If I have three apples, and give you one, how many apples will I have? Better ask someone in the math department.
The traditional one-teacher elementary school model is giving way to a middle school format, with different teachers for reading, math, science and social studies in Palm Beach County, Florida. Some schools will have subject-specific teachers as early as kindergarten, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Parents and teachers are reportedly ”steamed” about the plan, and are demanding to see research demonstrating the move will help improve performance.
Administrators say there are numerous benefits for the teaching model, such as morphing teachers from jacks-of-all-trades to subject-matter experts. Officials say departmentalization will help schools respond to new state standards and new versions of the FCAT beginning in 2011, resulting in higher achievement among even the most-struggling students. “They are going to have to trust that we as educators are doing what’s right for their children,” Chief Academic Officer Jeffrey Hernandez said Monday. “We are constantly reforming our schools to meet the needs of our students.”
But Robert Dow, president of the Palm Beach Classroom Teachers Association, dismisses the move as a “fad” without anything concrete to back it up. “Departmentalization?” Dow asks. “Seven syllables. Gotta be good. No research, but hey! All elementary teachers will be departmentalized whether they like it or not, whether what they do now works or not.”
I can see some benefits to the plan, not the least of which is the tendency to give short shrift to subjects like science and social studies that are not tested. That said, very young children almost certainly benefit from the security and continuity of a relationship of a single teacher.
For young students, I would definitely agree that a single teacher would be best. When I went to school, however, departmentalization began in 5th grade (or perhaps it was 4th; it was a while ago).
I have seen too many elementary level teachers with too much difficulty with basic math to dismiss this plan outright. Some teachers have suggested a “soft departmentalization”, where students would take some classes with their own teacher, and some with another of the same grade level. These teachers would split based on which subjects they had the greatest comfort level in teaching.
I have seen a great many intelligent and hard working teachers. That said, when one takes the nation as a whole, we are not always getting the best and the brightest in the classroom. It’s been a while since I saw the numbers, but college students going into education, on average, tend to be those on the bottom of academic performance and achievement. Urban districts in particular generally end up with people who are either missionaries or can’t find a job anywhere else.
These are all issues that are going to require major systemic changes to fix. Since no individual district has the power to effect these changes, departmentalization may be the best way to go.
Obi-Wandreas is correct on the academic background on many teachers. More to the point, few at the top of their class have broad backgrounds in math, science, language, social studies, educational history and techniques, and any other requirements for state boards.
I didn’t mention physical education, music or art because those topics have already been deemed so important that “specialists” are hired in most districts.
It’s never been a question whether elementary teachers can do 3rd grade math or handle the spelling lists; but whether they can impart an attitude toward all subjects that makes students want to learn for the next decade or so. Yes, science is often taught at the end of the day with the hope that “time doesn’t allow class today” rather than deal with the questions of the kids. Maybe that’s better than a continuation of the teachers’ misconceptions.
It is educational malpractice for ed schools to produce graduates unable to teach elementary school math or any other elementary subject. Ed students, admittedly weaker than their counterparts in other departments, need MORE CONTENT from real academic departments; math, English, history, sciences. It has also been known for decades that most of the more academically talented students can’t survive four years of ed school BS and babble; they seek more challenging departments.
Amen to Momof4! There’s more than a little truth to the old adage, “if you CAN, DO; if you CAN’T, TEACH”. Add to that the difference in compensation or the desire to avoid the “BS and babble” mentioned above; and you don’t have the strongest teaching force possible.
Education courses stress teaching technique above knowledge of the subjects. Granted that a Nobel Prize winner may not be able to teach teenagers; but education requirements do not make any guarantee of basic understanding in the sciences alone.
I don’t have all the answers, and elementary education does not have all the problems. I once struggled with a student teacher that had a physics major, a chemistry minor plus education credits that took 6 years to complete. No surprise there. However, his college course work (40 semester hours of physics) did not cover all the topics in our high school text. Guess what we had left to do when he showed up in the spring?
I think a lot depends on the scale of the elementary school. My daughter’s school had 3 classrooms per grade, and started doing some moving around for math in 2nd grade — there weren’t math specialists, but each teacher specialized in a portion of the math curriculum.
Parents didn’t seem fazed, because that was they way things were done in second grade. But when one of the other elementary schools introduced something similar, there was a bit of an uproar.
In the elementary school I attended in the 50’s, the “homeroom” teacher taught language arts (reading, writing, spelling and penmanship). We had “homeroom” for half the day. The other half was devoted to the specialty classes taught by individual teachers: social studies, science, art, music and PE. This pattern was used from 2nd grade through 6th. (First grade was one teacher for the whole day). I enjoyed the variety.