This guide describes five types of student team cooperative learning activities: (1) Student Teams-Achievement Divisions; (2) Teams-Games-Tournament; (3) Jigsaw; (4) Team Accelerated Instruction; and (5) Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition. In Part 1, each technique is described in detail. A review of research finds positive outcomes in…

One of the most visible and widespread of the current educational reforms is the attempt to decentralize authority to schools and to involve teachers and others in shared decision making. Often occurring together as site-based shared decision making (SBDM), this reform is turning out to be more difficult to implement than once thought. Few noted…

This review is based on research that identified the factors that appear to contribute to effective multidisciplinary teamworking. It focuses on solutions to problems that could plague multiprofessional activities in Scotland's education sector. It draws on both published research and unpublished commissioned reports, focusing on the work that has…

Discusses work collaboration via virtual work groups, communication, and improved connectivity via information technology. Reviews previous studies and compares the performance of 64 virtual teams using four different collaborative technologies: text only, audio only, text and video, and audio and video. (Contains 59 references.) (Author/LRW)

The role of the special educator in collaborative consultation with regular educators is discussed in terms of problems in the practice of consultation, consultation as a mutual and reciprocal schoolwide activity, consultation as a facilitative process, consultation as a routine professional role, and the language of consultation. (DB)

Forming teams is the logical first step in the transition to middle school from junior high school. Offers 10 questions that middle-level educators should ask as they embark upon this new venture of interdisciplinary teaming. (13 references) (MLF)

This article reviews the literature on consultation, collegiality, and other forms of collaboration in schools, as a means of assessing the knowledge base and understanding its relationship to special education. Research on implementation of collaborative practices in special education is called for. (JDD)

Findings from "Getting There from Here," a yearlong study of effective school leadership in 10 districts in 5 states, identify some of the problems that get in the way of effective school leadership. Offers nine practices that boards and superintendents can use to work together to achieve district goals. (MLF)

Rural and urban elementary schools implemented collaborative consultation to serve special education students. In the rural school, the special education teacher spends 4 days per week in the classrooms. She spends Wednesdays and 1 week out of 5 testing, writing IEPs, planning, and completing paperwork. The principal, instructional assistant, TAG…

A strategy for increasing worker participation in an effort to remedy the problems of declining productivity and quality is the quality circles concept. The quality circles process involves small groups of employees who meet voluntarily on a regular basis to identify, analyze, and develop solutions to problems and to implement the solutions when…

Institutional strategic decisions require the participation of every individual with a significant stake in the solution, and group decision support systems are being developed to respond to the political and consensual problems of collective decision-making. (MSE)

Five studies on child study teams are reviewed and their implications for training included in a modular approach, the Child Student Team Training Program. The CSTTP features six modules: (1) rationale for teams, (2) referral preparation and review, (3) IEP planning, (4) procedural considerations, (5) parent involvement, and (6) administrative…

The roles of school psychologist and school counselor are examined. School psychologists and school counselors should work together closely, using both their separate and shared skills for the benefit of school children. Their skills overlap and are also complementary, making a team approach advantageous. (Author/CC)

Five assumptions are inferred from the literature concerning the roles and responsibilities of elementary regular classroom teachers in educating low-performing children. These assumptions are used to define the target group of students most aptly served in regular classrooms. Models of partnership between regular education and specialized…

Contrasts the realities of instructional leadership with the ideal, examining the overlap of instructional leadership and supervision. By reviewing instructional leadership depicted in three studies on the work life of principals, readers get a view through the schoolhouse window. Solutions to the problems of fragmentation and change are…