Christine U.

Nguyen
March 29, 2015
Expository Final
Elementary Classroom Organizational Structures
In the efforts to raise student achievement and close the achievement gap, NCLB (No
Child Left Behind) mandated that every classroom teacher who teaches an academic core subject
must be highly qualified. For elementary school teachers, this means having to have the content
mastery to teach math, reading, English language arts, science, and social studies. In the
traditional elementary school setting, there is one teacher who is responsible for teaching all the
subjects to one group of students. This task can be daunting when countless hours must be
dedicated to the planning and preparation of each subject. This can also be problematic when
ones expertise does not spread across all the content areas. There is currently a shift in the
organizational structure of elementary school classrooms towards departmentalization, where
teachers are responsible for fewer subjects, but more students. This shift is attributable to the
demands of meeting accountability measures, but one can also see other positive effects in the
classroom that have resulted from the change.
In a traditional elementary classroom, there is one teacher responsible for teaching her
students all the subjects; math, science, social studies, English language arts, and reading. This is
referred to as a self-contained classroom. In this setting, the teacher is referred to as a
generalist whose knowledge is widespread across the content areas. The students receive their
instruction from one teacher and remain in the same classroom for the entire school day. One
benefit of a self-contained classroom is maximized instruction time. Having one teacher

decreases the number of transitions throughout the day. With this organizational structure,
students do not have to switch classes mid-day to receive instruction from another teacher, go
back to their homeroom class if they forgot something, or even switch back to their homeroom
class at the end of the day for dismissal. Another benefit of this organization structure is positive
teacher-student relationships. Because of the significant amount of time spent with their
students, teachers get to know their students and come to understand strengths and weaknesses
and how to best meet their needs. The teacher is able to teach the whole child and focus on
more than just students academic needs, but their social and emotional needs as well (Lobdell &
Van Ness, 1963).
The opposing organizational structure of a classroom is departmentalization. In this
setting, the teacher teaches a chosen area of specialty and students move from one classroom to
another to receive instruction. Departmentalization structures in elementary schools usually
consist of two (partner) teachers; one who teaches math and science and the other language arts
and social studies. One benefit of departmentalization is that it allows teachers to be dedicated to
one or two content areas rather than all; therefore, giving the teacher more time to plan and teach
the necessary skills in depth (Chan & Jarman, 2004). This structure gives teachers the
opportunity to teach to their strengths; instilling a higher sense of confidence and self-efficacy in
both the teacher and her students. This gives teachers a better chance at delivering quality
instruction and being effective in increasing student achievement. Another benefit of having a
departmentalized structure in elementary schools is that it prepares students for the transition to
secondary school. Having more than one teacher and switching classes closely aligns with the
organizational structures of middle and high schools; therefore, prepares students and helps them
become successful in their secondary education.

There is little research to suggest that one structure is better than the other, but as each
has its benefits, there are disadvantages as well. The primary disadvantage of a self-contained
structure is the unrealistic demands of having a teacher teach all disciplines. When surveyed,
teachers of self-contained structures reported added pressure and an increase in teachers
workloads; therefore, leading to teacher burnout and job dissatisfaction (Strohl et al:, 2013). The
primary disadvantage of departmentalization is that it is more difficult to meet the affective
needs of students. With departmentalized structures, teachers feel less of a sense of ownership of
the students because they are not with her the entire day. This gives the teacher fewer
opportunities to focus and appeal to the social and emotional needs of the child when there is that
sense of disconnect.

References
Chan, T. C., & Jarman, D. (2004). Departmentalize Elementary Schools. Principal, 84(1), 70.
Lobdell, L., & Van Ness, W. (1963). The Self-Contained Classroom in the Elementary
School. The Elementary School Journal, 63(4), 212-217.
Strohl, Alecia, Schmertzing, Lorraine C., Schmertzing, Richard, & Hsiao, E-ling. (2013).
Comparison of Self-Contained and Departmentalized Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of
Classroom Structure and Job Satisfaction. Journal of Studies in Education, 4(1), 109.