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COURSE DETAILS
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Collaborative Practices that Support Special Education

This course will provide special and general education teacher teams with tools and practices designed to support their teaming so all students can be successful in general education, inclusive classrooms.


About This Course

Students with disabilities are being taught more than ever in general education classrooms. This provides unique opportunities for special and general education teachers to work together to support these students in more rigorous Common Core general education classrooms. However, general and special education teachers run the risk of falling short of their potential to impact students’ success unless they know the how to effectively collaborate. How can professionals with different sets of expertise effectively and successfully support students with disabilities?

This course is based on supports and related services designed to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities and to enable their access to the general education curriculum, based on IDEA 34 CFR §300.34, 2004. (see  Application of the CCSS for Students with Disabilities from the Common Core State Standards Initiative*).  

Course outcomes include:

  • Participants will develop a personalized collaborative agreement with their teacher colleague that includes teacher and student goals and mission statement and that guides their teaching partnership
  • Participants will acquire the skills necessary to develop or improve an existing collaborative colleague partnership that includes regular planning, open communication, productive problem solving and shared responsibility for the success of students
  • Participants will acquire the skills necessary to design a lesson that takes advantage of the resources of a collaborative classroom and incorporates collaborative structures to support students with disabilities and other diverse learners

Teachers will develop a personal course portfolio that will include:

  • A pre and post assessment of learner knowledge of collaborative teaching
  • A personalized collaborative agreement that includes teacher and student goals and a mission statement
  • A collaborative teaching self-rating scale that provides actionable steps for improving practices
  • A collaborative teaching schedule and plan for regular collaboration
  • A lesson plan that reflects collaborative practices and clear roles and responsibilities for teaching partners
  • A reflection journal that includes how the course content applies to their teaching partnerships and actionable steps they take and results of  incorporating evidence-based practices into their collaborative practices
  • A plan for moving forward with effective co-teaching practices


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WAYS TO TAKE THIS COURSE

Simply Audit this Course

Can't commit to all of the lectures, assignments, and tests? Audit this course and have complete access to all of the course material, tests, people, portfolios, and the online discussion forum. You decide what and how much you want to do.

Try for a Certificate

Looking to test your mettle? Participate in all of the course's activities (we use the honor code around here) and if your work meets the 85% requirements, you'll receive a personalized certificate to showcase your achievement. You can also apply for course credit (if desired).


Course Staff

Barbara Flanagan


A senior associate with PCG Education, Dr. Barbara Flanagan provides support to serveral state projects that include a focus on students with disabilities. Prior to joining PCG Education, Barbara provided special education leadership in rural and urban Virginia school districts as a special education coordinator, compliance specialist, and Director of Special Education Services. Dr. Flanagan also served as Director for the Virginia Department of Education’s Training and Technical Assistance Center at Virginia Tech, providing local capacity building and technical assistance to school leaders and educators in 34 school districts to meet the educational, behavioral, functional and transition needs of students with disabilities. Barbara is a past recipeint of the Council for Learning Disabilties (CLD) Outstanding Teacher Award.

Amy Howie


For PCG Education, Amy Howie is Director of Project SUCCESS, Indiana’s Resource Network for Common Core State Standards for Students with Disabilities. In this role, she provides universal and targeted supports to teachers and administrators across the state. Amy regularly provides professional development to districts on assessment, instruction and programming for special education students. She works collaboratively with the Indiana Department of Education to respond to the individual needs of districts, building statewide capacity for increased achievement of students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Prior to joining PCG Education, Ms. Howie was a special education teacher for ten years, including experience at elementary and secondary levels and covering a range of disability areas and instructional settings including elementary, secondary and vocational education settings. For the past six years, Amy was assistant principal in two Indiana districts where she led efforts to improve instruction and increase achievement by developing and supporting special education programming; Response to Intervention initiatives; and Positive Behavioral Support programs. Additional areas of expertise include use of evidence-based instructional strategies, assessment, special programming including s504 and ENL; parent and community involvement; and academic and behavioral interventions, specifically aimed at the secondary level.

A. Howie, B. Flanagan
Course Code: SE104
Course Release: Jun 02, 2015
Estimated Effort: Online: 6 hrs Activities: 4 hrs

Suggested Prerequisites:

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