Best Practices in Co-teaching Mathematics, Teacher Efficacy, and Teacher and Student Perceptions

Students that qualify for special education services, with a learning disability in math, may receive these services through a variety of formats. Co-teaching is an instructional teaching model that provides an opportunity for students to receive instruction in the least restrictive environment (LRE). An extensive literature review was completed in order to identify best practices and effective co-teaching practices in mathematics classrooms. A clearly defined purpose for co-teaching and selecting co-teaching partners is key to the success of co-teaching. Also, student and teacher perceptions impact the implementation of co-teaching. The effectiveness of co-teaching is further impacted by co-teaching practices, along with the use of effective mathematical teaching strategies. The balance of maintaining effective co-teaching practices and mathematical teaching strategies is integral to the success of co-teaching. The ideal implementation of this teaching model is a shared partnership between a general education teacher and a special education teacher. The literature revealed a lack of a consistent definition of what effective co-teachers are. Comparing results across studies is difficult when the participant base and operational definition of participants can vary widely. Also, there is generally a lack of focus on student outcomes in co-teaching research. Student outcomes are important to include in studies in order to determine if students are showing growth in co-taught classrooms. Finally, there is minimal research on co-teaching in mathematics. Mathematics has been identified in the research as one of the most difficult content areas to merge with special education due to spiraling and cumulative knowledge.