A group of middle school kids and teacher looking at a student who has their hand raised to ask a question
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 A Co-Taught Class Question – HELP!

What are some “good” Co-Taught Class metrics?

I’d like some help…

Co-taught classes are a model for educating Disabled Learners (Students with Disabilities )where a mix of disabled and non-disabled students are in a classroom together with two teachers – a general education teacher and a special education teacher.

At the school where I was on the School Site Council, some problems with staffing for their co-taught classes was brought up:

  • There were not enough certified special education* teachers to support all of the needed sections.
  • Therefore the co-taught classes wound up having 50% disabled students as opposed to the school’s target of 25%
  • … and this had a ripple effect on other classes where scheduling wound up substantially overloading disabled students in a small number of general education classes … creating support problems…

So, what are the “best” or “better” practices for co-taught classes?

In our Palo Alto middle schools (and high schools), there are co-taught English and math classes. Other subjects are not co-taught, but disabled students are: included, included with some support (an individual or group aide perhaps), or the disabled students wind up not taking the courses…

QUESTIONS:

  • What is a good “target” ratio of disabled students to non-disabled students in a co-taught classroom? Does this change by grade?
  • Formally for IDEA metrics, when is a co-taught course no longer considered a “general education” setting, but a segregated education setting? (What is the ratio of disabled to non-disabled students)?
  • What is a good target size for a co-taught class? Does this change by grade?
  • Outcome data – how well do disabled (and non-disabled) students do in a co-taught or segregated classroom?

Other special education models in Palo Alto middle schools (as I understand them) are SAI – non-degree track subject matter courses and a vocational/life skills oriented set of courses that used to be called “Futures” but I think they are switching to “extensive support needs”.

I have some general concerns with visibility of these staffing issues and their priority at the school district level – the reason I found out about this situation was I was on the school’s School Site Council.

Other local (and non-local) information would be great!

If no one has data on this, I can post a survey online (question suggestions welcome!)

Steve

PS – I wind up hearing a lot of “stuff” thanks to attending and politely commenting at our local public school board meetings for the past 4 years (with the bonus that our school board meetings are available online so they are more available).

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