The Size of a Team

Is there an optimum size for a teacher team?

Researchers have been unable to arrive at a consensus regarding the optimum size of a team. ere have been powerful teams of two—the Wright Brothers, Lennon and McCartney, and Brin and Page (the creators of Google). Large teams have also accomplished great things. Steve Jobs created a team of 50 people to develop the Macintosh computer. e Manhattan Project, which oversaw the creation of the atomic bomb, was the largest collaboration of scientists in the history of the United States up to that time. Over 150,000 engineers, contractors, military personnel, and construction workers contributed to the project. In her book Team Moon, Catherine immesh (2006) refers to the 400,000 people who worked on the Apollo 11 project as “the greatest team ever.” e size of the team certainly impacts the way it operates. A team of 25 members will function di erently from one with four or ve members. e larger team will likely divide tasks among smaller subgroups, convene more frequently in subgroups, and reserve larger team meetings for reviewing recommendations and making decisions. e important questions are, Do these teachers have shared responsibility for student learning? and Will they be asked to work interdependently to achieve common goals for which members are mutually accountable?

It would, therefore, be completely arbitrary to attempt to declare the denitive optimum size for the collaborative teams within a PLC. It also would be foolish for eight teachers assigned to teach sophomore English to exclude one member from participating on the team because members had decided that seven was the optimum number.

Reference

immesh, C. (2006). Team moon: How 400,000 people landed Apollo 11 on the moon. New York: Houghton Mi in.

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