Co-Teaching and Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

In the past decade, increased emphasis on academic instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) has replaced the misguided notion that teachers must focus exclusively or primarily on behavior problems before they can effectively teach students with EBD. Numerous scholars have noted that academic instruction should be the first line of defense in dealing with the prevention, amelioration, and treatment of EBD. Although the shift to an academic focus represents a positive step, it is important to examine the contexts in which students with EBD receive instruction. A number of strategies have been proposed to enhance the participation and success of students with disabilities in regular classes. One of these is co-teaching, which generally refers to any arrangement in which a special education teacher and general education teacher work together in the same physical environment to provide instruction to a group that includes students with and without disabilities. This article discusses a number of different models of co-teaching and explores the impact of co-teaching arrangements on a broad array of student outcomes.