In typical academic settings, one spends a lot more time functioning solo than in typical settings outside the academic context. One is supposed to show one's mettle and display one's skill as an individual. The notion of grading a team or giving a team a degree is completely alien. I am not saying that we should start giving degrees to teams, but I am saying that many academic settings offer too few opportunities for collaborative work. At-risk kids often are thought of as slow learners because they are not particularly in tune with academic expectations.
Some people have strengths that only show up when the rules of the game are changed.
Suddenly you find people who didn't look so smart before looking smarter, and vice versa. By acknowledging intelligence in the wild and its importance, we can legitimately hope to find a connection with some youngsters who haven't been relating, responding, or learning well in the traditional academic mode. Since 1971, David N. Perkins has served as co-director of Project Zero, a research and development group at Harvard Graduate School of Education concerned with learning, intelligence, creativity, and understanding in child and adult contexts. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics and artificial intelligence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. He has published and spoken widely.