Co-teaching: Equity for English Learners?

Co-teaching in which a general education teacher teaches alongside an English as a second language (ESL) teacher, is a strategy that is used to more equitably teach English learners (ELs). This quantitative study on co-teaching was conducted in a secondary school in a rural community in the western part of the U.S. It examined which co-teaching strategies were used and teacher-student interactions. The results of the observations of co-teaching indicated that two co-teaching strategies predominated in these mainstreamed classrooms. Overall, the general education teacher used whole group instruction and the ESL teacher provided individual support to EL students. In terms of interactions, general education teachers interacted more with non-EL students. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of equity and opportunity for students, ELs and non-ELs, to learn academic content.