Inclusion of students at all levels is a challenge. The acceptance of this challenge, however, has been mandated by the No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. Co-teaching is one among the service delivery models of inclusion implemented in the general education classroom (Rea & Connell, 2005; Weiss & Lloyd, 2002). This study compared the achievement of general education students in general education classes to the achievement of general education students in co-teach classes to determine if there is a significant difference in the achievement of general education students because of participation in a co-teach classroom instructional arrangement. The population of this quantitative study consisted of secondary general education students from a large suburban school district in Texas conducting science and social studies courses in both co-teach and non-co-teach classrooms. The t-test for the two independent samples was used to determine the statistical difference between the mean Science scores and the mean social studies scores of the treatment group and the comparison group on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in science and social studies. An alpha level of .05 was used as the standard of significance on all tests. Two-way ANOVA was used to determine student achievement differences in treatment and/or comparison groups by gender, ethnicity, English language learner status, and socioeconomic status. Post-hoc analysis of the impact of ethnicity was also undertaken. Results indicate that general education students performed at higher levels in regular Science classes than in co-teach science classes. Results also concluded that general education students performed at higher levels in regular social studies classes than in co-teach social studies classes. Significant student achievement variations were also found to be correlated with each of the other variables considered. Recommendations for further research and stakeholders were provided.

Rationale for this research was based on recent legislative requirements that all teachers must meet the No Child Left Behind of 2001 and Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act of 2004 highly qualified requirements by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which state Department of Education officials representing the 50 states addressed the issue of NCLB of 2001 highly qualified personnel provisions for secondary special education co-teachers. Information for this study was represented by online documents that were retrieved from DOE websites across the United States. Findings suggested that information provided in online documents from state DOE websites that represented the 50 states included a variety of options for special education co-teachers who were required to demonstrate core subject provisions. This study presented five themes regarding the definitions of special education co-teachers. Results in this study showed that depending upon the theme of co-teaching definition cited in online documents a range of six highly qualified options were provided. The information in this study was intended to describe current state policies and aid researchers in the review of the status of secondary special education co-teachers, analysis of current policies, and development on new policies.

Co-teaching has been, and continues to be, a growing trend in American schools since the late 1990s. As the popularity of this service delivery model increases, there is an imperative need for empirical research focusing on how co-teaching affects academic outcomes of students who receive special education services. Evidence regarding the academic outcomes of co-teaching is limited, and reports mixed results. The purpose of this study is to provide a synthesis of research examining academic outcomes of co-teaching on students who receive special education services. Quantitative information from each research report was coded, an overall effect size was computed, and a moderator analysis was conducted. Results suggest a significant effect (g = .281, k = 32, p < .05) of co-teaching on the academic outcomes of students with disabilities when compared to students with disabilities who did not receive instruction in co-taught settings; though a larger effect was found among dissertation reports (g = .439, k = 25, p < .001). Additionally, a significant effect was found when examining the academic outcomes of students in co-teaching compared to the academic outcomes of students in a resource classroom setting (g = .435, k = 27, p < .001. Lastly, effects were stronger the longer these students were in co-teaching environments. Implications of findings and recommendations for further research are discussed.