ABSTRACT
Meeting the academic and behavioral needs of students with and without disabilities and improving educational outcomes requires effective school-based and special education teaming. Yet, more often than not, frontline practitioners have been prepared to work individually rather than together in problem-solving teams. Furthermore, teachers receive little or no ongoing job-embedded professional development in the mechanics of effective teaming. Because researchers have identified coaching as an approach for improving effective team processes and outcomes, we provide five steps that facilitate the application of coach-supported teaming. In doing so, our aim has been to equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills needed not only to support the development and maintenance of effective special education and school-based teams but also to improve educational outcomes for all students.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jennie Leigh Jones
Dr. Jennie Leigh Jones is an assistant professor of Elementary and Special Education at the University of North Georgia. She earned her Ph. D. in Specialized Educational Services from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as an Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) funded scholar and has more than 10 years of experience as an elementary teacher working with students and families that speak English as a second or other language. She has earned certifications in reading, English language learning, and National Boards. Jones’s research focuses on teacher development, coaching, and literacy instruction
Marcia Rock
Dr. Marcia L. Rock is a Professor of Special Education, Graduate Studies Director, and Ph.D. Program Director, at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Over the past two decades, she has received recognition for excellence in research, teaching, and service through several university and professional organization awards. Dr. Rock’s research interests include technology enabled pre- and in-service professional learning on a full continuum, including real-time coaching, systems thinking and change, research practice partnerships, leadership, and social, emotional learning. For more than a decade, she has pioneered the research and development of real time feedback and coaching through advanced online bug in ear technology, personally conducting over 800 sessions.