What Is Co‑Teaching? Expert Insights from Marilyn Friend ~ 811

Marilyn Friend:
I know whether or not you are heading toward inclusiveness by how often you use the word. If you are a school that talks about the third grade inclusion class or the seventh grade inclusion team or high school English does inclusion, math doesn’t—I don’t know what it means to do inclusion. I have to tell you, I think we do lunch.

Tim Villegas:
Hello and welcome to season eight, episode 11 of The Think Inclusive Podcast presented by MCIE. I’m your host, Tim Villegas. Guess what, y’all? This is the final episode of season eight. Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a preview of season nine, starting in August.

This podcast features conversations and commentary with thought leaders in inclusive education and community advocacy. Think Inclusive exists to build bridges between parents, educators, and disability rights advocates to promote inclusion for all students. That’s right, y’all—ALL means ALL.

To find out more about who we are and what we do, go to thinkinclusive.us, the official blog of MCIE, and check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Tim Villegas:
Now today on the podcast, we talk with Marilyn Friend, renowned expert and author of numerous books and articles on co-teaching. We discuss:

• What is co-teaching and what does it look like?
• Do schools have to provide a co-teaching service model?
• How does co-teaching further the practice of inclusive education?

But first, last time on the podcast, we asked you what your biggest challenge to advocating for inclusive education was. And we had a ton of great responses. Here are some that stood out:

• “General education teachers needing behavior support.”
• “The exceedingly slow pace of systemic change.”
• “Authentic buy-in from general education.”
• “Being the mom I’m not taking seriously. I feel the eye rolls. No support from administration.”
• “Lack of training and current research.”
• “Just being heard.”
• “Funds or financial limitations.”
• “Ableism.”
• “The pressure to prove something just to be included.”
• “Unaddressed biases towards people with disabilities.”
• “Lack of individual or shared support for children who need more.”
• “Other parents of peers who do not understand what inclusive education is.”

If you are advocating for inclusive education and you are running into challenges like these, you are not alone. Thanks for listening to the Think Inclusive Podcast. We are so glad you’re here. After the break, our interview with Marilyn Friend.

Tim Villegas:
Why don’t we start off by asking: what exactly is co-teaching?

Marilyn Friend:
That’s a great place to start, because there’s a lot of misunderstanding about co-teaching. I ask professionals that question every time I’m going to do some work on this topic, and I’ll say, “What is co-teaching? Just jot down a phrase.” Invariably, the answer is collaboration, teamwork, partnership—which sounds nice. The problem is that’s what I call co-teach 1.0; it puts the emphasis on the grownups. It says, if we like each other, if we get along, then we’ll work together in the classroom.

Contemporary co-teaching is different. The definition of co-teaching is that it is a service delivery option; it is a mechanism through which students with disabilities receive the special services to which they are entitled. That’s a very different starting point. We’re starting with what students need, which is where we should start. It also clarifies that two adults in the classroom is not necessarily co-teaching.

If it’s two general education teachers—two classroom teachers, which in some places it is—that’s usually called team teaching, a little bit different. If it is a teacher and a paraprofessional or a paraeducator, that’s called classroom support. Even when paras are wonderful people and do great work, they are not in the classroom as a peer to the classroom teacher, and it’s not appropriate to call it co‑teaching. So there are a lot of little ins and outs on this. It’s a service delivery option with two people with equivalent licensure—one a specialist, usually a special education teacher, sometimes a teacher of kids learning English or another specialist. They’re pooling their responsibilities and accountability, sharing one physical space to ensure that all students receive their education.

Tim Villegas:
So you said it’s an option, but if it’s an option, then it sounds to me that schools don’t have to provide this option as a service delivery model.

Marilyn Friend:
You’re right about that. If you read the federal special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, co‑teaching is not mentioned in any way. Most professionals know there’s a continuum of alternative placements: general education, resource, self-contained, et cetera. Sadly, those were written when the law was first implemented—full implementation was in the late 1970s—so the law is a little dated. Co‑teaching was not part of that, and typically placement was associated with intensity of need.

Someone asked me not too long ago, “Okay, so it’s not in federal law, but what about states?” I contacted representatives from a number of large states where I know they are very supportive of co‑teaching and it is a recommended practice. I was told that because federal law doesn’t require it, neither do states. Even if there are guidance documents, and it’s encouraged, and state folks do professional development, it is not required. Sadly, it does not exist everywhere, and there are still some places that think it is “easier” to just take “those kids” somewhere else—the old-fashioned idea that we address student needs by fixing them somewhere else.

Tim Villegas:
How does co‑teaching further the goal of worldwide inclusive practices? We talked about the law in the United States, but what about worldwide?

Marilyn Friend:
Co‑teaching, when and where it is implemented—and there is considerable interest in many parts of the world as part of the general push toward inclusive practices—provides three educational pieces that have to be in place.

First, physical integration. It’s very hard to be inclusive without the physical integration of students. If some students are in a different place, they are not part of the learning community.

Second, social integration. If students are not in classrooms with their peers, it’s very difficult for them to have friendships, to interact, to learn appropriate interaction skills if they don’t have them—and for other students to learn appropriate interaction skills. Co‑teaching creates opportunities for social integration.

Third, and most importantly, instructional integration. It ensures that learning is occurring and is appropriately rigorous—it is what is expected of all students—and that specialized instruction is embedded as well. This reduces the need for students to generalize from a separate setting to a general education setting, which often doesn’t happen. For the U.S., it also meets least restrictive environment (LRE) requirements. Co‑teaching has a lot of potential, and when implemented well, it accomplishes what’s most important: spectacular outcomes for students.

Tim Villegas:
In your opinion, what prevents us from really being a truly inclusive society?

Marilyn Friend:
I’ll try to address that without sounding too much like an academic. I have a strong grounding in social psychology, and that’s my lens. If you go back to older works like Howard Becker’s Outsiders dealing with criminality, it’s the notion that society wants to know who’s “them” to know that they’re not “us.” There is a systemic need to feel reassured by drawing a line between us and them. This applies to race, culture, and disability. Until we can tackle that deep need—to be reassured by labeling others as them, not us—it’s a tough issue.

We work on the education system because the more we can teach children from the day they enter school that we’re one—that it is about diversity, not painting lines between groups—the more progress we’ll make. But it’s going to be slow; it’s been a very long journey.

That is true not just in the U.S., but in many places. If you think about schools and how people respond to kids, we put a label on a student; and anyone who’s honest will say that once a student has a label, it is not inevitable, but close to it, that expectations are different. There’s a percentage—not all—of classroom teachers who will say, “It’s the kid, it’s not me,” and make other comments that do that dividing. Until we’re willing to have those critical conversations, it persists.

As a faculty member once, we were talking to department chairs— I was a department chair—about diversity. The comments were all about race and culture, while I was chair of the department that included special education. I said, this conversation is not complete because you’re making decisions and excluding an entire group of individuals who are a substantial group of people. The answer was, “Well, that’s not the same thing. That’s not really as important.” Whoa. That’s not very optimistic, but it’s realistic, and I don’t think it’s unusual.

Tim Villegas:
Let’s talk about the models of co‑teaching. That’s another thing that gets misunderstood. When people think about co‑teaching, a lot think about “one teach, one assist.” Could you address that, and what other kinds there are?

Marilyn Friend:
In co‑teaching, the models have evolved. Early on, they weren’t clearly articulated. Now they are, and they’re distinguished by frequency of use and variations. The six basic approaches are:

1. One Teach, One Observe: One teacher with the kids; the other gathers data—sometimes necessary.
2. Station Teaching: Often the most common model. Students are in three groups—sometimes heterogeneous, sometimes by skills. Both teachers work with kids; there’s an independent group (often technology‑based) working on tailored work; students rotate, or teachers rotate. In the fundamental model, all students interact with both teachers and do the independent work.
3. Parallel Teaching: Students in two groups—sometimes heterogeneous, sometimes skill‑grouped, but never high half/low half (a recipe for disaster). Two teachers deliver essentially the same instruction, perhaps with different materials or levels of complexity. They don’t switch groups.
4. Alternative Teaching: Most students do one activity; a smaller group is pulled aside for a reason—review, remediation, enrichment, or students who were absent. The small group changes. Vary which teacher takes it, the purpose, and which students are in it.
5. Teaming: Two teachers together in front of the whole group.
6. One Teach, One Assist: One person—almost always the general educator—leads; the other circulates to support individual students. Sometimes people justify this by taking turns leading: “I lead one day; my partner leads the other.” My question: why are we paying two salaries for that?

Where this has evolved: the structures are still there, but we now distinguish high‑use and limited‑use models. High‑use: stations (three‑group rotation), parallel (two groups, each teacher working), and alternative (larger group/smaller group). All three are critical because both people have active teaching roles. The point is intentional increased instructional intensity—we get that by having both people teaching.

Limited use: teaming (surprising to some). Long ago, some were trained that it was the epitome—one brain, two bodies. Administrators can’t pay two salaries for one lesson. The purpose is kids in groups. Also limited: one teach, one observe (necessary at times but limited—more at the start of the year, with a student with a problem, or on a behavior plan) and one teach, one assist (in my perfect world, under 10% of co‑teaching—even though research finds it’s most commonly used and least effective).

Those are the basics. With time, I’d do variations. The trick is helping people understand that we want two people teaching. Rule of thumb: two‑thirds to three‑quarters of co‑teaching time should be with students in small groups—that’s how you get value from both people and group students to address special needs. The more whole‑group time, the less likely that is to happen.

That means changing habits. In some places, teachers say, “We do the instruction first, then we put them in groups.” Half the time they never get to groups because instruction takes too long. Also, who says you have to do it in that order? Do the instruction in a small group while the other group does review or specific skill work. We don’t have to do a whole‑group lesson first.

Tim Villegas:
I wonder if you’ve heard someone say special education teachers should only be teaching special education students.

Marilyn Friend:
What I would never want to see is an arrangement with two teachers in a classroom where the special educator only works with kids with IEPs. What a waste, what a travesty, how insulting to students and teachers.

For the adults, there is role reciprocity. You’re the general education expert and I’m the special education expert. As a special ed person, I learn curriculum from you so I can help deliver it. As a general ed teacher, you learn specialized techniques from me so you can help deliver them. We expect both teachers, all in, working with everybody in the classroom. Some students benefit from specialized techniques.

What’s not okay is when co‑teachers say, “We have so many kids with so many problems; we do everything for everybody.” If we’re doing that, I’ll put on my advocate hat: this student has an IEP and is entitled to something beyond what everybody gets. What is that? There has to be an answer. Special education is not doing everything for everybody. There’s an indication the student needs value‑added instruction.

For example: teach an acronym‑based strategy to a group of students and put it on an anchor chart on the wall. For students with IEPs, break it down and do systematic instruction across three weeks: practice it, memorize it, apply it incrementally. It can be the same strategy taught completely differently. Then we’re in the clear. Many people don’t draw those distinctions; people should be careful because if it’s done for everybody, it’s not specially designed instruction.

Tim Villegas:
You have a large number of books and articles. If someone was listening and wants to know more—maybe something you’ve written—can you recommend a book?

Marilyn Friend:
You don’t want the textbooks—they’re too expensive for most people. I self‑publish a book called “Co‑Teach” and it is all about co‑teaching. It’s teacher‑friendly and has activities at the end. Find the order form at https://coteach.com/—no hyphen. Or email me at marilynfriend@marilynfriend.com and I can send it. If you are beyond the basics and want more about instruction teachers do, another book is “Specially Designed Instruction for Co‑Teaching.” The books are complementary: the first has all chapters about co‑teaching except one about instruction; the other has all chapters about instruction except one on co‑teaching. They’re mirror books, depending on the audience. Both are on the order form. I thought we needed practitioner books, not textbooks—lower cost, friendlier language, examples that fit real people.

Tim Villegas:
Marilyn Friend, again, thank you so much for being on the Think Inclusive Podcast. We appreciate your time.

Marilyn Friend:
Thank you. It was a pleasure to be here.

Tim Villegas:
That will do it for this episode of the Think Inclusive Podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, the Anchor app, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Have a question or comment? Email us at podcast@thinkinclusive.us. We love to know that you are listening.

Thank you to patrons Pamela P, Veronica E, Kathleen T, Mark C, Sara C, Kathy B, and Sonia A for their continued support of the podcast. As I said at the beginning, this is the last episode of season eight. Next month we will officially go to two episodes a month with special bonus episodes and mini‑series podcasts in the works. To close out the season, I wanted to bring on Kayla Kingston, MCIE’s communication specialist, to tell you what we have in store for next season starting in August. Kayla has been working behind the scenes with editing as well as communicating with our podcast guests. Kayla, what are some guests and topics people can look forward to for season nine?

Kayla Kingston:
Thanks, Tim, and hello everyone. I’m usually the one scheduling guests, taking notes during the interviews, and helping Tim edit the podcast. But today, I’m here to tell you about the fantastic interviews and content we are producing for you starting in August.

Tim Villegas:
Great. Let’s hear it.

Kayla Kingston:
For our first podcast in August, we have author Eric Garcia, who wrote “We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation.” It’s a unique combination of reporting and memoir where Eric shares stories of his life as an autistic person, as well as interviews with all types of autistic people across America.

Tim Villegas:
Yeah, that was a fun interview. I’m going to try to fit his list of top five albums into the episode. Music is a huge part of Eric’s life, and for the titles of his book chapters, he uses song titles. That’s pretty amazing.

Kayla Kingston:
In September we have another author who happens to be a Think Inclusive alum, Emily Ladau. We interview her about her new book, “Demystifying Disability.” I really enjoyed how she uses a conversational style to communicate topics like ableism, disability etiquette, and how to speak out against disability stereotypes in the media.

Tim Villegas:
Can’t wait for us to publish that one. In case you’re wondering about bonus and mini‑series episodes at the end of the year, we’ll still plan on having another “best of” episode as well as some current event podcasts throughout season nine. What I’m also excited about are the mini‑series we have in the works. There are three: one on critical race theory, another on self‑determination for secondary students, and one on the history of inclusive education.

Kayla Kingston:
Yes, it is definitely going to be a great season.

Tim Villegas:
Thanks, Kayla. Thanks for all your work with editing and producing this season of the podcast. Really appreciate it.

Kayla Kingston:
No problem.

Tim Villegas:
This podcast is a production of MCIE, where we envision a society where neighborhood schools welcome all learners and create the foundation for inclusive communities. Learn more at https://www.mcie.org/. From everyone at MCIE, thanks for your time and attention. And remember: inclusion always works.