Collaboration and Professional Practice
Domain 6: Collaboration and Professional Practice
This domain tests how special educators work with families, general educators, paraprofessionals, and agencies while maintaining legal and ethical responsibilities.
Core rules and concepts
- Co-teaching models: one teach/one observe, one teach/one assist, station teaching, parallel teaching, alternative teaching, and team teaching. Choose based on student needs and lesson purpose; station and parallel teaching reduce group size, while team teaching requires substantial planning.
- Collaboration requires defined roles, regular planning time, shared data, and clear communication. Special educators supervise paraprofessionals and remain responsible for instruction and IEP implementation.
- Family engagement is culturally responsive: use interpreters, avoid jargon, honor family input, and provide prior written notice. Disagreement should move to mediation, facilitated IEP, or due process-not retaliation.
- Confidentiality: FERPA protects education records; share only with legitimate educational interest. Mandated reporting applies to suspected abuse or neglect.
- Transition collaboration includes vocational rehabilitation, community agencies, and postsecondary supports, with consent before inviting agencies.
- Professional practice includes accurate documentation, evidence-based decisions, and ongoing professional learning.
Worked example
A general educator and special educator co-teach science. They use station teaching: one station reviews vocabulary with visual supports, one runs a hands-on lab, and one checks comprehension. The special educator coaches the paraprofessional to support a student’s communication device without answering for him. They review weekly exit tickets and adjust groupings. This preserves access to grade-level content while providing specially designed instruction.
Traps
- Treating the paraprofessional as the primary teacher.
- Discussing a student’s IEP in the staff lounge.
- Using co-teaching as “one teaches, one sits.”
- Bypassing parents when disagreements arise.