Abstract
Many schools have been faced with the challenge of meeting the needs of its diverse learners. Many districts have turned to co-teaching as the answer to the question of how to meet the needs of all students. The review of the literature follows the history of special education from self-contained all the way to inclusion, touching on the laws that have been passed to help assure that each student is guaranteed access to the least restrictive environment possible. Co-teaching is shown as an effective approach to meet the needs of the students. Five approaches have been thoroughly explained and then a full and complete professional development program has been designed to be implemented in a rural school district in western New York.
