A departmentalized classroom setting allows educators to focus their time on one content area, thus mastering their knowledge and craft in that subject area. However, many elementary school teachers are trained to be generalists who spend the entire year with one group of students, commonly referred to as self-contained classrooms. The problem…

This research study focused on the effects of departmentalization in the elementary school setting. Previous research on the topic of departmentalization in elementary school settings presented inconclusive results. The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze data from self-contained and departmentalized classrooms in fourth and fifth…