A Case for Content Specialists as the Elementary Classroom Teacher

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the growing use of teacher specialists in the elementary schools, particularly in the area of mathematics. The elementary school principals of a large metropolitan school district located in northeastern Florida responded to an online survey that focused on the type of specialist model in use, why the decision was made to use alternative models, the grade levels and content areas of the modified specialist model teaching teams, and criteria for team members. This article describes aspects of why elementary schools changed from a traditional generalist model to a modified specialist model based on the team teaching approach and discusses the inherent benefits and problems.