Transforming Middle Level Education: Perspectives and Possibilities
Joanne Arhar

Does teaming make a difference in student outcomes?  The answer is that it probably does, but not in direct, easily discernible ways.  It appears as if teaming is a manifestation of a commitment on the part of teachers to engage in teacher-student relationships that facilitate growth and individual student development.  That teaming causes the philosophical commitment is unlikely; that it gives teachers the ability to translate their commitment into action is almost certain.  More important, teaming creates conditions that are directly related to student social bonding.  It reduces isolation and anonymity; it allows teachers to know their students quite well; and it permits teachers to “gang up” on students in positive ways to enhance their learning.

Research on Middle School Renewal
“What Makes Interdisciplinary Teams Effective?”
Nancy Flowers, Steven Mertens, & Peter Mulhall
National Middle School Association

For many teachers who are assigned to a team for the first time, working on an interdisciplinary team represents a change from the security of their often isolated classrooms to a setting that requires collaboration, teamwork, and ongoing communication with other teachers.  Since interdisciplinary teams are comprised of groups of teachers from different subject areas who work together to coordinate instruction, communication, and assessment for a common group of students, teachers must learn to work collaboratively, establish equitable responsibilities among team members, and set attainable goals for the team.  Further, once teams have established professional and interactive relationships, they must learn how best to use their group efforts given the goals they have set for themselves.  Since very few educators are trained or prepared to work on teams, these are challenging and often frustrating tasks for even the most dedicated and caring teachers.  However, when a team can crystallize its goals and tasks, its members can work together to influence curriculum and instruction, which in turn influences the learning process.  In fact, schools engaged in interdisciplinary teaming have a more positive school climate, have more frequent contact with parents, have higher job satisfaction among teachers, and report higher student achievement scores than non-teaming schools (Flowers, Merterns, and Mulhall, 1999).