Teacher collaboration: Learning from inclusion dyad dialogues

Author

Carol Ann Frisk, University of Rhode Island

Date of Award

2004

Degree Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Brian McCadden

Abstract

Research on teacher collaboration since the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) in 1975 has increased the efforts in the field of education to improve the practice of collaboration. This is especially important as it applies to the collaboration, or co-teaching, of a special education teacher and a general education teacher in an inclusion classroom. Many textbooks and teaching guides have presented techniques for improving collaborative practice. Researchers have shown a strong interest in broadening the knowledge base about this best practice of collaboration in the educational field, but a continued reliance on surveys and questionnaires in gathering data limits the practical utility of the research. It is my intent to deepen the collaboration knowledge by gathering and sharing the actual dialogues of inclusion dyads. My research results support the extension of John Steiner's lifespan framework into the field of education and further document the skills and personal characteristics that Cook and Friend identify as necessary for successful teacher collaboration. Dialogues of collaboration dyads, obtained through a Q-sort and individual and focus group interviews, provide evidence about how dyads function in elementary inclusion classrooms, and detail how school districts can develop, assign and support dyads in meeting the federal mandates of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA '97).

Recommended Citation

Frisk, Carol Ann, "Teacher collaboration: Learning from inclusion dyad dialogues" (2004). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 1952.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/1952