The power of teacher-student relationships to boost learning — Hechinger Report

Current education models generally divide students up by age, then move them along in a group from grade to grade, with a new teacher each year. Some schools are trying some new strategies, though. When "looping," a class will stay with its teacher for two or more years in a row. This is great for students, and the teachers, because there already is a relationship foundation that allows real learning support.

Another strategy is called "platooning," or I've also seen it called "teaming." This is when each teacher specializes in a certain academic subject, so the students have a few teachers during the week, even beyond art, PE, music. As a new elementary teacher, teaming was GREAT for me. Already overwhelmed with so many new things to learn, I was so grateful that I could set aside learning how to teach science for at least another year. But these studies seem to show that the benefits for students who are "platooned" aren't as high as you might think.

I'd be curious to see studies like this repeated in small learning environments where connections between teachers and students are firm, and the relationships already are there. Is teaming really the issue that is tanking these test scores? Or is it a lack of an integrated community overall? 

I bet you can wager on what my guess would be.

Read more about looping and teaming (platooning) in this Hechinger Report article.