The Power of Student Teams

In many classrooms, the teacher’s role is to talk and the student’s role is to listen. Whose brain is doing most of the work in this scenario? Authors Michael D. Toth and David A. Sousa present an alternative: a new pedagogical model called student-led academic teaming. In academic teams, students collaborate, peer coach, and peer teach while engaging in rigorous, standards-based tasks—a combination that leads to true social, emotional, and cognitive learning (SECL).

The simple truth is student-led academic teaming elevates core instruction to a level of rigor far beyond that of traditional classrooms and familiar grouping strategies. This book includes a groundbreaking 10,000-student research study on a large urban district where teaming raised achievement across the board, and narrowed achievement gaps for African-American students, English Language Learners, and students with special needs.

Toth and Sousa describe here a path to predictable success for every student, in every classroom, in every school—all backed by student data, neuroscience research, and experiences from superintendents, school leaders, teachers, and students who have made the shift. Teach for the 21st?century through the power of student teams. This is the last major school reform you will ever have to make.