Co-Teaching as a Transformative Tool: Enhancing Cultural Competence, Linguistic Responsiveness, and Pedagogical Practices of Veteran Teachers

Guided by the Vygotskian (1978) principles inherent in co-teaching and Lucas and Villegas’s (2013) culturally and linguistically responsive framework, this qualitative, action research study investigated the impact of implementing a co-teaching model between a multilingual learner program specialist and a veteran general classroom teacher for the purpose of enhancing the veteran teacher’s pedagogical practices related to multilingual students. Data from professional development, interview, and conversation transcripts, in addition to observations, revealed the impact of the intervention. This study covered 3 years of a co-teaching partnership in a southeastern U.S. state. The data indicated teacher growth in cultural and linguistic knowledge and skill development using co-teaching as embedded professional development.