Perspectives on Co-teaching: Views from High School Students with Learning Disabilities

Authors

  • Jill M. Leafstedt
  • Catherine Richards
  • Michelle LaMonte
  • Dina Cassidy

Abstract

This study investigated the perspectives of high school students with learning disabilities on co-teaching. Two focus groups were conducted at two high schools in southern California, involving 10 students with learning disabilities. Guiding questions were used to seek students' perceptions on how participation in co-taught general education environments has changed their lives, their teachers' jobs, and how it has impacted their peers. Results indicated that students prefer receiving instruction in pull-out settings and that they perceive that special education teachers provide distinctly different instruction than do general education teachers. Furthermore, students indicated that general education teachers did not always provide necessary accommodations for theirlearning disability in co-taught classrooms and that they could not easily access either the special or general educator in co-taught environments. Students at the two schools had varying perspectives on how their peers' perceived their special education services. These results are discussed in terms of four distinct themes: access to special education services, delivery of instruction, peer and teacher response, and class size.

Issue

Section

Articles