Effective School Teams: Benefits, Barriers, and Best Practices

Abstract

As a result of federal mandates such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) as well as the increasing use of methods such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Response to Intervention (RTI) for providing necessary school services lo students, interdisciplinary teams have become the norm rather than the exception in schools. Despite the prevalence of interdisciplinary teams in schools, however, evidence suggests that teams must adhere closely to evidence-based problem-solving procedures if they are to be effective at improving student outcomes. Due to the infrequency with which school teams adopt "best practices" for problem-solving, team processes are often inefficient and school staff are often dissatisfied with team functioning. Although leaders in the SMH movement have advocated for the establishment of interdisciplinary SMH teams, there is comparably less literature focused on how to build these teams or how to evaluate the team's functioning. Given the importance of effective team functioning for the advancement of SMH, the current chapter addresses issues surrounding the creation and functioning of school teams. First, we discuss the need for school teams and the benefits of establishing effective school teams. We then discuss challenges to successful functioning of school teams. Finally, we present some "best practices" for school teams based on recommendations in the school teaming literature and discuss a problem-solving framework teams can use to implement evidence-based innovations and evaluate team effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)