EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ON THE SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE OF MAINSTREAMED ACADEMICALLY HANDICAPPED STUDENTS

Studies examining relationships between children with learning problems and their peers have consistently indicated that learning disabled and educable mentally retarded students have fewer friends and are more frequently rejected by their classmates than are other students. While most studies have examined the characteristics of the special child that might contribute to low acceptance or high rejection, studies of classroom reward structure have suggested that in addition to these characteristics, the competitive structure of the traditional classroom could contribute to the poor sociometric status of mildly academically handicapped students. Competitive situations have been found to lead to frustration, anxiety, and scapegoating typically directed at the "loser," who in the classroom is often the academically handicapped child. This could result in the poor sociometric status observed for special children. In contrast, research on the use of cooperative classroom structures has indicated that positive interpersonal relationships are increased among normal-progress students when students work in cooperation with each other, even when barriers to friendship, such as sex and race differences, are present. This study examined the use of a cooperative classroom structure to facilitate social acceptance and reduce rejection of mildly academically handicapped students. The cooperation was structured around an academic task, mathematics instruction, to insure that time was not taken from instruction. Thus, the achievement of normal-progress students in the class would not be hindered. The treatment involved the use of 4 to 5 member heterogeneous learning teams, in which students of different academic levels worked together. Both low and high performers could contribute equally to the team. Teams were rewarded for good performance by being named in a weekly newsletter. The cooperative intervention was compared to a control treatment in which students studied the same mathematics curriculum individually and were rewarded by being named individually in a weekly newsletter for performance above their usual level. The subjects in the study were 183 third, fourth, and sixth graders in an urban elementary school. Thirty-eight of these students were identified by the school as needing special education because they were at least two years below grade level academically. Each teacher in the study taught one experimental and one control class for seven weeks. Classes were randomly assigned to treatments. The results indicated that special students in the cooperative treatment were less frequently rejected than were students in the control treatment. However, there were no differences in friendship choices. Both special and normal-progress students in the cooperative treatment felt that they had more support for their academic work from their peers and that they had greater academic success. For the class as a whole, mathematics achievement was greater for students in the cooperative treatment, and self-esteem was enhanced. Special students in the experimental group gained more in achievement than special students in the control group to the same degree that all experimental students gained more than all control students, but because of the small size of the special sample the difference was not significant. Special students in the cooperative treatment were found to be less distractible than were students in the control treatment, but teachers' ratings indicated that control special students were involved in fewer major disruptions. These findings provide partial support for the major hypotheses of the study. They suggest that the use of cooperation within the classroom can reduce rejection of mildly academically handicapped students by normal-progress students while increasing the academic progress of all students. Further work needs to be done to determine how friendship can be enhanced.