The Express-Times reports that two years after pulling 4th and 5th grades from our elementary schools, the NASD is looking at redistricting in order to balance the average K class size across the three elementary schools (read the article here).
I find it hard to believe that we’ve maxed out the schools in terms of enrollment. It would appear, however, that an NASD decision has caused this problem.
When we had a traditional half day K, we had one teacher handling two classes or approximately 40 students, but now we’ve gone to full day K despite the lack of evidence that it provides any additional educational benefit (and in one RAND study demonstrates the opposite), and one teacher now handles between 18 and 25 students. We’ve had to double the number of K teachers to accommodate this change.
For K, I do believe a smaller classroom size (up to 22) is appropriate, but it should be consistent across the three schools. As students get older, the classroom size issue becomes less important.
If we create swing regions where students can be moved based on class size, it would seem we’ll be sending kids from grade to grade to different buildings at a time when they need consistency.
Maybe we ought to go back to half day K, and leverage those savings at a time we are in a budget crisis instead of changing district lines.
1 comment:
There is but one reason for any silly number of students in a class and that is to provide more facilities, teaching staff and administrators. As to Kindergarten, they are actually shooting for 20 in a class for K-3.Parents might want to know that they do not have to send their children to school until age 8.
The good news is that Corbett's plan has taken bucks away and hopefully he can get his Republicans in the state legislature to pass the necessary bills
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