Fort Bend ISD Moving Forward with Co-teaching model

SUGAR LAND, TX -- The Fort Bend Independent School District is expected to continue implementing the co-teaching model that simultaneously teaches special education and general education in the same classroom.

The co-teach method, which has been implemented in at least one classroom on every FBISD campus, employs a general education and special education teacher in each classroom who collaborate on lesson planning and classroom instruction.

The co-teach method is just one of several initiatives that FBISD Chief Academic Officer Phillys Hill has launched since being hired prior to the start of the 2015-2016 school year.

"When we walk into that classroom, we should not be able to tell which teacher is the special education teacher and which teacher is the general education teacher," Hill told the Houston Chronicle.

FBISD began implementing the co-teach method throughout the district in February of 2015, when the district added several positions to help with the program.

As of this school year, there are 87 elementary school, 68 middle school and 87 high school classrooms that utilize the co-teach.

To fully implement the program takes about five years, and with FBISD just in the initial phase of the program, the district still has a long way to go and will be a permanent part of the district moving forward.

"Equity-based inclusion is not a fad or an initiative that's going away," Hill said. "This is a change and we all need to get on the bus with this."

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