Running Head:  BENEFITS OF MATH CO-TEACHING                                                  

The Benefits of Math Co-Teaching

Joni L. Gricar

Lamar University

     Co-teaching and its’ benefits to students has been questioned and discussed everywhere I have worked over the past twenty years.  There seems to have always been staffing issues in special education and the benefits of co-teach classrooms have consistently come up in the conversations. Since our campus combined the special education students and the LEP students this year, many in co-teach classes, my data covers those populations as well as student gender and ethnicity.

     The vision for this research is hoping to determine if there is a benefit of having a general education teacher and a special education teacher in a classroom compared to having just one general education teacher.  Making data comparisons between students without a special education teacher and students having both should provide some valuable information for future scheduling.

     Team teaching, where both teachers were active instructors, rarely occurred in mathematics classes (Magiera, Gebauer, Smith, Zigmond, 2005).  A special education teacher reported that her choices of classroom roles were constrained by the general education teacher’s reliance on whole class instruction (Magiera, et. al, 2005).  These statements reflect pieces of my decision surrounding my action research project.  The parties involved are a general education teacher, a special education teacher, special education and general education students.  Since I am about mid-way through my project, there have been no final decisions.  The decisions that had to be made to begin were to choose the specific co-teach situations, decide on specific data, and what specific accommodations students had access to. 

     My vision was communicated with my principal through a one-on-one meeting, explaining that I felt it important to weigh the academic benefits in 5^th grade math in a co-teach classroom vs. a non co-teach classroom.  There has been no need to communicate my vision to parents at this point in the research, nor to the community.  As far as the students, when distributing the student surveys, I explained that we would like to know their opinions on having two teachers in their math classroom.  Finally, as far as staff communication is concerned, I had a discussion with both teachers and asked them if they were in agreement.  One was very accepting and the other seemed more reticent. 

     Using Eduphoria, our district program, for test scores, etc., I would pull the benchmark and common assessment scores, creating a spreadsheet.  Then I created a timeline for student/teacher surveys, classroom observations, and pulling scores throughout the school year based on benchmark and common assessment dates provided in the district calendar.  Money has not been spent on this project to date and I have routinely asked both teachers to provide an acceptable time to come to the classroom, so as not to disturb or interrupt instruction.

     My strategy for leading the operation of the project was talking with the principal, asking for her recommendations as to which teachers I might use for the research, then communicate with the parties involved to create an understanding of the research and its’ importance.  Most importantly, reassure the teachers that this was not a critique of their teaching, but actually looking at data to arrive at a conclusion.  The next most important factor was creating the timeline based on district testing dates, using the needs assessment to tap into the weakness in the area of data and using data to drive decisions.  Lastly, the communication involved with all parties reflected the group process skills and built consensus.  Also, because one of the teachers was reticent, I was able to resolve that conflict. 

     Collecting data in a co-teach classroom directly addresses those students with special and exceptional needs, as well as students with diverse backgrounds.  The classroom involved in my action research includes 14 students of Hispanic ethnicity, 2 students of African American ethnicity, 1 student of Asian ethnicity, and eight students of Caucasian ethnicity.  In addition, 6 of these students receive special services and 10 students are Limited English Proficient.  We are a culturally diverse campus and, because of the cultural diversity in this particular classroom, it will be interesting to review the final data.  In summary, this project could impact student scheduling and staffing numbers in the future. 

    

THE BENEFITS OF MATH CO-TEACHING

References

Magiera, Kathleen, Smith, Cynthia, Zigmond, & Gebauer, Kelli (Jan/Feb. 2005) Benefits of             Co-Teaching in Secondary Mathematics Classes.  Council for Exceptional Children, 20-24.

Dana, Nancy Fichtman, (2009) Leading with Passion and Knowledge, The Principal as    Action Researcher, 164.

Action Planning Template
Goal: Determine differences in 6th grade math achievement based on having one teacher or two teachers (co-teach).
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Gather student/teacher sampling/schedules/ Accommodations	Joni Gricar	9/2/12-9/30/12	Student Schedules Teacher Schedules Special Ed folders	Choose classroom(s) and teachers to use in research. Organize student accommodations in binder.
Design data collection instrument/Collect all common assessment/benchmark scores to date/Distribute student/teacher surveys	Joni Gricar	10/1/12-10/31/12	Computer (Eduphoria program) Surveys	Once data instrument is designed, input scores and results of surveys into instrument
Collect new test scores/Perform first classroom observation/Collect student/teacher surveys	Joni Gricar	11/1/12-11/30/12	Computer (Eduphoria program) Surveys Observation instrument	Input new test scores, observation data into data instrument
Add most recent common assessment/benchmark scores/compile survey information	Joni Gricar	12/1/12-12/20/12	Computer (Eduphoria program) Surveys Teachers	Input new test scores and survey results into data instrument
Perform second classroom observations	Joni Gricar	01/5/13-01/31/15	Observation instrument/ Classroom	Input observation data into data instrument
Collect new common assessment/benchmark scores	Joni Gricar	02/1/13-02/28/13	Computer (Eduphoria program) Teachers	Input scores into data instrument
Distribute second round of teacher/student surveys	Joni Gricar	03/01/13-03/15/13	Surveys	Communicate due date of March 15
Collect teacher/student surveys	Joni Gricar	03/16/13-03/31/13	Surveys	Input survey results into data instrument
Collect new common assessment/benchmark scores/Perform final classroom observations	Joni Gricar	04/01/13-04/30/13	Computer (Eduphoria program) Teachers Observation instrument	Input scores and observation info into data instrument
Complete data collection, compile, and record data, graphing results over time. Share results with site supervisor and with colleagues at a faculty meeting.	Joni Gricar	05/01/13-05/31/13	Computer (Eduphoria program) all data	Using data collection, graph and conclude results of action research plan.

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Joni's Action Research Plan

Question:  How are 6^th grade student, both general education and special education, academic outcomes in Math impacted by participating in instruction delivered by a co-teach model vs. instruction delivered by a single teacher model over a one year period?

Goals and Objectives/outcomes of the research investigation – The goal of this research is to determine differences in 6^th grade math achievement based on having one teacher or two teachers in a classroom, regardless of being a general education or special education student.

The objective is to use this data in driving our use of faculty, the training of faculty, and our campus scheduling.

Activities designed to achieve the objective – Math common assessment data, Math benchmark data, general education and special education teacher surveys, student surveys, classroom observations.

Resources and research tools needed for data gathering – Case Managers for special education students involved in sampling, access to student common assessments and benchmarks using district software program,  access to special education student accommodations (Case Managers can provide), teacher surveys, student surveys, classroom observation logs.

Draft Timeline –

Since my research plan will include students enrolled continuously from September 1, 2012 through May 15, 2013 my timeline is as follows:

September 2 – September 30 – Gather student/teacher sampling/schedules/accommodations

October 1 – October 31 – Design data collection instrument/Collect all common assessment/benchmark scores to date/Distribute student/teacher surveys

November 1 – November 30 – Collect any new scores/Perform first classroom observations and record data/Collect teacher/student surveys

December 1 – December 20 – Add most recent common assessment/benchmark scores/compile survey information and record

January 5 – January 31 – Perform second classroom observations and record data

February 1 – February 28 – Collect new common assessment/benchmark scores

March 1 – March 31 – Distribute second round of teacher/student surveys/Collect surveys, compile and record data.

April 1 – April 30 – Collect new common assessment/benchmark scores/Perform final classroom observations and record data

May 1 – May 31 – Complete data collection, compile, and record data

Persons Responsible for implementation of the Action Research Plan – Data will be collected by Joni Gricar, but other stakeholders will be general education teachers, special education teachers, case managers, diagnostician, and students.

Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives – A common assessment is typically administered every nine weeks.  Math benchmarks are normally administered three times per year. I will use the district software program, Eduphoria, to achieve scores.  I will use Google Docs for teacher surveys and try to also use this process for student surveys.  If that is not possible, we will do paper surveys for students.

Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study – Common Assessments, benchmark tests, teacher and student surveys, classroom observation data.  

More Thoughts on Action Research

Week two's assignment taught me that Action Research is a wonderful way to learn more about what is happening on your campus.  It involves the stakeholders, represents involvement rather than passive research or listening to what someone else suggests you do.  Action research can be a part of every aspect of running a campus, from management to school culture and community. Also, watching the videos of Dr. Kirk Lewis and Dr. Briseno confirmed what I have always felt about not having to "reinvent the wheel".  We have so little time, why not research what other districts are doing and see if any of their action research fits your needs.  Finally, I also agreed with their perspectives on researching something practical, then bringing results of your research back to your peers.

Action Research in Education

Action research involves defining a problem that needs a solution and/or a situation that needs improvement, designing a strategy or strategies to solve the problem or improve the situation, implementing those strategies and evaluating their effectiveness, and finally, bringing clarity to the situation while moving forward to the next set of situations and/or problems.  The whole point of action research is to bring about change while learning from others.  This method of research is interactive, reflective, and involves those who are directly related and affected by the problems and situations.  The decisions are not made by an outside source, but rather by those with direct involvement.  Action research allows for reflection and so often change is created by reacting to a situation rather than encouraging feedback, input, and most of all reflection.    Because of change being influenced by several, there would be more buy-in, therefore more success.


I see myself using action research as a member of my campus RtI committee.  This is an excellent example of a group of educators collaborating, using data and shared experiences to make good decisions, and hopefully create necessary success for students.




Educational leaders could use blogs to share educational information they have read or had shared with them in their administrative meetings.  They could also use blogs to obtain feedback from faculty and staff regarding certain campus issues.