Collaboration models for general ed and special ed teachers
Special education and general education teachers may need models for
collaborating in order to effectively work together on how to best teach
students with disabilities, says a recent study in Preventing School
Failure. But if they have philosophical differences about educating
students with disabilities, even a framework for collaboration may be
insufficient, write the researchers.
"It is difficult for teachers to collaboratively plan effective
accommodations and adaptations if they lack skills for collaborating and solving
problems," the researchers write.
"Not all teachers share philosophies concerning students with disabilities.
Teacher-preparation and professional-development programs should equip teachers
with skills for addressing philosophical differences."
In a small study, 6 pairs of elementary teachers from 5 elementary schools in
a large western U.S. state, followed a collaboration model (the CRIME model) in
planning adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities. Under
the CRIME model model, teachers analyze their classrooms and compare their
classroom practices and environments in relation to students' profiles.
The 4 steps of the model are:
- Evaluate the curriculum, rules, instruction, materials, and environment of
the general education classroom
- List the student's learning and behavioral strengths and limitations
- Compare the classroom environment with the student's profile to identify
learning facilitators and barriers
- Plan adaptations and accommodations that will facilitate learning and
mitigate the effect of learning barriers.
The researchers report that 4 out of the 6 pairs of teachers completed the
process in their planning for students. Researchers met with teachers twice,
once to train them in the use of CRIME and once to question them about the
experience of using it.
Differences between the teachers surfaced over perceptions of each other's
learning environments and over the students' classroom behavior. Whether
teachers were able to work around their differences and jointly define the
issues to be resolved was influenced by whether or not they shared a common
philosophy.
"An important aspect of successful collaboration in this experience (in terms
of completing all four steps together) was the teachers' needing to have the
same perspective about disabilities to agree about the problems that needed to
be addressed," the researchers write.
"Educators' Perceptions of
Collaborative Planning Processes for Students With Disabilities," by Nari Carter
et al., Preventing School Failure, Fall 2009, pps. 60-70.
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