ERIC Number: ED291704
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1987-Jun
Pages: 38
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Balancing High Quality Subject-Matter Instruction with Positive Teacher-Student Relations in the Middle Grades: Effects of Departmentalization, Tracking and Block Scheduling on Learning Environments. Report No. 15.
McPartland, James M.
This study tests the general hypothesis that there is no single best way to organize a middle school to meet the variety of needs of early adolescent students. Using data from a sample of 433 schools in the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment, it examines the effects of self-contained classroom instruction and departmentalization on two generally agreed-upon educational goals--positive student-teacher relations and high quality subject-matter instruction. The study finds self-contained classroom instruction benefits student-teacher relations at a cost to high quality subject-matter instruction, while departmentalization improves the quality of instruction in specialized subject matter at a cost to student-teacher relations. The same types of effects are proposed by analogy for scheduling and grouping practices. (Author)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A