Team Assisted Individualization

This paper summarizes research on a mathematics program that combines cooperative learning and individualized instruction to accommodate the social and academic needs of mainstreamed academically handicapped students and their nonhandicapped classmates. This program, Team Assisted Individualization (TAI), was found to improve the social and academic behavior of these students, and in one of two studies, to increase their mathematics achievement more than traditional methods. Positive effects on the achievement and behavior of nonhandicapped students were also found. The implications of these findings for instruction in mainstreamed classrooms are discussed.