Date of Award

Spring 5-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Bethany Powers (Chair)

Second Advisor

Dawn Viles

Third Advisor

Brad Smith

Abstract

In April 2023, Tennessee legislators implemented rigorous graduation requirements for all students, disabled and non-disabled, including Algebra II and Chemistry or Physics. The legislators created angst among school leaders and educators across the state due to the more rigorous graduation requirements and the lack of qualified math, science, and special education teachers to help meet those new requirements. I found a lack of research on guidance for educators in how to address the changing of Tennessee’s high school graduation requirements in 2023. I also found a lack of research on how to better instruct special education and general education high school students in East Tennessee co-taught classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive study was to explore special education and general education teachers’ perceptions of co-teaching and the professional development of co-teaching in East Tennessee High School core academic classrooms. I based the research on Bandura’s (1977) theory of selfefficacy combined with Guskey’s (1994) theory of professional development. For this study, I sampled 12 participants, which included East Tennessee High School general and special education co-teachers in core academic classes through an online questionnaire; six of those participants also completed a semi-structured interview to deepen the study. After analyzing data, I found co-teachers lacked adequate professional development, pre-service coursework, co-planning time, and effective collaboration; however, overwhelmingly, general education and special education teachers agreed effective co-teaching led to student academic success. This was a foundational study as it could be used as a framework for future research in the co-teaching realm of education.

Keywords

Educational Administration, Administration, Co-Teaching, Collaboration, East Tennessee, Graduation Requirements, Special Education

Download

Share

COinS