The effect of professional development training on the instructional behaviors of middle and high school co-teachers

Research has shown co-teaching to be a promising practice for educating students with disabilities in regular education classes. While the frequency of professional development initiatives to prepare educators to instruct students with disabilities in inclusive settings has increased, the scientific literature on the effectiveness of professional development on co-teaching performance has been sparse.;This experimental study employed a randomized pretest-posttest control group design to examine the effects of a professional development training package on the observed performance and self-reported behaviors of co-teachers. Participants included 24 co-teaching dyads consisting of regular and special educators in seven schools. Co-teaching dyads in the treatment group received training based on best practices in co-teaching and best practices in professional development. The Performance Assessment for Co-Teachers (PACT), a researcher-developed observation instrument, measured the degree to which co-teaching dyads collaboratively used best co-teaching practices in their classrooms. The Co-Teacher Survey (CTS), a researcher-developed survey was designed to measure how teachers rated their dyad's co-teaching performance, their own co-teaching skills and their partner's co-teaching skills.;Independent samples t-tests and analysis of variance showed no significant differences between treatment and control groups prior to the co-teaching training intervention. Analysis of covariance showed that teachers who participated in professional development training on co-teaching had significantly higher posttest scores on the PACT than those who did not participate in training. From this outcome, it appears that the model of professional development training designed for this study was successful in improving the co-teaching performance of regular and special education teachers who received this training. The significant difference between the treatment and control group's posttest PACT scores suggests that there was a difference in collaborative engagement, or parity, in co-teaching practices of those who received training.;However, there were no significant differences between treatment and control groups, or between regular and special educators on CTS posttest scores, and there were no significant interactions between treatment group and teacher discipline. Further research is needed to confirm the value of professional development training for improving the co-teaching performance of regular and special educators.