Team Teaching in the Elementary School: A Long-Term Qualitative Study of Teacher Planning and Decision-Making

This study examined collaborative planning and decision making in a grade level team of elementary teachers during team meetings. Fourteen teachers in a suburban district participated over 3 years. Participants were predominantly white and female and ranged from first-year to experienced teachers. Teachers were observed during regular weekly team planning meetings involving curriculum planning and team business. Team captains conducted all meetings. Data collected during these team meetings included observations of team members' levels of participation and field notes on discussion topics and actions toward consensus and decision making. Team members were interviewed about their perceptions of team teaching in general, the functioning of this particular team, their role in shared decision making, and their perceptions of the evolving roles of team members due to several significant changes in leadership, personnel, philosophy, and interpersonal issues. While the original team was a strong, high- performance team, the many changes over time resulted in a variety of challenges and eventually to a diminished ability to achieve team goals. External leadership from the principal and internal leadership from veteran teachers with needed skills acted together to bring the team back to its previous high level of functioning. (Contains 22 references.) (SM)