Re: Classroom Size -- EDPR 7/8112 Adolescence Sec. 001 0500-0800 R

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Date Posted: 18:27:10 04/18/07 Wed
Author: Cassandra Schuyler
Subject: Re: Classroom Size
In reply to: Erie Martha Roberts 's message, "Classroom Size" on 08:24:40 04/15/07 Sun

Yes, ultimately 20 students or less would be the ideal in one classroom. I agree. In MCS it is more likely to see these smaller numbers in just elementary schools. When you get into secondary education facilities, for some reason the class size grows. (And with puberty during adolescence, this is not a good idea).
This problem does come from facilities, but even thinking about classrooms of 15-20 students the rooms are still sometimes too small for that many students. Yes, we do need larger schools or to expand the schools we have. My question though....Why are schools in MCS closing when all MCS schools are already overcrowded? We do not have room in classrooms for any more students.Where are they going to go? For example, I have 28 desks in my room and still a few times have been assigned 30 students. The simple fix is to add more desks but 2 more desks do not even fit...What do we do in these situations?

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[> Re: Classroom Size -- Elizabeth Hansen, 19:29:12 04/18/07 Wed

I was also in agreement with the study that said that the highest achievement occurred in classes with 20 or fewer students. I teach five classes, three of which are 21 or fewer students and two of which have 26 students. My smaller classes are significantly better in terms of academic achievement and management. Immediately following the information linking class size and achievement was a section describing three types of management strategies. There was an undeniable correlation between authoritative management styles and student achievement. I believe that this is also connected to the size of the classroom. In my experience, the classes that I utilize the authoritative management strategy effectively are the classes that are smaller where I can more closely monitor student behavior and activities. It is in the classes I teach that are larger that I have more management problems due to the fact that I have a much more difficult time montioring student activities in all cases. With all classes being 20 or fewer students, I believe management would increase along with academic achievement.

In Chapter 11, the book said that the the highest
>levels and gains in achievement occur with classes of
>20 or fewer students. I think this is a fasinating
>statisic, because I fervently agree with it. I teach
>in MCS and am lucky enough to teach classes of this
>size. (Side note, the reason why is that I teach
>American History at an ELL magnet school, so all of my
>ESL students--at least 5 per class--are taken to the
>special ELL American History). I find that I am able
>to give my students more individual attention, help
>their individual needs, and keep them on track better
>within the 55-minute class period than many other
>teachers with larger classes.
>
>I wish we could do this for all the teachers in the
>school. The problem is space. Smaller classes require
>more space. Instead of 30 in one classroom, you need
>2 to hold 15. In some ways, overcrowding and
>impersonal treatment isn't a result of a teacher
>shortage, it's a facility shortage. If the middle
>school were just a bit longer and we could fit in just
>4 more classrooms, then we could make sure every
>teacher had classes that small. Then it would be much
>easier and feasable for all driven teachers to make
>significant academic gains.

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