The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of paraeducators in educational teams who supported young children with complex communication needs (CCNs). Participants included members of three teams which included general and special education teachers, paraeducators, speech and language pathologists (SLPs), and parents. An instrumental,…

21st century educational reform initiatives value creativity, collaboration, innovation, and higher-order thinking (Scardamalia, 2002), the skills needed for students to successfully address the complex engineering challenges facing society. "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practice, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas" (NRC,…

This mixed-methods study examined student engagement and the development of twenty-first-century learning skills of collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking for Grade 3 students who used immersive game-based learning activities using Breakout EDU strategies compared to students who used traditional small-group methods. BOEDU…

Schools must help all students achieve. Leaders who understand the elements of culture and their impact on an organization can be very effective. In 2015, as part of a strategy to cultivate healthy school cultures, the State of Michigan deployed a new self-reporting school culture inventory as part of each school's annual reporting. In this…

The best Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) design challenges are student centered, with students themselves making the key decisions. But with young children who are still learning basic academic and social skills, implementing projects where they truly take the lead can be quite challenging. To give students at one…

School districts shape the conditions in which schools operate and as such can support or undermine school success and thus student success. All of which is to say that school districts matter. This article looks at the success of two districts whose low-income and minority students beat the odds in academic achievement. Lessons from these…

Using data for school improvement is a key goal of Race to the Top, and now is the time to make data-driven school improvement a priority. However, many educators are drowning in data. Boost your professional learning community's ability to translate data into action with this new book from Pam Robbins and Robert T. Hess. "The Data Toolkit"…

Third and fourth grade "sailors" from Bolina/Stimson School in northern California learned to pull together aboard a Thirties-style historical schooner, anchored in San Francisco Bay, that simulates a codfishing expedition to Alaska. Cooperation, successfully meeting team challenges, and coordination of effort resulted. (JMM)

Four variations of a microtechnology process and its effects on the development of cooperative behavior of third-grade children were investigated. It was concluded that cooperative behavior could be increased by microtechnology processes; the process was effective with self-confrontation components; and short-term retention was exhibited.…

Noting that working and playing in caring and cooperative ways is an important goal in today's culturally-diverse society, this instruction program is designed to improve the teamwork skills of children in grades 2-4. Through the program, children learn important skills of planning, cooperating, and appreciating differences. The program consists…

Noting that collaboration can enhance children's ability to solve problems of increasing difficulty, this paper discusses the theory of collaborative talk in the classroom and how it can be applied. The first section of the paper introduces the notion of collaborative talk by describing a classroom setting and offering an excerpt of two children…