Perceptions of the special education teacher's role in collaborative teams: An evolutionary perspective

This study explored general and special education teacher satisfaction with special education teacher roles in collaborative teams, whose objective was to include children with disabilities, and the evolutionary stage of the teams according to the integrated model of group development. Thirteen out of 21 targeted teams qualified for the sample. The Special Education Teacher-General Education Teacher Interaction Scale assessed general and special education teachers' perceptions of special education teachers' current and ideal roles (Cronbach's alpha internal reliability coefficients were .85 and .81). The Team Evolution Questionnaire measured the collaborative teams' developmental stage (Cronbach's alpha was .82). General education teachers were more satisfied with special education teachers' roles than the special education teachers were with themselves (p < .01). General education teachers had higher perceptions about how frequently special education teachers performed their roles than special education teachers themselves (p < .05). Qualitatively, both groups endorsed several collaborative roles as currently performed most frequently by the special education teachers. Compared to previous literature, these results indicate a shift of priority from noncollaborative to collaborative special education teacher roles. Since all 13 teams were categorized in the most highly evolved stage of group development, a direct comparison between teacher satisfaction and the group's stage of evolution was not possible. Implications of these findings are discussed.