As schools grapple with a decades-long decline in math scores — exacerbated by the pandemic — some are turning to that classroom strategy even for very young students. in recent years blackberries andelementary schools have chosen to separate some grade levels in an attempt to improve academic achievement. The share of fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms operating on this schedule has doubled since 2000, from 15 percent to 30 percent in 2021. Often, that means teachers will specialize in one or two subjects at most, such as fourth-grade English and social studies or fifth-grade math and science. The theory is that specialized teachers will be more familiar with the content and better able to teach it.
This may be especially important for math: Studies show that some early primary school teachers feel anxious about the subject and question their ability to teach it. Educators also say that elementary math and English curriculum and standards are changing rapidly in some areas and have become more complex over time. In a departmental setting, it is also much less likely that math instruction will be missed by a faculty member who would rather spend time on other subjects.
But while some schools swear by this model, the research on it is mixed.
A prominent 2018 study on practice in Houston Public Schools found that there is negative effect on test scores, behavior and attendance. The study did not explain why this was the case, but the researcher said it may be because teachers on this schedule spend less time with individual students.
another study published in 2024 analyzing schools in Massachusetts had mixed results: Researchers found moderate gains in academic achievement for ELA and significant increases in science scores for students in sectioned classes. However, math scores show little gains.
Generally, teachers specialize in the subject they are most comfortable teaching. When a school is first desegregated, principals typically review each teacher’s test score data over time to determine whether they should specialize in math or reading.
“There’s some argument that at least if it’s someone who likes the subject, who’s passionate about the subject, you have a better chance of them doing better at teaching,” said Latrenda Knighten, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. “But you’ll find mixed reviews.”
Still, there are several reasons why the strategy is typically reserved for students in older classes, according to school leaders: Spending an entire day with one teacher increases the teacher-student bond, which is important for younger children. In Baton Rouge, Anthony teaches 50 students all day instead of the same 25 students all day.
“Teachers want to get to know their students,” said Dennis Willingham, superintendent of Alabama’s Walker County Schools. The district set aside some fifth-grade classrooms decades ago, but recently added third- and fourth-grade classes on that schedule. “You tend to see fewer departments below third class because of the nurturing element.”
It is also generally more challenging for young students to change classrooms quickly, even for electives, which means a loss of learning time. Smaller elementary schools may also struggle to hire enough teachers to schedule them all in a departmental setting.
But more and more schools, which are happy with this approach for the older levels, are also trying it with their younger grades.
After the pandemic, San Tan Heights Elementary School in Arizona changed its curriculum to make it more rigorous, and it became more difficult for third-grade teachers to master the standards in all four subject areas, said Henry Saylor-Sheetz, the principal at the time.
He proposed that third graders be taught by separate teachers in math, English, and reading. “I told them, let’s try it for one semester. If it doesn’t work at the end of the year, we’ll come back,” Seiler-Sheetz said.
Ten days into the experiment, his teachers told him they never wanted to go back to the old schedule. In subsequent years, the school added more classrooms in this model, until by 2023, all K-8 students were departmentalized. For the past few years, teacher retention at the school has been 95 percent, according to Saylor-Sheetz.
Saylor-Sheets, who last year became principal of a nearby middle school, credited the change with helping the school improve from a C grade on its state report card — a grade it has held every year since 2018 — to a B grade in 2022. Since then, more schools in his Arizona school district have moved to the schedule.
“I would love to see this become something we do as a nation, but it’s a paradigm shift,” Seiler-Sheetz said. “There’s merit in it, but there has to be a commitment to it.”
At the Baton Rouge Visual and Performing Arts Center, first through third grade students have two peer teachers, one for math and science and one for ELA and social studies. The school has operated on this schedule for students in grades three through five for more than a decade. Eight years ago, its leaders decided to try it out for first- and second-grade students as well, and they’re happy with the results.
On a December morning at school, the young students talked quietly among themselves in the hall as they lined up to switch from math class to English class. All in all, the switch took less than five minutes. “We’re at the end of the second nine weeks, so we’ve had a lot of practice,” said GiGi Boudreaux, assistant principal.
However, the strategy was not always successful.
During the pandemic, administrators also tried to separate kindergarten classes. It didn’t work as hoped: It was a challenge to get the 5-year-olds to quickly change classes and refocus on class work once they did. Parents didn’t like it either. The school then tried moving teachers from classroom to classroom instead of moving students, but the faculty hated it.
“It was too much, so we didn’t do it after that,” Hebert said.
The Baton Rouge school has no benchmarks to show students perform better in departments, but most faculty at the school prefer it, Hebert said. Third-grade test scores from 2015 — before the school separated its younger grade levels — showed 73 percent scored at the “advanced” level and “mastery” level on the state ELA test, and 56 percent scored advanced or mastery on the math test. In 2025, 80 percent of third graders scored advanced or proficient in ELA and 55 percent in math.
“I know the teachers like it better and the kids have adapted to it,” Hebert said.
Teachers meet weekly with their peer teachers and classmates to discuss their classes and progress against state standards. Once a quarter, all grade level math teachers meet to talk about strategies and student performance.
In Arizona’s Deer Valley Unified School District, departmentalizing some classrooms has helped reduce teacher turnover, said Superintendent Curtis Finch, especially for early-career teachers who may find it challenging to master the content and standards of all four subjects.
“If you’re not confident in your subject, then you don’t have good examples on your head. You can’t control the room, you can’t engage the students,” Finch said.
Still, there are downsides, Finch acknowledged. In a self-contained classroom, teachers can more easily integrate their various lessons so that the math lesson can return to a topic covered in the reading.
And although Anthony, the second-grade math and science teacher in Baton Rouge, loves teaching math, she also misses the extra time she was able to spend with each student when she had the same 25 kids in her class all day long throughout the school year.
“It’s been a joy to be on my own and build this little family,” Anthony said. “I think the social-emotional needs of students are best met in that type of environment. But being solely a math teacher, I can just dig in and focus on the nuances of the content.”
For Anthony’s peer teacher across the room, Holly McArthur, teaching 50 students ELA and social studies is easier than having to teach math to 25 students.
“That’s my thing: reading books, understanding and finding answers, accomplishing their goals,” said McArthur, who has taught in both types of classrooms for three decades in education.
While McArthur’s children were on vacation that day in mid-December, the veteran teacher graded their reading worksheets. A new student had transferred from out of state in the middle of the year and she was still evaluating his reading skills.
“I think you still get to know the kids even if you only have them for three hours a day because I don’t do the hard math with them.”
Contact Signal staff writer Ariel Gilreath at arielgilreath.46 or at gilreath@hechingerreport.org.
