The Effects of Reciprocal Peer Coaching on Preservice General Educators' Instruction of Students with Special Learning Needs

Abstract

Most students with special learning needs spend a good proportian of their time in school in general education classrooms. There is ample reason to suspect, however, that many general educators are not prepared adequately to meet their extensive instructional needs. This evidence becomes even more compelling when one considers the initial preparation of beginning teachers. In this study, we attempted to improve the instructional performance of three dyads ofpreservice teachers who were tutoring students with special learning needs through the use of reciprocal peer coaching procedures. Following systematic training as peer coaches, preservice general educators increased the frequency with which they engaged in relevant coaching interactions and improved the accuracy with which they implemented an innovative instructional strategy (i.e., Peabody Peer Assisted Learning Strategy) (PALS). More importantly, all three tutees demonstrated noticeable improvements in their daily reading comprehension as a function of increases in the accuracy with which tutors' used PALS procedures. Study results are examined in light of the contributions they make to the peer coaching and teacher preparation literatures.