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"Platooning" Touches a Nerve
by Lucy Hood on November 12, 2009
Reaction to my story on efforts to departmentalize elementary education around the country has come fast and furious since it was published in this month’s Harvard Education Letter (see “Platooning Instruction”).
In particular, a flurry of emails and calls have come from Palm Beach County, one of the districts implementing departmentalization. As it turns out, shortly after I finished the story, the school board there faced a meeting where 1,000 protesters demanded relief from the district’s reform package that included departmentalizing in addition to some other changes.
Designed by a new chief academic officer, Jeffrey Hernandez, the reform package included frequent assessments, a new timeline for teaching academic benchmarks, and the deployment of school monitors, as well as departmentalized instruction (also known as “platooning”) for grades three through five in nearly all of the district’s elementary schools.
The protest focused primarily on the frequent assessments and the new pacing schedule for teachers, according to parent Lisa Goldman, who emerged as a key spokesperson for disgruntled parents and teachers after she created a popular Facebook page called Testing is not Teaching!, which, as of this writing, has 7,728 fans.
Two days after the school board meeting, Superintendent Art Johnson announced that the reforms would no longer be a district mandate and that each school would be able to determine whether and how to implement them.
What that means for elementary school platooning remains to be seen.
Ironically, Goldman says her own children’s experience with departmentalization has been positive. All four benefited from the teaching structure at Wellington Elementary School, where teachers not only departmentalize instruction, but they also stay with the same group of students for three consecutive years.
“I liked it. It worked for my children,” she says.
But she adds that some students need the consistency of having one teacher, and some teachers prefer to be the generalists they were trained to be. “It does not work for every child,” she notes. “It does not work for every teacher.”
What has your experience with departmentalization been – as a parent, teacher, or administrator?
In particular, a flurry of emails and calls have come from Palm Beach County, one of the districts implementing departmentalization. As it turns out, shortly after I finished the story, the school board there faced a meeting where 1,000 protesters demanded relief from the district’s reform package that included departmentalizing in addition to some other changes.
Designed by a new chief academic officer, Jeffrey Hernandez, the reform package included frequent assessments, a new timeline for teaching academic benchmarks, and the deployment of school monitors, as well as departmentalized instruction (also known as “platooning”) for grades three through five in nearly all of the district’s elementary schools.
The protest focused primarily on the frequent assessments and the new pacing schedule for teachers, according to parent Lisa Goldman, who emerged as a key spokesperson for disgruntled parents and teachers after she created a popular Facebook page called Testing is not Teaching!, which, as of this writing, has 7,728 fans.
Two days after the school board meeting, Superintendent Art Johnson announced that the reforms would no longer be a district mandate and that each school would be able to determine whether and how to implement them.
What that means for elementary school platooning remains to be seen.
Ironically, Goldman says her own children’s experience with departmentalization has been positive. All four benefited from the teaching structure at Wellington Elementary School, where teachers not only departmentalize instruction, but they also stay with the same group of students for three consecutive years.
“I liked it. It worked for my children,” she says.
But she adds that some students need the consistency of having one teacher, and some teachers prefer to be the generalists they were trained to be. “It does not work for every child,” she notes. “It does not work for every teacher.”
What has your experience with departmentalization been – as a parent, teacher, or administrator?
Comments:
| Nov 15, 2009 07:53 PM |
As a high school teacher of 35 years in band I have mixed opinion on departmentalization. I think it would work in the elementary school. I believe that we specialize in areas and are unaware of doing it and the kids are cheated out of a fair and equal education.
– David Rollyson |
| Nov 17, 2009 01:49 PM |
In my experience as a school superintendent, when departmentalization was accepted by the faculty and implemented well, it resulted in greater engagement and achievement of students and positive collaboration among teachers. In the intermediate grade levels students benefited from instruction from teachers with a particular passion and interest in a discipline whether it be language arts, mathematics, social studies or science.
– Sally Dias |
| Nov 24, 2009 02:59 PM |
In my 17 years at the elementary level, I have found departmentalization can work to grow student achievement if the teachers are departmentalized into subjects they know and adore (rarely true for all involved in the process), if the transitions are managed properly (much time can be wasted here), and if the teachers appreciate and honor the importance of forming relationships with the children. Collaboration can either benefit or stagnate in this sort of arrangement, depending on the commitment and beliefs of the teachers. In other words, many conditions must be present at the same time for it to work effectively. Using the word platooning is rather offensive though, no?
– Bonita Deamicis |
| Jan 6, 2010 12:27 PM |
As a parent in Palm Beach County, I believe that not all children can benefit from departmentalization regardless of how it was implemented or accepted. I have two children who are very different. Departmentalization does not work for my fourth grader and that is reflected in his report card. My first grader is better able to handle changing classes. He does say that he would prefer one teacher.
On a side note, the chief academic officer who was responsible for implementing departmentalization in Palm Beach County has recently been demoted. He is still on the payroll but has had his responsibilities removed. – John Donohue |
| Feb 16, 2010 01:26 PM |
Innovation is anathema to institutions, what a paradox when thinking about the moribund compulsory model of education. Now going on year 18 in the high school English classroom; even in my department progressive or different concepts are met with ire - Let's innovate professional jealousy out of our schools now, much better for a platoon to work without fear of being too smart or too good.
– Grace V |
| Feb 21, 2010 12:43 AM |
I am a Literacy Coach and Reading Specialist in elementary school. I have also worked in middle school. I have worked in elementary schools that have departmentalized and others that have not. I have worked in schools that have been reconstituted too, and departmentalizing was terminated at these schools. This platooning really must be looked at from a developmental perspective, and then more specifically at the population the school is serving. Young children work better with a consistent teacher that mitigates transitions. When my students came to middle school, we spent much of the first year supporting them while they dealt with so much transition. Children who come from at-risk homes have more likely lacked consistency of caregivers and faced more moving from house to house. Many of them find school to be their greatest structure, and their teacher, the one who knows them best. Many of my youngest students were very suspicious of new teachers, and took them some time to warm up to these new faces--particularly if they were a different race. In elementary school the focus should be teaching students HOW to think critically. If a teacher is cycling through 100 students rather than 25, it is far less likely she will have an intimate understanding of how each of her students' brains work.
– Tara Lee Ronzetti |
| Mar 13, 2010 09:30 PM |
As a "generalist" 4th grade teacher, I can certainly see both sides of this argument. It is not something that would work for every child, teacher, and school. However, I do believe that a 2-person team model can be very effective at the upper elementary level, primarily 4th and 5th grades. You must have 2 teachers who are caring, compassionate about their subjects, and communicate with each other and parents well to make it work. Students can benefit from teachers who are stronger in certain content areas and teachers can benefit from increased planning time. My partner and I plan to present a proposal to our principal to team-teach next year. I truly believe that it will IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT - and that is the bottom line for all of us.
– Chris Rogers |
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