| dc.description.abstract |
Middle level schools have embraced the organizational concept ofinterdisciplinary teaming and implemented practices of collaboration and teamwork toaddress academic, social, and emotional needs of students (Mertens & Flowers, 2004).However, concerns about mediocre academic performance of middle level students haveinterdisciplinary teaming under attack (Yecke, 2006). The following research questionswere the focus of the study.1. What is the relationship between the self-perceived effectiveness of aninterdisciplinary team and student academic achievement?2. Does the percentage of Low SES students (those receiving free and reduced pricelunch) impact the relationship between the self-perceived effectiveness of aninterdisciplinary team of teachers and student academic achievement?The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between the selfperceived effectiveness of interdisciplinary teacher teams and student academicperformance. The hypothesis was that the more an interdisciplinary team perceives itselfto be meeting the characteristics of effective interdisciplinary teams, the better itsstudents would perform academically.Seventh and eighth grade students in the Olathe District Schools made up thesample. The teachers selected for the study teach a core subject on an interdisciplinaryteam assigned to 7th or 8th grade students. Interdisciplinary team effectiveness wasmeasured using The Interdisciplinary Team Audit. Olathe School District and Kansasreading assessment scores measured student academic performance. The data collectedwere calculated using SPSS software to determine descriptive statistics. Calculation of the correlation coefficient of the data points determined the strength and direction of therelationship between the variables.Research question 1 demonstrates a positive relationship that as teacher team selfperceived effectiveness survey score increased, Kansas assessment scores of the studentsalso increased. The same is true between the self-perceived effectiveness of the teacherteam instructional practices survey score and the Kansas assessment score.Research question 2 revealed a negative, statistically significant relationshipbetween the increased percentage of Low SES students and the decreased student readingassessment scores. In another calculation, as the percentage of Low SES studentsincreased, the teacher teams‟ self-perceived effectiveness decreased at a statisticallysignificant level.This study builds on a promising base describing the potential positive impactinterdisciplinary teams have on young adolescent development and academicachievement. |
en_US |