Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to describe middle school humanities students’ andmiddle school humanities teachers’ perceptions, and student achievement, as measuredby the NWEA MAP assessment, in a co-taught humanities class. The study was aquantitative, descriptive study. The independent variable measured in the current studywas time of the year (first semester, second semester). The dependent variablesmeasured were teacher perceptions of co-planning efficiencies, grading efficiencies,classroom management, and instructional efficiencies; student perceptions ofengagement; and student attainment of their Reading MAP growth targets. Thepopulation consisted of middle school humanities teachers and seventh and eighth-gradestudents at Middle School A. Data from the teacher perception survey indicated nostatistically significant difference in perceptions between semesters. The results from thestudent survey data indicated a statistically significant difference in student perceptionsbetween semesters. The data, however, showed more favorable perceptions during thefirst semester than the second semester. There was not a statistically significantdifference in Reading MAP growth goal attainment between semesters. The findings ofthe current study suggest that more research should be done in the area of co-teaching.Future studies could be conducted at multiple middle schools in District B, include alarger sample size, and might be conducted over more than one school year to obtainadditional data. The implications for action from the current study suggest that MiddleSchool A could provide additional professional learning for the staff on co-teaching andkeep co-teaching partnerships consistent from year to year.