Chapter 7: Two Brains Are Better Than One!: State-Level Professional Development and Teachers’ Descriptions of the Benefits of Co-Teaching

Given the level of linguistic and cultural diversity within U.S schools, English learners’ (ELs) academic success is a vital consideration in the scope of current K-12 education (U.S. Department of Education [USDE], 2015a). Federal legislation from the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) related to ELs’ academic success obliges states to give extensive considerations to students’ academic outcomes as a direct result of informed, collaborative, and linguistically supportive instruction (USDE, 2015b). Yet, numerous practicing general education classroom teachers in some states continue to express their unpreparedness to work specihcally with ELs, intensifying the need for practical recommendations related to professional development for coteaching program design (Kolano, Davila, Lachance, &Coffey, 2014). This movement for collaborative transformation also calls for increased innovation from educator professional development programs. More than ever, state education agencies (SEAs) are giving increased focus to educators’ development for shared practices resulting in student-centered co-teaching programs and collaborative teacher partnerships (Honigsfeld & Dove, 2015; Zwiers, O’Hara, & Pritchard, 2014).