| The site for this study, an urban PK--8 school in Southwest Ohio, served approximately 500 economically disadvantaged students. African-American students accounted for 90% of total enrollment. Students with disabilities comprised 20% of the student body. The purpose of this qualitative action research case study was to examine classroom teachers' and building administrators' perceptions, as they pertained to serving students with and without disabilities via co-teaching. This study utilized a purposive framework and maximum variation sampling. Four special education teachers, 11 general education co-teaching counterparts, and building principal and assistant principal participated in face-to-face interviews, journaling, and/or an online survey. Nearly all practitioners believed co-teaching benefited at-risk students, gifted/talented students, and students with disabilities. Classroom teachers felt co-taught students were better prepared for high school and college. While administrators and classroom teachers felt co-taught students behaved better, only special education teachers advocated students with emotional disabilities be served in general education classrooms. All study participants believed students viewed both professionals in the classroom as equals; however, they reported special education teachers were spread too thinly. General education teachers in particular expressed a need for increased professional development in differentiation and co-teaching strategies as well. As a result, the researcher recommended the school design and implement ongoing multi-tiered professional development in co-teaching best practices and proposed restructuring the special education department by assigning an IEP case manager thereby increasing special education teacher availability in co-taught classrooms.;Keywords: co-teaching, continuum of services, LRE, urban, positionality, perceptions. |
