Welcome!

Until we begin, please help yourself to refreshments!

The Impact of Organizational Structures on

Classroom Learning

by Summer NorthernLindsey Jeo

Steven AldazAlena Ababon

Seminar Time Schedule3:30-3:40: Welcome and Refreshments (10 min)3:40-3:45: Self-Contained (5 min)3:45-3:50: Departmentalization (5 min)3:50-4:00 Small group discussion (15 min)4:00-4:05: Looping (5 min)4:05-4:10: Multi-Age (5 min)4:10-4:20: Small group discussion (10 min)4:20-4:40: Large group discussion (15 min)4:40-4:50: Evaluation (10 min)

★ Participants will be able to recommend a “research based” organizational structure for a particular grade level.

★ Participants will be able to justify their recommendation with key research.

★ Participants will contribute meaningfully to the seminar.

Goals of the Seminar

Overarching Seminar Question

Is there one organizational structure that best promotes student learning?

Population distributions? Is it possible for different organizational structures to co-exist in the same classroom/for same grade? Should the preparations for teachers change depending on the organizational structure used?

★ Self-contained

★ Departmentalization

★ Looping

★ Multi-age classrooms

Organizational Structures

Self-Contained Classrooms

• A self-contained classroom is defined as one teacher teaching all the subjects in one classroom o Traditionally used in elementary

schoolso Teachers are generalists

Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts

• Produces a coordinated curriculum (Culyer, 1984)• No rotation

o “Rotation is more likely to disrupt the younger than the older child’s development because,..., the barriers to learning are mainly in the child not in the difficulty of the subjects studied” (Elkind, 1988)

• No time wasted on transition (Culyer, 1984)• Greater teacher acquaintance (Ackerlund)• Avoids necessity of child having to adjust to more than one

teacher (Ackerlund)• Younger students benefit from stability and continuity (Hood)

Benefits of Self-Contained Class

• Typical elementary school teacher is a jack of all subjects and the master of none (Tanner, 1960)o Several researchers confirm the need for

teachers to understand the subject matter they teach (Ponder)

• Flexibility allows for teacher to skip subjectso If a teacher lacks confidence in a subject, they

tend to skip ito Science is taught for about 16 minutes a day in

most kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms (Teicher, 2005)

Disadvantages of Self-Contained Class

• In a study of 5th and 6th graders, students in self-contained classes experienced significant gains in language and science (McGrath and Rust, 2002)o No differences in reading math, social studies

• In a study of 4th and 5th graders, 4th grade students in self-contained classes achieved better on social studies (Bowser, 1984)o No differences in science for 4th graders, no significant

difference in 5th graders• In a study of 6th graders, students in self-contained classes

performed higher in reading, math, and science (Garrigan, 1992)o No difference in social studies

• “Statistical studies of the effectiveness of departmentalization and the self-contained classroom often report findings that are contradictory and inconclusive” (Morrison, 1968)

Research on Self-Contained Class

• There’s no consensus in regard to organizational structures best for upper elementary (Ponder)

• No evidence that adjustment to different teaching personalities simultaneously is harmful to children (Ackerlund)

The process of grouping subjects into departments.

★ Students receive instruction from several different teachers, each specializing in a different subject

Departmentalization

Easy transition from middle school to high school.

Improves interpersonal skills

More thorough

Benefits of Departmentalization

Study 1-GPS GEORGIA PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

➔ Departmentalized 843.36➔ Traditional 837.73

Study 2-“Fourth grade earned all five points on the state proficiency test after two years of departmentalization.”(Canady & Retting 1995)

Research

• What makes a good teacher?

• Lack of nurturing

• Difficult communication

• Many hours of organization occur when beginning departmentalization

Disadvantages of Departmentalization

“Our third grade team spent several days developing consistent rules, discipline procedures and organizational strategies.”

(A. Rosser October 7, 2004).

“Specializing in one subject area is a more efficient use of time”

“Alternative schedules may not add hours to the school day, but they can vastly improve the quality of the time students spend at school.”(Canady & Retting 1995)

TIME

Study 1-Results indicated a slightly lower mean number of books read and far less variation among classes in the number of books read.(Lamme, Elementary School Journal)

Study 2-Departmentalization improves the quality of instruction in specialized subject matter at a cost to student-teacher relations.

Research

Will departmentalization of curricular areas reduce stress on teachers as they prepare their lessons?

Will departmentalization enable teachers to create more meaningful and engaging lessons for students?

Will departmentalization provide teachers with more time to assess student work?

Do you think teachers need an education degree if they are departmentalized?

Should todays teachers have more content knowledge?Do you think today's teachers are prepared for this particular organizational structure?

Do you see these learning structures outside of the classroom?Jack of all trades, Master of none….How does this affect how the student receives information/content?

DISCUSSION TIME

● Endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education as early as 1913 referred to as a form of classroom organization in which a teacher spends two or three years with the same group of students.

● Implemented the most in elementary school, but is seen in middle school and rarely in high school.

● Looping is a structure not a program. (Char Forsten)● Preparing the teachers adequately for their “new” curriculum yields the

best results.

Looping“You can’t make a student learn you have to get to know how they learn, how they retain information, what motivates them.”

● More personalized and individualized learning and instruction (Berlin 1996, Burke, 1996)

● A better understanding of students learning abilities and needs (especially beneficial for students who have challenges in the classroom) (Berlin, 1996, Grant, 1996)

● Continuity in an academic program● Strong relationships with students, parents, and families (Pecanic

2003)● Higher test scores (Kelley, Carothers, 2004)● A sense of familiarity and connection (helps with transition)

(Pecanic, 2003)● Possibilities for summertime learning (Hanson, 1995)● Long term relationships result in an emotional and intellectual climate that

encourages thinking, risk-taking, and involvement. (Marzano, 1992)

Benefits of Looping

● A teacher has to have familiarity with more than one grade’s materials and methods for teaching it

● Class management could be disrupted and challenging because of students knowing each other too well (would also impede learning)

● Poor match with students● No exposure to different classroom environments, instructional

methods, or other students● Students adapt to less change (Hoffman)

Disadvantages of Looping

● A lot of benefits and disadvantages resulting from studies in different grade levels and classroom environments.

● However, it has been tried in Colorado, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts, to name a few.

○ Some positive results, some negative, some inconclusive.■ Data from a seven year period from a school district that

loops 1st-8th grades in Massachusetts: student attendance increased daily from 92% to 97%, discipline and suspensions declined significantly, retention rates decreased by more than 43%

■ Looping referred to as “the gift of time” (Elliott and Capp, 2003; Mazzuchi and Brooks, 1992)

■ Snoke (2007)■ Jacobson (1997)

Research

• Based on Piaget, Montessori, Burner• where students of different age, maturity

level, or grade are all in a single classroomo can be used in pre-school all through

high school to differing degreeo can be used in part with self-contained,

looped, or departmentalized classesb

What are Multi-age Classrooms?

What kind of benefits do multi-age classrooms create?

● classrooms become more of a family ○ Younger learn from and

emulate older (Adams, 1997)

○ older learn to support and lead the younger

• attitudes toward school improve- especially in low SES students (Gorrell, 1998)

• Social development is developed and strong friendships are formed

• Students make largest gains in vocabulary and verbal simulations (Prat, 1986)o “assistance most often flows from the more

competent to the less competent...but influence is inevitably reciprocal and shared” Tharp (89)

• no academic benefit• “Simply no worse, and simply no better,

than single grade or single age classroom” Veenman

• most often used with special needs students -or- only the most high-achieving (Tangen-Foster, 1998)

• requires the teacher to differentiate more - this is tiring, and difficult (Kobelin; Adams 1997)

What are some of the disadvantages of this method?

• More natural socialization and formations of friendships (Pratt, 1986)

• In 18 different studies of low SES students in Chicago and Milwaukee schools found lower aggressiono “live together for two or more years and are familiar with

each other...an atmosphere of shared responsibility for classroom order” (McClellan, 1997)

• Four studies in early ‘90s show academic gains o “children think more, learn more, remember more, take

greater pleasure in learning, spend more time on task, and are more productive in classes that emphasize learning in well-implemented cooperative groups rather than in individualistic or competitive structures” (McCellan, 1997)

Research

• Do looping and multi-age have their benefits?

• Are the social benefits provided by looping and multi-age classrooms enough incentive to choose them over Self-contained and Departmentalized?

• Even though the academic benefits are negligible?

• Which,in your opinion, is most important? Academics or social?

DISCUSSION TIME

Each group please pick one structure of learning that we discussed today that best promotes student learning?

Which organizational structure best promotes student learning?

Population distributions? Is it possible for different organizational structures to co-exist in the same classroom/for same grade? Should the preparations for teachers change depending on the organizational structure used?

Is there one organizational structure that best promotes

student learning?