Theses and Dissertations

Advisor

Labat, Myron

Committee Member

McMullan, Leigh Ann

Committee Member

Tharp, Paula

Date of Degree

5-10-2024

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Education (P-12 Leadership)

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.S.)

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Counseling, Higher Education Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations

Abstract

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that all school districts provide a free appropriate public education to students with Individualized Education Plans in their least restrictive environment. Co-teaching in inclusion classrooms is a collaborative effort, with a general education teacher and a special education teacher, to provide academic and behavioral support to students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers. A review of the literature identified several studies conducted over the years that document the effects of employing co-teaching models in inclusion classrooms for middle school special education students and high school special education students. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the academic achievement of middle school special education students and high school special education students in inclusion classrooms using the co-teaching model. Data collection consisted of classroom observations of English Language Arts and Mathematics co-taught classrooms, teacher surveys, and teacher interviews from a Title I school located in Mississippi. The action research that was conducted in this study will provide the school district with information about the future of how to educate middle school students and high school students in co-taught classrooms. The research results revealed that co-teaching in inclusion classrooms for middle school students with disabilities and high school students with disabilities is pertinent to the academic success of these students. Moreover, the results showed that the majority of participants perceive co-teaching in inclusion classrooms as a benefit to students with Individualized Education Plans as noted by the students’ academic gains on universal screeners, during progress monitoring, in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

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