Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to describe eight factors of team collaboration as were perceived to exist in ten elementary school grade level teams within five low-socioeconomic schools in San Diego County, California, and (2) to determine the relationship between the overall presence of the collaborative factors and teacher perception of the level of student achievement. Methodology. The researcher used descriptive and correlational research. The population consisted of ten elementary school grade level teams located in San Diego County, California. The teams were composed of three to seven members. The qualitative data for this study were collected during face-to-face group interviews. Qualitative analysis was used to identify, classify, and summarize the collaborative activities of grade level teams. The quantitative data were collected through individual surveys. Quantitative data analysis was used to create mean scores, frequencies, and standard deviation. Findings. The findings indicated that of the eight factors studied, two were present in at least 80 percent of the teams, had a mean rating on the 5-point Likert scale of 4 or above, and showed a "moderate correlation" with student achievement. Those two factors were (1) discussing instructional strategies to increase student achievement and (2) producing specific products and/or notes of team discussion and planning. Conclusions. The conclusions were (1) teachers perceive that having opportunities to discuss instructional strategies increases student achievement, (2) as teachers become more intentional about documenting their collaborative work through written products, student achievement will increase, (3) teachers plan student interventions in their team meetings; however, most interventions were dependent on additional staff, (4) teachers do not have adequate knowledge of strategies necessary for facilitating meetings with peers including the use and understanding of written norms and protocols, (5) grade level teams have team leaders; however, there is no leadership training for those team leaders, and (6) teachers have been provided standards-aligned materials by districts and use them to guide instruction and set goals. Recommendations. Future research studies should include (1) the role of the school principal in grade level teacher team collaboration and (2) development and training of effective teacher team leaders.