Configuration of 3rd grade..should it be departmentalized?

In this Harvard Education Letter (drenched in research), Lucy Hood shares, "The research on the effectiveness of departmentalizing is not clear." Consequently, our discussion is not in vain. Read more and learn more about this topic at: http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/426#home

[quote]Schools should be configured around the needs of children, not the passions of teachers.[quote]

I agree with this statement! I would recommend that this be a discussion you have with your building leadership team. I would start by asking a question based upon the statement above: Is our system in the best interest of the kids? Next I would start looking at child development literature and come up with a system that best meets the needs of your students. I would have your leadership team or grade level team leaders start here and end with your vision in mind. I would follow up with these four questions: 1. What exactly do we expect all students to learn? (Your leadership team could consider this in the context of teaching the kids in self-contained or departmentalized). 2. How will we know if and when they have learned it? 3. How will we respond when some students don't learn? and 4. How will we respond when some students have already learned? From these questions you and your leadership team may find the answer to your departmentalized question.

I have been at elementary and secondary levels and I have taught at the college level to include teaching methods to teacher candidates; I would argue for the above approach.

At my school we have discussed the same issue. There is no real solution. It depends on the needs of your school. It sounds as if you might want to observe the literacy instruction at your school to determine how to guide your staff to reflection of their instruction. You could experiment with one of the grade levels to see if there are improvements?

I'm a new principal at at school where teaming takes place in 4th grade. I have a few concerns that might help you make your decision.
#1 - This year due to budget cuts we have 5 fourth grade classes. The teams are made of two teachers, so one of the 4th grade teachers will have to be self contained. Fortunately, she doesn't like team teaching, so it works out, but what if...
#2 - Due to loosing a section in 1st grade, I have to move a 1st grade teacher to 4th grade who is considered weak. I think she's just inexperienced. She will be teaching reading, language and writing to two classes. Her partner teacher has only taught 4th grade for 1 year. Since 4th grade is a pass or fail grade I'm nervous because she'll be responsible for 40 students instead of 20.
#3 - Scheduling is a nightmare!
#4 - Time is lost in transition. The classes switch after their bathroom break, which takes about 15 - 20 minutes including the bathroom time. My fourth graders are in portable building which adds to transition time.
#5 What happens when the math/science teacher leaves and the new hire's strength is reading?
I've seen no significant improvement in test scores.
I've told my fourth grade team that this may be our last year for teaming and they are disappointed for personal reason like planning time, "I prefer teaching ________.", etc.
I think the post on what is in the best interest of the student should be the priority for every decision we make, even when it may be unpopular.

I was reluctant to departmentalize grades 3-5 about 5 years ago but it was one of the best collaborative decisions that was made with lots of teacher input. Departmentalizing was a win-win for both students and teachers. Student test scores improved and teachers were allowed to teach subject matter they were passionate about. Students were also exposed to more teachers within their grade level and to different teaching styles. All stakeholders benefited.

Is it possible to have a team of three instead of a stand alone? The team of three should be able to help each other with the subjects. You could break it down by subject if they wanted to.

To answer Mr Grimmer's question, we had a team of 3. All teachers had experience teaching in other grade levels but not in 3rd grade. One of the teachers had a reading specialist certification obviously taught reading. The other two had both elementary and secondary backgrounds. One teacher had it in social studies so she taught social studies as well as science. The third teacher had a special education background and was marvelous at differentiating instruction in math so she taught the math. It was a bear with scheduling but we made it work. Good luck to you,

The old adage that "two heads are better than one" comes to mind here. One teacher responsible for only "their class" is an out of date idea. Inexperienced teachers need the time and opportunity to work with experienced staff in an open, reflective collaboration supremely focused on students. Shared responsibility for each and every student - focusing on student work, is best achieved - in my opinion in team teaching configurations - well worth the scheduling hassle. Ironically "departmentalization" at the secondary level often has the opposite effect of isolating not only staff but also learning objectives across the curriculum leading to statements like, "I'm not here to teach reading. I'm the Math teacher:

Our recent benchmark scores for the district in Literacy and Math show greater progress for Grade 3 students in math in the two of four classes where the teachers 'love' math; in literacy, the scores were slightly lower in one classroom where the math scores were high - but generally the literacy scores were the same in all four classrooms. The difference? The teachers who have better content knowledge of math were more willing to use data all year long from various assessments to address student needs; perhaps a team leader and/or math coach for the grade could support the other classroom teachers even more than they probably do to use the data to reteach in small groups. Also, integrating the curriculum is a proven approach for meaningful teaching and learning - this won't happen as readily in departmentalized instruction

I am doing research on self-contained v departmentalized instruction for a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership. This is my specific question:
Does Self-Contained instruction produce higher student achievement in Reading than Departmentalized instruction in third grade?

I am an Elementary Reading teacher at a rural school.Last year we had 5 third grade classes. Four were departmentalized and one self contained. I will be teaching them next year as 4th grade is departmentalized. Self-contained data at our school suggests higher Reading scores.
Any further on the topic suggestions.