1. Visible Learning WHAT REALLY WORKS in Special and Inclusive Education
DOSE Meeting
November 18,2016
Lacey Lane

2. Strategy 4: Collaborative Teaching
‘Become an effective team player’
Reference
Mitchell, 2014, pp 69-77

3. The Strategy
Groups of people with diverse expertise combine their resources to generate solutions to problems over a period of time
Other terms:
collaborative consultations
cooperative teaching
co-teaching
team teaching
team-based services
learning or community of practice

4. The Strategy
Educator is not only a member of the orchestra, but the leader
IDEA (2004) - multidisciplinary teams assess, plan, and implement educational programs
Reference
Mitchell, 2014, pp 47-57

5. 3 Main Benefits of Collaborative Teaching
The Underlying Idea
3 Main Benefits of Collaborative Teaching
Potential to create synergy
Potential to provide opportunities for teachers to learn new ways of addressing barriers to learning – and for colleagues to learn from one another
Increases the coordination of services for learners with special education needs

6. The Practice: General Principles
Members establish clear common goals
Define respective roles, but accept joint responsibility
Take a problem-solving approach
Establish trust and mutual respect
Be willing to learn from others
Aim for consensus decision-making
Give immediate and objective feedback
Credit others
Develop procedures for resolving conflict
Meet to review progress

7. The Practice: Forms
Co-teaching (one teach, one assist; station; parallel; alternate; team)
Consultation
Partnerships with teacher aides/teaching assistants/paraprofessionals
Partnerships with specialists
Partnerships with parents
School-wide teams

8. The Evidence: Collaborative Teaching
Hattie Found Co-/team teaching = 0.19 effect size

9. The Evidence: Collaborative Teaching
Inclusive classrooms – In co-teaching relationships the most used approach is one teach one assit
Mainstreamed students – regular and special ed teachers = more encouraging 0.40 effect size
Deaf and hard of hearing – this strategy often meets all the needs of these learners, shared responsibility and shared support
Collaborative Consultation – significant increase in referral accuracy when implementing this model

10. Addressing Risks of Collaborative Teaching
Main risks to the successful implementation:
Difficulty in assembling key participants; time
Difficulty communicating across disciplines; diverse philosophies and personalities
Lack of clear goals for collaboration
Lack of administrative support
Lack of training
Considerations
School level leadership
Prep in initial teacher education
Professional development for participants
Clarification of roles

11. Self Evaluation Please rate yourself or a teacher you have closely observed
Criterion
Indicators
Evaluation
Engages in collaborative teaching
You actively and positively collaborate with other professionals involved with your students’ education. This is particularly important in the case of learners with special educational needs.
Where there are learners with special educational needs in the classroom, you effectively collaborate with:
a co-teacher who is involved with such learners;
special education consultants or advisers who provide advice and guidance;
other specialists, such as therapists, psychologists, social workers, etc.;
teacher aides/ paraprofessionals.
All the indicators are regularly met.
Three of the indicators are regularly met.
One or two of the indicators are met.
None of the indicators are met.

12. Co-teaching is a Marriage

13. Collaborative Teaching…
The empirical evidence regarding this strategy brings relevance to the African Proverb,
‘it takes a village to raise a child.’