Twelve teachers in a rural elementary school were appointed by administrators to pilot departmentalized instruction for one year to determine its impacts on teachers and students and guide their decision regarding school-wide implementation. This three-part study explored the experiences and perceptions of the pilot teachers, compared pilot teachers’ experiences in the departmentalized setting to the experiences of self-contained teachers within the same school, and investigated the pilot teachers’ perceptions of shared leadership practices in regards to administrative decisions made about departmentalizing. This comprehensive qualitative case study is comprised of three separate comprehensive studies with individual and unique contributions to the limited research currently available on departmentalized instruction in elementary schools. The first study revealed