Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Mitch Yell

Abstract

Co-teaching is a service delivery option that high schools use to assist in meeting the needs of students with high-incidence disabilities in general education classrooms. This quantitative study investigates the effectiveness of co-teaching in South Carolina high schools by examining co-teacher perceptions related to fidelity implementation, the descriptions of current co-teaching classrooms, student outcomes, specially designed instruction in the co-taught classroom, teacher preferences, and barriers to effective implementation. The results reveal co-teachers (n = 117) agree that 58% of the implementation practices are occurring; co-taught classrooms are described as having 31 to 40% of students with special needs in classes of 11 to 20 total students, the special education teacher in attendance 20 to 50% of the time, and specially designed instruction (SDI) as intensified instruction; more special education teachers (51.6%) than general education teachers (26.4%) report using Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to guide instruction; co-teachers prefer classes to consist of 11 to 20% of students with special needs, prefer to be scheduled with no more than two co-teaching partners, and prefer special education services to be provided in co-teaching classrooms for students with high-incidence disabilities; there is a significant positive correlation (p > .05) between common planning time and student outcomes; and the highest ranked barrier identified is a lack of training.

Rights

© 2026, Tabitha Stewart Strickland

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