Date of Award
2019
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Curriculum & Instruction
First Advisor
Andrew Courtner
Second Advisor
Julia Kirk
Third Advisor
Marty Cosby
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine administrator and teacher perceptions of the two primary classroom organizational structures in kindergarten through second grade within a rural East Tennessee school district: 1) departmentalized and 2) self-contained. Data were collected from seven elementary schools. The number of survey respondents were: 25 kindergarten through second grade teachers and eight administrators represented a 63% return rate for teachers and an 80% return rate for administrators. This researcher determined three primary categories among the administrator and teacher responses from both organizational structures: 1) student and teacher relationships, 2) classroom transition, and 3) academic planning. This researcher also determined there were advantages and disadvantages to both organizational structures in kindergarten through second grade. This researcher’s findings from administrator and teacher participants under both organizational structures were consistent with each other.
Keywords
Departmentalization, Self-contained classroom, Qualitative research, Survey, Tennessee
Recommended Citation
Day, Mary, "Teachers' and Administrators' Perceptions of Departmentalization in Elementary Schools" (2019). Ed.D. Dissertations. 7.
https://digitalcommons.lmunet.edu/edddissertations/7
