A practicum project was designed to improve communications, exchange of ideas, and interpersonal relationships among 37 teachers and school staff members in a rural elementary school in an economically depressed area. Monthly "spotlight" gatherings were held, featuring ethnic foods, experiential activities, demonstrations, and discussions of…

Created in response to requests from organizations across the country that wanted help in establishing teams for many purposes, this guide is an easy-to-use recipe book on the essential areas of teaming. It does not cover all the aspects of teaming, but focusses on the essential components of team development necessary for a team to function. The…

In today's workplace, organizations are moving from top-down, hierarchical decision making to team decisions based on consensus. This guide offers advice on setting the stage for team consensus to grow and on establishing an environment that fosters consensus. Topics of the four sections, the components of full consensus, are: (1) "Purposeful…

This monograph discusses the characteristics, tasks, and benefits of interdisciplinary team organization in middle schools. Characteristics include teachers who share a common group of students, a common planning period, and adjacent classroom space. Team tasks are composed of scheduling, grouping students, identifying curriculum topics and…

The study, involving 119 academically handicapped third, fourth, and fifth graders, examined the effects of an instructional method (Team-Assisted Individualization) that combines cooperative learning with individualized learning in mathematics. Previous studies have found that the use of cooperative learning instructional processes can improve…

In this investigation of group problem solving in small groups, performance on a tower-building task was studied in same-sex triads of 141 third grade children exposed to four instructional conditions, each consisting of three phases of six trials each. Instructional conditions were either determinate (i.e., individualistic or contrient reward…

Laboratory and field tests were made of the contact hypothesis that individuals from hostile groups will show favorable attitude changes after working together in an interdependent and equalitarian situation. Groups studied included female college students, disadvantaged mothers, airmen, and teachers in newly desegregated schools. (SJL)

The article traces the background and history of occupational therapy and special education as they relate to the birth to three-year-old population, focusing on the meeting of the two professions and the development of mutual respect and partnership out of initial resentment and misunderstanding. (Author/JDD)

Developing cooperative structures such as cooperative learning in classrooms, collegial teacher support groups, and collegial administrative relationships within the district will contribute to school effectiveness. Necessary elements are positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual accountability, social skills, and group…

An Arizona school board member offers 13 tips for avoiding excessive or divisive emotional involvement in school board issues. These tips generally emphasize the importance of civility, open-mindedness, factual support for arguments, tact, detachment, and humor. (TE)

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 article proposes a cooperative assessment strategy with language impaired children to assist the interdisciplinary psychoeducational evaluation and planning team to function as a unit by (1) agreeing on a theoretical framework, (2) cooperating in planning the assessment, (3) raising questions for the assessment, and (4) making cooperative…

Differences in educational practice and culture of a British distance university and Australian traditional university are the basis for analysis of curriculum development methods. It is proposed that, although generally individual faculty design new courses, there are good reasons (efficiency, cohesiveness, professional development, academic…

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)

Presents relational and structural conditions necessary to successful collaboration between college faculty and administrators. Relational conditions include "refuse to play zero-sum games" and "the most important power in a college is the power to persuade." Structural conditions include "clarify the roles of players" and "prefer a matrix…