External Review: Co-Teaching Success 

The District completed a visit from the Tri-States Consortium, a group of 62 public school districts in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut committed to collaboration and continuous improvement. Before each visit, a district identifies an area of study for evaluation by a team of educators from other districts. Our most recent visit focused on co-teaching K-12.

 

Dr. Wool introduced the Tri-States presentation at a recent Board of Education meeting, “In our district, every child matters….all really does mean all…the goal of our visit was to evaluate if all students in our district are provided with the opportunity to succeed in the same way.” The evaluation included 25 classroom visits, interviews with students and families, 40 teachers, and the leadership team. Visits culminate in a consultancy meeting, during which the visiting team shares its findings with members of the district study group.  At the consultancy, the Tri-States team was effusive about HCSD’s co-teaching instructional practices and dedication to every student: “I would love to share these exemplars with colleagues in my District.” and “This District is magical and beyond special starting with the work that we heard about from your Superintendent.”

 

During his presentation to the school board, the superintendent emphasized there is ample evidence to demonstrate that co-teaching benefits not only students with special education or needs but also the general education population. The faculty's extraordinary expertise in co-teaching is truly a benefit to our entire school system.