EFFECTS OF A COOPERATIVE LEARNING APPROACH IN READING AND WRITING ON ACADEMICALLY HANDICAPPED AND NONHANDICAPPED STUDENTS

A 2-year study was conducted to determine the long-term effects of a c omprehensive cooperative learning approach to elementary reading and l anguage arts instruction on students' achievement, attitudes, and meta cognitive awareness. In the Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composi tion (CIRC) program, students in second through sixth grade worked in heterogeneous learning teams on reading and writing activities related to stories they were reading. Teachers provided students with explici t instruction on comprehension strategies and used a writing process a pproach to teach writing and language arts. The study also mainstreame d academically handicapped students in regular classes, and these stud ents were active participants in the cooperative learning team activit ies. In the study 635 students at 3 elementary schools using the CIRC program were compared to 664 students at 4 matched schools that used t raditional instruction. The 72 academically handicapped students at th e CIRC schools were mainstreamed in CIRC and compared to 65 students i n pull-out programs in the control schools. The first-year results sho wed that CIRC students had significantly higher achievement in reading vocabulary and reading comprehension. Second-year results indicated t hat CIRC students had significantly higher achievement in vocabulary, comprehension, and language expression. The CIRC students also exhibit ed greater metacognitive awareness than did their peers. Academically handicapped students who were mainstreamed in CIRC classes had signifi cantly higher achievement in reading vocabulary, reading comprehension , and language expression than did comparable special education studen ts taught in traditional settings. There were no significant effects o n students' attitudes toward reading or writing.