Merging Expertise: Preparing Collaborative Educators

Abstract

In this article, teacher education faculty of a medium-size university, historically grounded in teacher preparation within a rural context, describe their ongoing work to transform their practice in order to prepare special and general educators who co-plan, co-teach, and co-assess with their counterparts in the field. Follow-up research with their graduates revealed insights into the impact of a collaborative preparation model on teachers and students and suggested positive effects on teacher retention problems. These insights inform their continuing program transformation and their recommendations for the field of teacher preparation.