A descriptive study of coteaching in Florida: From teacher education to implementation

One of the recent trends in special education is inclusion. A new instructional strategy, coteaching, assists teachers in meeting the demands of a diverse group of students. Coteaching involves general and special educators jointly planning, instructing, and assessing all learners in an integrated classroom. The purpose of this study was to compile descriptive research on the prevalence of coteaching in Florida and investigate the degree to which Florida's state universities are preparing preservice teachers for a coteaching instructional setting. The data was collected through surveys that were completed by university faculty and facilitators at the Florida Inclusion Network (FIN). The data were analyzed using a frequency and percentage table. As a result, coteaching was found to be quite prevalent in Florida. According to participants, preservice programs at the universities should include training for coteaching settings.