Graduation Year
2019
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree
Master of Science
Program
Education
Program Director
Elizabeth Truesdell, PhD
First Reader
Jennifer Lucko, PhD
Second Reader
Jaci Urbani, PhD
Abstract
While much research addresses the benefits of collaborative professional development, such as Professional Learning Communities and Lesson Study, special educators are often left out of these opportunities. This research focuses on the problems related to limited and specialized collaboration between general and special educators. In addition, special educators are leaving the field at high rates, and often report feelings of isolation and disconnect. This study builds upon current research, with the purpose of explaining how Lesson Study impacts collaboration between general educators and special educators. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was used to provide a multifaceted view of the collaborative Lesson Study. This research includes survey data from general and special educators, video data of pre and post discussions from four Lesson Studies, and interviews from teachers, after completing the Lesson Study. The results demonstrate that problem-solving is cyclical during the Lesson Study process and teachers experience benefits from the cyclical opportunities to reflect, collaborate, and improve teaching practices. Lesson Study between general and special educators, at one school-site, challenges the traditional hierarchy between general and special education programs, showing that teachers can work together to improve the practices of all teachers and therefore the learning of all students.