The purpose of the research is to investigate the effects of cooperative learning techniques on the academic achievement of middle school (grades 6, 7, and 8) learning disabled students. The hypothesis that will be tested is as follows:

The use of cooperative learning techniques will improve the academic achievement of middle school (grades 6, 7, and 8) learning disabled students.

The research method will include an experimental design in which student performance subsequent to the cooperative learning intervention will be compared with baseline student performance prior to the cooperative learning intervention. Students participating in the study will be assigned to one of four groups: three experimental groups and one control group. Students assigned to each of the three experimental groups will be exposed to different variations of cooperative learning during t

Cheek, L., Logan, K., Sprecher, S. & Streitmatter, B. (1997). Improving age-appropriate social skills to enhance academic performance. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 411 080).

Most of the research findings reported above were not directly related to achievement. Kristen (2002), however, reviewed research conducted from 1990 to 2000, some of which did find that cooperative learning contributed to improvements in academic achievement among children who were at-risk for a variety of reasons. The significance of this proposed study is that it will add current findings to complement the earlier research.