Maryland School Experiments With Team Teaching

The Baltimore Sun (2/4, Hare) reports, "St. Ambrose Academy in Park Heights [MD] is trying out a new education model developed at Harvard University that has two teachers sharing a classroom, students and lessons in the Catholic elementary school's kindergarten and first-grade classes. The teaching team can offer more individualized instruction, break off to work with groups of students with similar skill levels and provide more hands-on learning." According to the Sun, "The program is one of several that grew from recommendations of a committee of local education, business and community leaders appointed by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien. Faced with declining enrollment and rising costs, the Archdiocese of Baltimore closed 13 of its 64 schools last year" which "led to innovations in several other schools, including St. Ambrose."