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Abstract

General and special education faculty modeling co-teaching practices in teacher preparation programs can promote collaboration among future K-12 teachers serving children with diverse needs. This article describes the experiences and perceptions of 59 university students enrolled in teacher preparation reading courses with sessions co-taught by general education and special education faculty members at a large, Hispanic serving public urban university in Southern California. The courses included lessons on co-planning, co-instructing, and co-assessing in reading jointly taught by the general education and special education professors; class readings and activities on collaboration and co-teaching; and the opportunity for university students to co-plan reading lessons for K-12 students. This mixed method study included pre- and post-student surveys on beliefs about collaboration and co-teaching, and students’ ratings and reflections on the professors’ co-taught sessions. Results showed that university students grew in their knowledge, confidence, and competence in collaboration and co-teaching. General and special education faculty experiences of the process are also shared.

Author Biography

Leila Ansari Ricci, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Division of Special Education and Counseling at California State University, Los Angeles. Joan Fingon. Ed.D., is a Professor in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction at California State University, Los Angeles.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

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