Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Dissertation (UNI Access Only)

Keywords

Special education teachers--Training of; Teaching teams;

Abstract

Preparing pre-service teachers to address students’ diversity and needs in the general education classroom is a priority of any teacher preparation program. The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of special education pre-service teachers’ co-planning and co-teaching. This investigation was conducted with a group of ten pre-service teachers who were in the final semester of their special education program. This study focused on the pre-service teachers’ completion of a one week teaching experience that occurred within the general education classroom. The investigation involved two parts. First, it examined the quality of pre-service teachers’ co-teaching by using an adaptation of an instrument called the edTPA Instruction Rubric which is a national, content-specific performance assessment. It is designed to measure pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach students and address different learners’ needs in the general education classroom (Education Teacher Performance Assessment, 2014). The edTPA Instruction Rubric focuses on four areas of teaching which are (a) learning environment, (b) engaging the focus learner, (c) deepening learning, and (d) supporting teaching and learning. Second, the study examined pre-service teachers’ collaborative planning by using S-BASE, which is a structured planning model that enables co-teachers to design specialized instruction for all students in a classroom. S-BASE stands for: S students-first which means considering students’ needs and characteristics, B for big ideas which means identifying the big ideas of the unit, A for analyzing potential difficulty, S for designing strategies and support, and E for evaluating the planning process and students’ progress. The results of this study indicated that pre-service teachers engaged in high to moderate quality co-planning and co-teaching. They were able to engage in practices that are effective for addressing students’ diverse academic and behavior needs.

Year of Submission

2017

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Department of Special Education

First Advisor

Frank Kohler, Chair

Date Original

12-2017

Object Description

1 PDF file (viii, 100 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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