A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT TO ENHANCE READING AND WRITING INSTRUCTION IN INCLUSION CLASSROOMS

A year-long researcher-teacher professional development group with a n ext-year followup was conducted with seven general education teachers from two elementary schools in a large urban school district in the so utheastern United States. The two schools had recently restructured th eir special education program to include students with LD in the gener al education class full-time. Teachers were taught four reading and wr iting practices (one during each nine-week grading block). All but two of the teachers partially or completely implemented the practices dur ing the nine-week period. Sustained implementation during the school y ear was maintained by four of the seven teachers, and three of the sev en teachers continued high implementation of the instructional practic es during the next school year. The components of successful professio nal development programs are discussed and implications for teacher ed ucation are offered.