Supporting Co-Teaching Special Education Collaboratively

FOCUS: PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

As a special education administrator in a large school system, I guide school personnel in implementing instructional practices for individualized education programs. One of those practices in our district is the co-teaching model.

More than a partnership between special education teachers and general education teachers to provide instruction to students with disabilities, effective co-teaching requires high-level planning and oversight at all levels, spearheaded by the principal with the support of central-office leadership functioning as local special education administrators, or LSEAs.

Atlanta Public Schools’ special education leadership team has implemented a strategic plan to provide educators with the structure necessary to support students with disabilities and to enhance the effectiveness of co-taught classrooms, which is an important element of that support.