Tuesday, January 11, 2022

AV#241 - Listening to teachers on class size, teacher workload (1998-2021)

 

Part #2 of a series

 

1.     Two Denver teachers – “that’s just the way it is” – fall 2021 

One teacher I met with currently has 155 students in her 5 classes, plus 25 in her once-a-week advisory class. Another teacher spoke of colleagues with 135, 148, and 155 students. A few of their comments: 

1) A new colleague arrived from teaching in another state. “Before the first day of school, she looked at her class roster and asked me, ‘We teach 35 students in a class?’

‘Yes we do.’

‘What?’

‘Yes, that’s just the way it is.’

‘No it’s not.’” [She said she had never seen class rosters like this in her previous teaching experience.]

 

2) “If you want students to be engaged you need to build relationships with them. To really know a student, it takes a lot of time, effort, care. If you want to reach out to parents, it takes a lot of time.

    “If you think of how many people in your private life that you can know well and care about … it’s not 175.  To have that kind of relationship with 175 people a day, that’s very hard. I don’t think anyone can do all that.  It’s not that you’re a bad teacher, it’s that you’re human.”

 

3) “I am teaching, we’re all teaching, way too many human beings… We have spoken with our administration, it feels like ad nauseum, about the class sizes. I don’t see it changing ever. We bring it to the union. We’ve talked about this every year I’ve been there. I don’t know when it will change. Often we complain with our co-workers. Then we stop talking and just do the job... It is what it is.”

 

2.     “Editor walks at least a mile in English teacher's shoes”

                                                        Rocky Mountain News, Nov. 18, 1998 (Jeffco)

 

Winter’s experience teaching writing to 8th graders reminds us why the National Council of Teachers of English adopted this policy: secondary teachers of English should teach a maximum of 100 students per day…” https://ncte.org/statement/why-class-size-matters/

In November 1998 eighth grade teacher Laura Colander traded jobs for one day with Rocky Mountain News Lifestyles editor Mary Winter. Winter’s account, “Notes from my day as an eighth-grade English teacher,” included this:    
                                                                         

   “For homework, I made them write a news story based on

10 facts I’d listed randomly on a sheet of paper.

   “I’m up until midnight two nights in a row grading (those) 110 news stories. I mark each ‘proficient,’ ‘partially proficient,’ or ‘excellent,’ and try to put a comment or two on each.

   “Here’s where my eyes are opened. The amount of time it takes me to grade papers is significant – as in five hours for one little assignment. I have vastly underestimated the time and energy a teacher must spend outside of class.”

   “Collander says she works 60 to 70 hours a week and you believe her. She says she deals with 150 kids each week, and you know she does…”


  Throughout, bold is mine.


3.     “Class measure”

By Kevin Simpson, The Denver Post, May 27, 2012 (Adams 12)

The number of students per teacher gets less emphasis from some

as schools struggle to identify what’s most critical for a good education. 

 

   At Mountain Range High School in the Adams 12 district, Brandi Potestio teaches five English classes heavy on writing. Three years ago, she averaged about 25 students per class. That number now hovers around 33. The difference, multiplied by five, comes to roughly another class-and-a-half of pupils based on her former averages. For her, class size isn’t just a factor. It’s the biggest factor — especially in a subject like English that often requires complex student evaluation. 

   “Grading is insane,” Potestio said. “It’s always time-consuming, but when you increase class size, it’s overwhelming. I can see why some teachers don’t assign a lot. I wish I could (assign less), but it’s not in my DNA.”                                                                                                                                    

   The result can be burnout, if the current trend continues.

   “They’ll lose good teachers,” Potestio said. “If you’re a good teacher, you know that this is not possible forever, unless you want to have zero life.”  [See Retention, p. 4.)

 

4.     “Smaller Classes Serve a Larger Purpose”

By Marc Vincenti, Commentary, Education Week, Oct. 25, 2017

(Vincenti taught English at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto for 15 years.)

 

   “… I often didn’t have small classes—I sometimes had upwards of 30 to 35 students at a time. And many of them needed more attention than I could give. In recent years, clusters of student suicides in Palo Alto’s two public high schools have rocked our community. A dozen teenagers have taken their lives since 2009. Many others contemplate it. The city’s adolescent suicide rate is four to five times the national average. Gunn is also a high-achieving school in an affluent community, and seniors are supposed to end up at Harvard, Stanford, and MIT—not gone from this world. In the midst of sorrow, guilt, and fear, the district has been seeking answers and solutions to focus on students’ mental health and wellness.

    “Now, if you still believe (as many do) that classes of 20 aren’t actually much more productive than classes of 35, I hope you don’t also believe it’s as easy to weed 100 square feet as it is to water them. Some educators blithely assert that a large class can sometimes feel like a small one, but that’s usually for a teaching style heavier on lecture than on getting to know the students as people (which, as research tells us, is essential to motivate them). Not to mention the daily wear and tear on educators when trying to juggle a full teaching load and meaningful relationships with lively young people who all have different needs and experiences. We can either choose to be less effective in our practice or exhaust ourselves—neither of which is beneficial to students or our own well-being.

“…As a teacher, I know that 20 students in a classroom feels like a team, 25 feels like an audience, and anything above that begins to feel unmanageable.”    

__


One response to Vincenti’s Commentary: “People outside of the classroom who argue for large class sizes are intent on            providing education on the cheap.”                Education Week, 11/15/17

NOTE: Vincenti wrote of leaving teaching in 2010 and founding “a citizens’ coalition of professors, lawyers, and CEOs. We engage the school board and other local leaders with the goal of creating healthier schools and easing our high schoolers’ stress. Of the six steps our coalition suggests for improving wellness, chief among them is paring down class size.”


5.     “Class size is a nuanced problem” 

 By Jennifer Portillo, Schools for Tomorrow Blog, Feb. 23, 2009 – (Teaching in Denver Public Schools) 

   “.. I did find myself teaching certain sections that had over forty students.

   “…large sections of ninth and tenth graders in a high school always led to a higher number of students who stopped attending school altogether. The transition to high school can be very difficult. This is particularly true in schools where the majority of students come from homes where parents or older siblings are not high school graduates, for students who have significant financial or emotional responsibilities at home, for students who are undocumented, and for kids who suddenly feel lost – in other words, for the majority of students who are currently attending DPS high schools…  

   In large classes I had far less time to concentrate my attentions on the students who seemed to be losing focus, who began occasionally ditching class – occasional ditching typically leads to more serious attendance issues, and in just checking in with kids (informal assessments) of where they were both in class work and in their lives.”


 

6.   “Less Is More: What Teachers Say About Decreasing Class Size & Increasing Learning”

       By Anne Reynolds, Marlene Reagin, Kenneth Reinshuttle, American School Board Journal, v188, 30-32, Sept. 2001

 

“I find that there are many times that I can’t give each student the extra help he or she needs during class time,” said a high school math teacher in our survey, who recalled a recent trigonometry class with 33 students. “It was overcrowded, and there was no way to deal with individual needs… Even with a team teacher to help, it’s hard to meet the needs of our LD [learning-disabled] and ESL [English-as-a-Second-Language] students. Many of them are slipping through the cracks.” (p. 30)     

An elementary ESL teacher in our study described her work in a [low-income] school where teachers ‘were the only teachers for many of the students, perhaps the only person who spoke English to them, perhaps the only person who paid attention to them, perhaps the only person who listened to them read or did math with them…. Many parents worked two jobs to make ends meet and were just too tired or overwhelmed to attend to their children’s needs.’

“All children benefit from smaller classes and more attention, the teacher said, but impoverished children ‘desperately need smaller classes. Their parents cannot help them at home and certainly do not have time to volunteer at school to help the teacher. I don’t know how to handle this in a way that is politically correct, but when we begin to reduce class size, we need to realize that it’s more critical in some places than others.’” (p. 31)

 

    Similar points were made in a 2018 survey of 700 Colorado teachers – see Addendum.

   “When we asked separate questions about each task, 90 percent of teachers said 24 was the maximum class size that allowed teachers to ‘get to know students as individuals,’ and 57 percent said 24 was the maximum for allowing teachers to ‘assess student work using multiple-choice, matching, short-answers, or other easily scored measures.’

   “Our survey indicated large classes cause many teachers to consider changing careers.” A fifth-grade teacher stated: “The larger the class gets, the more I find myself discouraged and frustrated at being unable to meet individual student needs, and if this combination of increased size and stronger needs continues, I will leave teaching. It is simply not worth the exhaustion I feel.” (See Retention, p. 4.)

    As one high school math teacher in our study said: ‘We didn’t become teachers for the money or the summers off.  We became teachers so we could teach and work with young people. Lower class sizes and increased planning time would make that an attainable goal.’”


7.     “What works, what doesn’t: Teachers speak their minds”

By Maisie McAdoo and Rhonda Rosenberg, New York Teacher, March 27, 2014 

   The UFT survey invited teachers to rate a slew of education reforms. We asked, on a scale of 1 to 4, how effective would each be at improving educational outcomes for New York City public school students?

   The hands-down favorite was reducing class size. Ninety-one percent said it was a highly effective reform and another 8 percent rated it somewhat effective, for a total of 99 percent of all respondents saying that smaller classes would lead to more learning for their pupils.

 

8.     “Colorado’s education paradox: Preparing our kids for college”

Letter to the Editor – The Denver Post, Jan. 21, 2005 

“As a middle-school teacher for the past 10 years, I have rated my success on how many of my students go on to college… Perhaps the public doesn’t understand how funding affects my ability to prepare my students for college. I average more than 30 students per class, and more than 130 per day. How much individual attention do you think each one receives?”

Ed Epstein

Denver

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Retention – fears for the future of the profession - 2021

 9.     “40% of Colorado teachers say they're thinking about quitting”

                                        By Joe McQueen, The Pueblo Chieftain, Feb. 23, 2021  

    A recent report from the Colroado Education Association found nearly 40% of teachers across the state are considering leaving the profession after the 2020-21 academic year.

    The report found the main sources of teacher dissatisfaction are the increasing workload, current working conditions during the pandemic and low salaries.

   “The class-size workload is overwhelming," Amy Spock (President of the Pueblo County Education Association) said. "That's been a huge learning curve for teachers this year from remote learning."

                                                                                    

10.  “Retaining Great Teachers in a Time of Turmoil”

From “Principals and Teachers Don’t Always See Eye to Eye. Can Getting In Sync Reduce Turnover?” 

                                     By Denisa R. Superville, Education Week, May 5, 2021

 

   “Why do teachers teach, and what can principals and superintendents do to keep them?

   “When [teachers were] asked what actions districts and school leaders can take to keep teachers from leaving, 57% said raise salaries; 43% said slash administrative burdens, like paperwork and meetings; and 31% said reduce class sizes.” [When the same question was asked of school and district leaders, the same response:] “31% named reducing class sizes as important to retention.

 

 

 

Addendum - CEA Teacher Survey

 

“Teacher Voices: Teachers Know What Their Schools and Students Need,” Oct. 29, 2018 

(over 700 teachers responded, from over 400 schools in 80 districts)

https://www.coloradoea.org/wp-content/uploads/CEA-My-School-My-Voice-10.18-Final.pdf 

Cathy Keller, a Cherry Creek teacher who has had up to 36 students in a World History class, explained, “The bigger my class sizes, the harder it is to provide individual attention. The harder it is to have time to grade their written work. [Decreasing class size] is, in my opinion, the single most important thing we could address to improve educational outcomes, and it’s the thing constantly ignored.” 

In the fall of 2018 over 740 Colorado teachers took part in a survey developed by the National Education Association, My School, My Voice. The Colorado Education Association’s analysis of the survey made the case—with the impending vote on Amendment 73 in mind—that the teachers’ concerns gave additional evidence for support of the ballot initiative.

   Because Colorado underfunds public education by over half a billion dollars per year, the

Colorado Education Association wanted to ask teachers a simple question: What are the

greatest needs identified by teachers for schools in Colorado?

   Their answers show they know exactly what their students and schools need: 74% of teachers

in Colorado report that schools need to reduce class sizes and allow staff time to collaborate

if we want to provide students with the education they deserve. 

   CEA collected data from over 700 licensed educators. The needs are clear.

74%    of educators need smaller class sizes.    

63%    of educators need more time for planning and professional collaboration.

 

   Denver teacher Suzette Montera-Smith [one of those who selected smaller class size], has taught 36 kindergarteners in one class. “It is more like crowd control rather than differentiated instruction when there are more than 18 five-year-olds in a classroom. With larger class sizes, it is very difficult to meet my students’ needs.”

 

   If we're serious about every child's future, we must create a learning environment with class sizes that enable teachers to connect one-on-one with each student.

 

 

SMALL CLASS SIZE MATTERS MOST FOR STUDENTS

Teacher Voices survey finds Colorado students benefit most from small

class size; shows why funding increase and Amendment 73 are needed

https://www.coloradoea.org/small-class-size-matters-most-for-students/

 

   Colorado educators identified ‘class sizes that allow for one-on-one attention’ as the most critical need for their students.

   “If we’re serious about creating schools our students deserve, we must have class sizes that enable teachers to connect one-on-one with each student,” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association. “We have a tremendous opportunity before us with Amendment 73 to increase funding for public education and address issues such as class size.”

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