Studiens syfte var att få en inblick i bakomliggande faktorer till hur skolor i Sverige organiserar sin matematikundervisning. Vad och vem som påverkar vilken organisationsform som väljs, vilka föroch nackdelar rektor och speciallärare med specialisering mot matematikutveckling ser med den valda organisationen samt vilken roll speciallärare med specialisering mot matematikutveckling har i vald organisationsform. En enkät mailades till ansvariga på 1027 högstadieskolor med årskurs 7 - 9, kommunala skolor och friskolor i hela Sverige. Enkäten, som 214 respondenter svarade på, försåg oss med både kvantitativ och kvalitativ empiri vilken gav oss bakgrundsinformation till skolornas val av organisationsform i matematikundervisningen. Genom enkäten fick vi även kontaktuppgifter till 82 rektorer och på 32 av dessa skolor fanns även en speciallärare med inriktning mot matematikutveckling. De 8 rektorer som kontaktades gav oss en djupare inblick i studiens frågeställningar, även 5 speciallärare med specialisering mot matematikutveckling bidrog med kvalitativ empiri till studien. Studien visar att av de 214 skolor som svarat på enkäten har cirka 50 % helklassundervisning, knappt 20 % tvålärarskap, knappt 20 % parallellagd undervisning och drygt 10 % annan organisationsform av matematikundervisningen. Ett tydligt mönster som syntes var att oavsett vilken organisationsform skolorna angett satsar de extra resurser på att det ska finnas fler vuxna i matematikklassrummet, det kan vara ämneslärare, resursperson, speciallärare eller specialpedagog. Det förekommer även att elever delvis arbetar med matematik i liten grupp med ämneslärare eller speciallärare. Några skolor anger att de ger eleverna mer tid för matematik, det kan vara genom utökad timplan, matematik på elevens val eller matematiktillfälle utanför ordinarie skoldag. Alla insatserna har som mål att eleverna skall bli behöriga att söka till gymnasiet. / The purpose of the study was to get an insight in the factors behind how schools in Sweden are organising the teaching of mathematics. What and whom has made the overall decisions, and the advantages and disadvantages with the selected organisation in the perspective of the principal and the special needs coordinator and what part the special needs coordinator is playing in the selected organisation in teaching mathematics. A survey was emailed to the principal of 1027 secondary schools, both compulsory mainstream schools and independent schools in the whole of Sweden. Our survey gave us both quantitative and qualitative empirics regarding the reasons behind the selected form of organisation within mathematics and contact details to 82 of the participating principals and at 32 of these schools there was also a special needs coordinator focusing on mathematics development. The 8 principals who were contacted and the 5 special needs coordinators in mathematics provided deeper understanding to the questions of the study and increased the qualitative empirics .The study shows that out of the 214 replies from different schools approx 50% are teaching mathematics in a complete class of students with one responsible teacher, 20% are using two teacher system, 20% are timetabling classes in parallel and 10% in another or combined form of organisation. A clear pattern that we identified was that the schools regardless of the form of organisation all spent resources on adding extra staff during mathematics lessons, for example another subject teacher, teacher assistant or special needs coordinator. Some schools teach their students in smaller groups, others have extended the number of hours or made mathematics a pupils choice to increase the number of hours in mathematics. The overall aim for the efforts is to make all the students qualified for studies at sixth form.

Before they enter the classroom, teacher candidates must acquire the knowledge, dispositions, and instructional strategies necessary to succeed in educating students with a variety of learning abilities before they enter the classroom. The educational roles and responsibilities required of teacher candidates have changed from a general education classroom without students with disabilities to an inclusive setting for all learners. Now students with disabilities spend more time in the general education classroom to be educated at least 80% of their time with their same-aged peers. Therefore, this qualitative study, through the use of one-on-one interviews, sought to expand the existing research by identifying and analyzing the experiences of nine teacher candidates who were enrolled in a teacher preparation program for dual certification in general and mild/moderate disabilities. Candidates responded to interview questions about their preparation programs regarding coursework, practicum, and student teaching/internship requirements. While virtually all teacher candidates described their experiences as positive, candidates were prepared to collaborate (work together toward a common goal) with university faculty, special and general education mentors, principals, other educators in the schools. The pairing of teacher candidates with their peers, practicum mentors, and mentors during student teaching/internships, has been shown to provide a more supportive and collaborative environment than the traditional model of teachers who typically worked in silos or autonomously. In these instances, it appeared that not all mentors promoted collaboration, were familiar with co-teaching models or were not able to spend a sufficient amount of time to implement these models, and co-teaching models were lacking and limited time was the contributing factor. Concerns were voiced by candidates who experienced challenges that pertained to the act or perceived value of collaboration in practice when they were mentored particularly by the assigned general education mentor teachers.

Integration of general and special education students in the classroom has become common in many educational systems. Researchers have found that some general education teachers may have negative attitudes of inclusion when they are inadequately prepared to instruct in an inclusion setting. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to investigate the relationship of teachers' professional development (PD) on their attitudes about teaching in an inclusive classroom at a northeast Georgia middle school. Using Vygotsky's sociocultural developmental theory, the research question examined the difference in teachers' attitudes toward inclusion as measured by the Scale of Teachers' Attitudes Toward Inclusive Classrooms (STATIC) based on the number of PD workshops taken. All 150 general and special education teachers at the study site were invited to participate and the sample included 74 teachers who completed the STATIC. Analysis of variance results indicated that teachers who completed 3 or more PD courses had significantly more positive attitudes toward teaching in inclusive classrooms than teachers who took fewer than 3 courses. As an outcome of the study, a PD workshop was created that provided teachers with strategies to operate within an inclusive classroom. Informing administrators about the necessity to expose teachers to PD if they teach inclusion classes is essential to improving teacher attitudes, which creates an environment that promotes student success.

In a co-teaching model of student teaching, mentor teachers are presented with opportunities for professional growth because extensive collaboration occurs with the teacher candidate throughout the process. Despite the proliferation of co-teaching programs, mentor teachers often lack formal training for their role. Further, insufficient evidence fails to show how collaboration between mentor and candidate contributes to professional growth for the mentor. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine such growth in 9 mentor teachers who hosted teacher candidates during 1 semester of student teaching to determine how a co-teaching model affected mentor teachers' own teaching and mentoring skills. Professional growth was examined through Wenger's 4 components for situated learning. Research questions focused on mentor teachers' initial expectations about their roles, their identity and growth, and the application of their learning and growth when teaching. At the end of student teaching, mentor teachers participated in a series of 3 interviews based in phenomenological techniques. Their responses were coded using an inductive approach. Identified themes included mentor teacher experience, communities of practice, actions during student teaching, and mentor teachers' reflection on the role. Key findings were that all mentor teachers reported that they grew in practice, but not all developed their coaching and mentoring skills, and some focused on transmission of content and skills rather than candidate transformation. The findings of this study may influence positive social change to ensure that educator preparation assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning through mutually beneficial partnerships.

The purpose of this study was to measure the quantity, quality, and types of collaboration amongst K-12 music teachers in the state of Iowa. Survey responses (N = 97) were analyzed and grouped according to teacher characteristics. This sample of music educators reported the least collaboration on post-instruction, evaluative activity, such as reviewing assessments, data collection and analysis, and peer-observation. Respondents rated other parts of the collaborative process, such as group dialogue, decision-making, and action-taking, more highly. Teachers with a higher level of education reported more collaboration than less educated counterparts, while band teachers reported lower levels of collaboration quality compared to their choral and general music peers. Respondents also indicated that collaboration tends to increase with job continuity, but declines somewhat after teachers reach 25 years in the same school. Middle school teachers indicated the highest levels of collaboration, while K-12 teachers reported the lowest. Further, those teaching in larger schools recorded higher levels of collaboration than their smaller school colleagues. These results suggest that this group of K-12 music teachers in Iowa engage in moderate levels of collaborative activity overall and moderate to low levels of evaluative activity. Demographic results also reveal strengths and weaknesses of various subgroups’ collaborative habits. Researchers have found that high quality teacher collaboration improves teaching and learning outcomes. These results have implications for administrators providing professional development, preservice teacher educators, professional organizations, and current practitioners in the field who desire to implement more and higher quality collaboration for the purpose of instructional improvement.

In 2008, Kaohsiung City launched an English co-teaching program, which annually recruits 12 young American college graduates to promote English language instruction and cultural exchange. These young Americans serve as English teaching assistants (ETAs), whose main duty is to co-teach with local English teachers (LETs). This study aims to understand the students¡¦ learning English attitude and motivation in elementary schools participating in the LET and ETA co-teaching program, investigate the interaction effects of grade, cram school experience and LET and ETA co-teaching on students¡¦ English learning attitude and motivation and to offer a few concrete suggestions for the improvement of co-teaching program in public elementary schools based upon the results. The research adopted questionnaire survey method. The questionnaire was designed and distributed to 811 English teachers from 12 elementary schools in Kaohsiung City as the subjects. As a result, 618 were valid responded corresponding with a 76% of return rate. Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA and Scheffe method were conducted for data analysis and finally come to the following results: 1. The interaction effects of co-teaching and grade on elementary school students¡¦ attitude toward LET teaching, self-English learning and overall English learning attitude are significant. 2. The interaction effects of co-teaching and cram school experience on elementary school students¡¦ self-evaluation of learning outcomes and overall English learning attitude are significant. 3. The interaction effects of co-teaching and grade on elementary school students¡¦ instrumental motivation, negative motivation and overall English learning motivation are significant. 4. The interaction effects of co-teaching and cram school experience on elementary school students¡¦ instrumental motivation are significant. Based on the results of the study, some suggestions are proposed to the educational authorities, schools, as well as future studies.

Coteaching is one instructional delivery model that purports to provide students with supports they need to succeed in the general education setting. This case study used qualitative methodology, which was supplemented by quantitative data, to explore the instructional factors that may contribute to the achievement of high school students with learning disabilities who are placed in a cotaught setting. An optimal environment was created for coteaching and included careful selection of the cotaught team, support from the campus administration, initial and ongoing training for the coteachers, and the creation of common planning periods. Two cotaught classrooms were observed for one semester, and five students with learning disabilities were selected from these classrooms for observation and interview. Additional data included interviews with the campus principal, campus teachers, and the coteachers, as well as weekly observations using the Stallings Observation System. Interviews and observations suggested that there was little change in teacher or student behaviors.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka och få mer kunskap om olika lärarprofessioners syn och erfarenheter beträffande samundervisning samt hur specialpedagogiska insatser samordnas för elever som uppvisar läs- och skrivsvårigheter när de samundervisas. Via en kvalitativ ansats undersöktes hur samundervisning mellan klasslärare och speciallärare kunde te sig enligt lärarprofessionerna. I litteratur och forskning råder det en oenighet över vad begreppet samundervisning står för. Jag valde att använda begreppet samundervisning eftersom jag ansåg att det bäst översattes från det engelska begreppet co-teaching, som i forskning specifikt står för samarbetet mellan klasslärare och speciallärare. Den tidigare forskningen gällande samundervisning konstaterar att det finns både fördelar och nackdelar med detta sätt att organisera undervisningen, där en av vinsterna beskrivs vara sociala fördelar såsom ökad gemenskapshetskänsla och ett av hindren beskrivs vara den bristande gemensamma planeringstiden, som resulterar till att specialläraren fastnar i rollen som assistent. Det teoretiska ramverk studien lutar sig på är kritisk pragmatism, som användes för att kritiskt granska samundervisning som fenomen. Jag genomförde semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra speciallärare och två klasslärare (inom grundskolan) som sa sig samundervisa, helt eller delvis. Intervjuerna transkriberades och analyserades med hjälp av meningskoncentrering och Glasers kodningsprocess. Resultatet från intervjuerna jämfördes i relation till den tidigare forskningen, där jag kunde skönja många likheter. Resultatet diskuterades också relaterat till studiens teoretiska ramverk. Resultatet av studien visade att respondenterna arbetade flexibelt för att möta elevers olika behov och förutsättningar. Vid samundervisning intog vanligtvis specialläraren assistentrollen i klassrummet och hade det huvudsakliga ansvaret för att skapa anpassningar till elever i behov av särskilt stöd, medan klassläraren ledde undervisningen i stort. Flera respondenter beskrev att inom den ordinarie verksamheten erbjöds elever som påvisade läs- och skrivsvårigheter kompensatoriska hjälpmedel, såsom datorstöd med läs- och skrivprogram eller applikationer. Även om målet med samundervisning var att eleverna skulle befinna sig och ta del av den ordinarie verksamheten beskrev respondenterna att viss enskilt stöd ändå behövdes, då främst när det gällde elevers lästräning. Skolledningens roll visade sig vara betydande för att göra samundervisning till en kontinuerlig arbetsform på skolorna. Även vikten av samsyn mellan de samarbetande lärarprofessionerna framlades som ytterst betydelsefull samt att ha klara visioner och förväntningar över vad samarbetet skulle leda till.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Linda Elaine Buerck, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum and Instruction, presented on November 12, 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: EFFECTS OF ENROLLMENT IN CO-TEACHING CLASSES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITHOUT DISABILITIES MAJOR PROFESSOR: D. John McIntyre, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Ed.D., University of Syracuse This study examined the impact of enrollment in co-teaching classes on the grades earned by high school students without disabilities. The study also included analyses of teacher responses to a survey regarding their experience with the co-teaching model at the school. The study sought to examine (1) the extent to which enrollment in co-teaching classes affects academic achievement of regular education students; (2) the attributes of co-teaching classrooms that may have an effect on the academic performance of all students; and (3) the similarities and differences in opinion of regular education teachers and special education teachers regarding the co-teaching model. Student grades were analyzed using descriptive statistical procedures. Thirty-eight classes were eligible for the study. A total of 719 semester grades were recorded, representing 441 students. Two hundred thirteen of the students were enrolled in more than one of the classes in the study concurrently. A subset of data was produced using only the grades earned by the 124 students who were enrolled in at least one regular education class and at least one co-teaching class in the same semester. The dependent variable was course grades. The primary independent variable was the type of class--regular education or co-teaching. Other independent variables included course content (Communication Arts, Mathematics, Science or Social Studies), grade in school (9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th), and achievement level. Student achievement levels were classified as low (0.00-4.99), average (5.0-7.99), or high (8.0-11.0) based on overall grade point averages. Paired samples t-tests demonstrated significant difference between grades earned in co-teaching classes and grades earned in regular classes. Student grades in all three achievement levels were higher in co-teaching classes than in regular education classes. A Cohen's d coefficient was generated to determine the effect size of the differences between teaching models. A medium effect size was detected for grades earned in co-teaching classes for students in the high and average achievement levels. There was a large effect size for grades earned in co-teaching classes for students in the low achievement category. Teacher responses to a survey constructed solely for use in this study were analyzed using inductive analysis. Ten regular education teachers and seven special educators responded to the survey (response rate of 77% for all teachers.) The three themes that emerged from all teachers were the need for common planning time, the need for quality professional development and training activities, and the need to clearly define the roles of each co-teacher in the pair. Responses to selected questions were also analyzed by directly comparing the responses given by the 13 pairs of teachers who were assigned to the same co-teaching class. There were significant differences in perceived roles between the pairs of teachers.

abstract: Co-teaching is one of the most popular models for supporting students with disabilities in general education classrooms. In spite of this, there is a paucity of research on student perceptions of co-teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate student perceptions of co-teaching in a high school biology classroom. Over nine weeks, data was collected from students in a co-taught and traditional classroom through observations and focus groups. Qualitative content analysis identified three themes and eight categories which highlight student perceptions of co-teaching. Themes and categories that emerged were: 1) Environment which included the categories of availability of help, students feeling supported and normalcy of the classroom, 2) Instruction which included student engagement, lesson activity and teacher(s) role(s) and, 3) Relationships which included relationships between teacher(s) and student(s) and parity between teachers. Information from the study deepens researchers' and practitioners' understanding of how students perceive co-teaching and provide new avenues for future research and best practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Special Education 2012