Two Studies Point to the Power of Teacher-Student Relationships to Boost Learning
May 21, 2018
By: Jill Barshay
Source: The Hechinger Report
Two studies on how best to teach elementary schools students — one on the popular trend of “platooning” and one on the far less common practice of “looping” — at first would seem totally unrelated other than the fact that they both use silly words with double-o’s. “Platooning” refers to having teachers specialize in a particular subject, such as math or English, and young students switch teachers for each class. “Looping” is a term used when kids keep the same teacher for two years in a row. They don’t switch teachers for each subject and don’t switch each year.
One economist found that platooning might be harming kids and two other economists found that looping is quite beneficial. The reason one doesn’t work and the other does may be related.