Class Size Debate, Big or small?
Uploaded by surfchick on Feb 20, 2005
Class Size Debate
Students, teachers and administrators everywhere are hearing about the topic of class size reduction and it's benefits versus the costly measures that are being taken in order to implement this movement in education. Research has indicated that people agree with the idea that small educational settings will undoubtedly provide success for schools, students, as well as teachers (Are Smaller Schools the Answer?), but the inevitable problems that go along with reducing class sizes are also of major concern to the communities that surround the school.
There are many factors which have contributed to the idea that class sizes should be reduced including: falling test scores, rising drop-out rates, increased school violence, trends toward career and character education, along with techniques favoring learner-oriented strategies that people feel need to be changed to better our students(Class Size). The question is, what measures can be tolerated to reduce class sizes? What sacrifices will the community have to make in order to solve the problem? There is no conclusive evidence that leads us to a definitive answer to this problem. So, the class size debate lives on in communities everywhere, and there doesn't seem to be a clear answer on the horizon.
Some educators believe more and more that students, especially in the primary grades, would benefit from a class size reduction to a national average of 18 students per classroom(Class Size Reduction: Success Stories). Studies such as Tennessee's Project STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio) have shown that smaller classes are better for both the teacher and the students in both educational and social aspects(Class Size Reduction: Success Stories). It is obvious that the nation is motivated to try to improve school climate for both students and teachers, and the reduction of class size is one avenue that they are pursuing.
Other states are looking into the possibilities that the reduction of class sizes will have on their young learners. Some states, such as Ohio, are using funds from the Class Size Reduction Program to turn low-performing schools around by reducing class size from 25 to 15. In Maryland, students in grades one and two have stated that they are benefiting by having a class size of no more than 15 students for reading instruction. Finally, in Pennsylvania and Mississippi, funds are being used to recruit and prepare qualified teachers so they too can...