Radical Co-teaching: How Building Relationships Creates Radical Co-teaching Partnerships

Author

Meagan L. Serrano, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

9-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Urban Education

Advisor

Anna Stetsenko

Committee Members

Sherry Deckman

Jennifer Collett

Subject Categories

Elementary Education and Teaching | Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching | Other Teacher Education and Professional Development | Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education | Secondary Education and Teaching | Special Education and Teaching

Keywords

Co-Teaching, Special Education, Radical Co-Teaching, Co-Teaching Relationships, Strong Co-Teaching

Abstract

This study analyzes the development of co-teaching relationships in K-12 classrooms in New York City. More than half of all teachers in New York City will be placed in co-taught classrooms, but they are not directly instructed on how to co-teach–and the relational aspects of co-teaching are largely ignored. This study uses New York public school teacher insights and experiences to understand what really goes into building strong co-teaching partnerships. Using a grounded theory framework for analysis, the research project examines the aspects of successful co-teacher relationships from the co-teacher perspective. The goal of this project is to understand how relationships are co-constructed between co-teachers and develop tools or insights that could be helpful for others.

This study focuses on the relational aspects of co-teaching while analyzing the impact of each individual teacher on the co-teaching relationship, and ultimately moving to examining the impact of the two individuals together as a unit, on the relationship. The study leverages two theoretical frameworks to generate new theories about the relational aspects of co-teaching. The first is Anna Stetsenko’s Transformative Activist Stance (TAS), used to explore individual agency in the development of the co-teaching relationship, and the ways co-teacher’s agency transitions into a collective agency of the co-teaching partnership, to further develop the relationship. The second is Rosa Rivera-McCutchen’s Radical Care framework, with a focus on her second component, Cultivating Authentic Relationships (CAR), to understand how the co-teaching pairs are able to cultivate authentic relationships together.

These two frameworks guide the methodology used. Six teachers actively engaged in co-teaching relationships were involved in the study. To analyze each individual teachers’ agency with a TAS lens, teachers were interviewed individually to understand how they influence their co-teaching relationships. Later, there was a collection of data evidencing planning and discussion around their shared classroom, and finally partnered discussions with both co-teachers to understand the ways these authentic relationships are created. These collaborative reflections allow the participants to think about how they can help other co-teachers utilize the skills that they have utilized to create strong co-teaching partnerships.

Recommended Citation

Serrano, Meagan L., "Radical Co-teaching: How Building Relationships Creates Radical Co-teaching Partnerships" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6016