The Relationship between the Self-perceived Effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Teacher Teams and Student Academic Achievement

Middle level schools have embraced the organizational concept of interdisciplinary teaming and implemented practices of collaboration and teamwork to address academic, social, and emotional needs of students (Mertens & Flowers, 2004). However, concerns about mediocre academic performance of middle level students have interdisciplinary teaming under attack (Yecke, 2006). The following research questions were the focus of the study. 1. What is the relationship between the self-perceived effectiveness of an interdisciplinary team and student academic achievement? 2. Does the percentage of Low SES students (those receiving free and reduced price lunch) impact the relationship between the self-perceived effectiveness of an interdisciplinary 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 academic performance. The hypothesis was that the more an interdisciplinary team perceives itself to be meeting the characteristics of effective interdisciplinary teams, the better its students would perform academically. Seventh and eighth grade students in the Olathe District Schools made up the sample. The teachers selected for the study teach a core subject on an interdisciplinary team assigned to 7 th or 8 th grade students. Interdisciplinary team effectiveness was measured using The Interdisciplinary Team Audit. Olathe School District and Kansas reading assessment scores measured student academic performance. The data collected were calculated using SPSS software to determine descriptive statistics. Calculation of