ESTABLECER LOS PROCEDIMIENTOS DE VERIFICACIÓN (PRINCIPIO 6)

teaching experience, and selection for co-teaching. Table 5 illustrates nested descriptive statistics for study participants based on the aforementioned areas. Results show that 77% of the successful co-teachers in this study are veteran, non-voluntary co-teachers o f which 48% were classified middle school, veteran, non-voluntary co-teachers and the remaining 29% were identified as high school, veteran, special education, non-voluntary co-teachers. Similarly, 64% of unsuccessful participants were veteran, non-voluntary co-teachers: 37% middle school, veteran, non-voluntary co-teachers and 27% high school, veteran, non­ voluntary co-teachers. Overall, both successful and unsuccessful co-teachers in this study tended to be veteran, non-voluntary co-teachers.

SECONDARY CO-TEACHER PERCEPTIONS BOYD 65

Table 5

Nested Descriptive Statistics by Participant Subgroups

T eacher Level Y ears o f Experience Selection for Co-teaching

Teacher Type Level o f Success F(% >

Successful Unsuccessful Middle School Novice V olunteer General Education 0 (0 % ) 3 (4 % )

Special Education 0 (0%) 0 (0 % ) N on-volunteer G eneral Education 2 (1 2 % ) 8 (1 0 % ) Special Education 0 (0%) 3 (4%)

Veteran V olunteer G eneral Educadon 0 (0%) 2 (3 % )

Special Education 0 (0 % ) 3 (4%) N on-volunteer G eneral E ducadon 4 (24% ) 23 (29%)

Special Education 4 (24%) 6 (8 % )

High School Novice Volunteer G eneral Educadon 0 (0 % ) 0 (0 % )

Special Education 0 (0 % ) 0 (0%) Non-volunteer General Education 1 (6%) 4 (5 % ) Special Education 0 (0%) 2 (3 % )

Veteran Volunteer General Education 0 (0%) 1 (1%)

Special Educadon 1 (6%) 2 (3 % ) Non-volunteer G eneral Education 0 (0%) 9 (1 2 % )

Special Education 5 (29%) 12(15% )

Total 17(100% ) 7 8 (1 0 0 % )

Instrumentation

Data for this study was collected via the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012). The Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) was designed specifically for this study to ensure survey elements adequately addressed the five domains highlighted in this study that researchers have suggested are essential to co-teaching success. Various researchers (Austin,

2001; Gately & Gately, 2001) developed co-teaching surveys prior to the one developed for this study that address teacher perceptions relative to co-teaching; however the instruments did not include all elements needed to address co-teacher perceptions inclusive o f co-teacher philosophy, co-teacher knowledge, roles and responsibilities, co-planning, and administrative support. As a result, the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) was developed

following Gall et al.’s (2007) steps for designing a research questionnaire.

After a thorough review of co-teaching literature, I developed a 29-question survey to address co-teachers’ perceptions of co-teaching. The first nine questions were designed in multiple choice and Likert Scale (Gall et al., 2007) formats to elicit demographic data regarding participants’ teaching roles, level of success, educational experience, planning time, licensure, use of co-teaching models, and teacher selection for co-teaching. Part II, the last 20 survey questions, was created using a 4-point Likert Scale (Gall et al., 2007) to ascertain participants’ perceptions o f five domains needed for co-teaching success: a) teacher philosophy, b) teacher knowledge, c) roles and responsibilities, d) co-planning, and e)

administrative support. Part II o f the survey was designed to fit a specific blueprint, four questions per domain, such that each domain equally contributes to teachers’ overall perceptions of co-teaching. By and large, the survey was constructed such that it would garner sufficient information to address the study’s research questions, but brief enough so that participants would complete the survey (Gall et al., 2007). Survey questions in Part II of the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) are presented in a closed-ended format (Creswell, 2012) and clustered by domains, which are separated by headings such that there is a logical sequence of items to enhance clarity for participants (Gall et al., 2007). Further, language used in the survey is void of technical, ambiguous jargon in order to make the

SECONDARY CO-TEACHER PERCEPTIONS BOYD

content accessible to an array o f staff including novice teachers. O f the 20 elements in Part II o f the survey, one element, number 15, was reverse scored during analysis as the statement was negatively worded. Validation elements were placed on each survey element to prompt participants to respond to statements that were not addressed. However, participants were able to proceed with the survey without answering one or more statements.

After the initial development of the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey was complete, a number o f steps were taken to ensure instrument validity (Creswell, 2012). First, the Co­ teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) was disseminated to a panel o f experts noted for their work in co-teaching to assess content validity (Creswell, 2012) to ensure the survey measured elements essential to co-teaching as proclaimed. As a result, the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey was revised based on feedback from the panel and only elements that were identified as essential by at least half of the panel were included in the final survey as recommended by Lawshe (1975). Based on expert feedback, the initial survey was changed to increase clarity and to obtain additional demographic data. Additional questions relative to teacher certification and co-planning were added to the demographic section, additional answer choices were incorporated to five questions in the demographic section, and questions in Part II were revised to increase clarity. After obtaining information from experts, the Co­ teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) was vetted via a field test(Creswell, 2012) as another means to assess validity.

A field test of the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) was completed February 2013 to ascertain validity based on response processes (Creswell, 2012). Ten co-teachers from the district of study participated in the survey field test whereby they responded to survey items and made criticisms and recommendations for improving the survey prior to

implementation as recommended by Creswell (2012) and Gall et al. (2007). The survey was then revised a second time based on feedback from field test participants such that

participants could select multiple options in the demographic section and some survey

elements reworded to be more direct. The ten co-teachers who participated in the survey field test were excluded from this study as recommended by Creswell (2012).

Like validity, reliability of the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) was

addressed. In order to ensure the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012) had internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (Gall et al., 2007) was calculated using this study’s results instead of field test data due to the small number of participants included in the field test study (n=10). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was obtained for Part II o f instrument as a whole as many o f the constructs are intercorrelated. Part II o f the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012), 20 questions, has a reliability coefficient of .735 which represents acceptable internal consistency for this exploratory study (Nunnally, 1978) as the results will not be used for clinical significance and will not be used for life altering decisions which would require a higher percentage of internally consistency to be acceptable (Cicchetti, D. V., 1994; Johnson & Christenson, 2004). Hence, the full scale was used to address this study’s research questions relative to co-teachers’ perceptions of co-teaching. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was also obtained for each of the five co-teaching domains to determine if domain reliability was strong enough to conduct statistical analysis on individual domains to enhance the description of co-teachers’ perceptions between subgroups in auxiliary results. As demonstrated in Table 6, reliability coefficients for the five domains of the Co-teacher Perceptions Survey (Boyd, 2012), when analyzed separately, vary in strength. As a result, three of the five domains were used for auxiliary findings as their reliability was strong

SECONDARY CO-TEACHER PERCEPTIONS BOYD 69

enough for analysis in an exploratory study: co-teacher philosophy (minus question 10), co­ teacher knowledge (minus question 15), and co-planning.

Table 6

Instrument Reliability: Co-teacher Perceptions Survey

Upon receipt of approval from The College o f William and Mary Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the superintendent’s designee to conduct the current study, March 26, 2013 and April 2, 2013, respectively, the researcher took numerous steps to amass data relative to secondary co-teachers’ perceptions o f co-teaching. Subsequent to data collection, the

researcher completed a number of statistical analyses to address this study’s research

questions and test corresponding hypotheses. During all stages, the researcher was careful to maintain confidentiality.