co-teaching episodes. The findings from this study, which shed light on the challenges and support of co-teaching from one coach and three teachers, will enable coaches to more effectively co-teach with teachers as a form of high-quality professional development.

The purpose of this study is to understand how to develop closer partnership ties among university education faculty and local high school teachers. This study consisted of a university-based teacher education faculty and a high school social studies teacher co-teaching controversial topics using interactive student-centered approaches at a high school in the southeastern United States.

A qualitative design included data sources from lesson plans, student assignments and the co-teacher’s reflection process. The theoretical frame integrates reflective practice, culturally relevant teaching and Zeichner’s hybrid space.

The findings of this research identified best practices for an effective co-teaching partnership between university-based teacher education faculty and social studies high school teachers.

The significance and practical implications are to develop partnerships to promote effective teaching.