1.++Co-teaching+Defined




 * In the literature, co-teaching is defined by Lynne Cook and Marilyn Friend as: **

Co-teaching is a service delivery system in which
 * Two (or more) educators or other professionally certified staff
 * Share instructional responsibility
 * For a single group of students
 * Primarily in a single classroom or workspace
 * To teach a required curriculum
 * With mutual ownership, pooled resources, and joint accountability
 * Although each individual's level of participation may vary.


 * Definitions of Co-Teacing as found in several pieces of literature: **

Co-teaching has been defined as an instructional delivery approach in which general and special educators share responsibility for planning, delivery and evaluation of instructional techniques for a group of students; general and special educators work in a coactive and coordinated fashion, which involves the joint teaching of academically and behaviorally heterogeneous groups of students in integrated settings. (Bauwens & Hourcade, 1991; Bauwens, Hourcade, & Friend, 1989; Friend & Cook, 1992; Scheffel, Kallam, Smith, & Hoernicke, 1996; Walther-Thomas, Bryant, & Land, 1996). Although co-teaching integrates components of collaboration and team teaching, it is not solely collaboration or team-teaching. In co-teaching, the teacher to student ratio is decreased (Friend, 2001). Typically, co-teaching is used to provide services for students with mild to moderate disabilities in the general education setting (Sileo, 2003). General and special educators are present while co-teaching in the general classroom, thus maintaining joint responsibility for specified classroom instruction (Bauwens, Hourcade, & Friend, 1989). Research shows that general educators have expertise in knowledge of the curriculum while special educators have expertise in instructional processes used to teach individual students who may learn atypically (Adams & Cessna, 1991; Reeve & Hallahan, 1994; Ripley, 1997). There are a variety of co-teaching approaches. Each approach is designed to enhance different types of activities or for learning environments.