Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent, if any, organizational structures for instruction, non-departmentalized or departmentalized, had on student achievement for students in Grades 3 through 5. Three elementary schools were selected for this study based on organizational structures for instruction. One elementary school was non-departmentalized for the 2017-2018 school year and departmentalized for the 2018-2019 school year. Additionally, two elementary schools, one non-departmentalized and one departmentalized, were selected based on demographically- and achievement-matched variables. In this study, overall mean scale scores were analyzed from the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics using independent samples t-tests. Analyses were also conducted by student subgroups, including English learners, economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and gender. Of the 67 independent samples t-tests conducted for this study, 54 were non-significant. Findings from the 13 significant results indicated that departmentalization as an organizational structure for instruction produced statistically significant results in Grade 4 for FSA ELA and Mathematics as well as for various student subgroups in Grade 4 including students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and gender with small to moderate effect sizes. Moreover, significant results were also found for the Grade 3 English learner subgroup for both FSA ELA and Mathematics. Results for the English learner subgroup were mixed, however, demonstrating statistically significant results for departmentalization for FSA ELA and statistically significant results for non-departmentalization for FSA Mathematics with large effect sizes for both. The findings from this study contributed to the body of knowledge surrounding organizational structures for instruction and student achievement for Grades 3 through 5. The results of this study can used to help school district leaders and school-based leaders make decisions and create guidelines regarding organizational structure approaches in elementary school.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2020

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Ceballos, Marjorie

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Community Innovation and Education

Department

Educational Leadership and Higher Education

Degree Program

Educational Leadership; Executive Track

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0007989; DP0023129

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0023129

Language

English

Release Date

May 2025

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Campus-only Access)

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