Effects of Student Teams and Peer Tutoring on Academic Achievement and Time On-Task

AbstractThis experiment studied the separate effects on student achievement and time on-task of three components of the team learning technique, Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD): cooperative rewards, group tasks, and a focused schedule of instruction. The subjects were 336 fourth and fifth grade students in 14 classes who studied language mechanics for nine weeks in one of five treatments. The results of a curriculum-specific achievement test and behavioral observation of time on-task indicated significantly greater performance in cooperative than traditional reward structures, but significantly lower performance in group than individual task structures. The focused schedule was found to be an important component of STAD in increasing academic achievement. Notes1. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Education. The author wishes to thank John Wodarski, Anna Harris, Nancy Karweit, Nancy Madden, John Hollifield, John Ferdian, Betty Harris, Brenda Chapin, and the staff and students of the Washington County Public Schools of Maryland for their help with this project. Requests for reprints should be sent to Robert E. Slavin, Center for Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218.