2023- UPDATES - July
“Attention must be paid.” Death of a Salesman
Part 1 looked
at our silence on the impact of excessive class size and teacher
workload on students. Part 2 finds a similar taboo on the
impact on teachers. I will make this (preposterous?) claim; these
issues matter to nearly every topic we do examine related to teachers:
recruitment and retention; mental-health and burnout; respect and fulfillment. And
they are personal for all of us who teach: our struggle to believe we are doing
our best, yet knowing the compromises we make in order to get the job done—and
still have a life.
Here are 12 articles mum on class size/teacher workload. All published since I wrote my series last year. Two pages list the stories that shy away from these critical issues. Addendum A provides the evidence.
1. “Working Conditions” – time and teachers’ well-being
Policymakers and the media employ the euphemism,
“working conditions,” to cover a range of factors we experience as teachers.
(Factors I recall from 18 years in the classroom: Time set aside to plan, make
copies, grade papers, meet with students, etc. A “free” period set aside to
fulfill various duties: e.g., monitor recess, the hallway, the library, the cafeteria,
or—back in 1978-81—the smoker’s area!) We seldom ask a basic question: what about
class size* and teachers’ workload? The latter term reflects the number of
students enrolled in all a teacher’s classes. With 34 students in five classes,
the workload is 170—as can be true for Denver and Aurora teachers.
|
*NOTE to media: This is not the state’s
student-teacher ratio (CDE’s figure for 2022-23: 17:1[i]). To equate this
with class size in our state is wildly inaccurate. One example: The Colorado Sun’s check on campaign
promises from Gov. Polis.[ii] |
“Could Educator Shortages Affect the Future Workforce? Here’s What Business Leaders Think”
“Working conditions.” Not a word about class
size.
“How
Can I Give My All to
Both?” - “The job wasn’t just challenging. It was
consuming. There was never enough time to get everything done…”
The article recommends ways educators can find a better work-life balance. Not a word on what school administrators can do to make sure no teacher has more than 25 students in a class, or 125 total—max. Even though this English teacher never had more than 110 students, I often spent several hours on both Saturday and Sunday to give sufficient feedback on my students’ papers. 125 would have broken my back. As for 170 students … well, I consider this educational malpractice. I would never teach in such a setting.
“Teachers Aren’t Burnt Out. They Are Being Set Up to Fail”
This essay at least touches on the issue, but stops there: “… several causes of teacher burnout, including … unmanageable workload...” “School leaders should fix the underlying causes… staffing numbers…”
“Teachers Need More Than Pay Raises, Education Secretary Argues”
The headline is encouraging. Sadly, Secretary Miguel Cardona
also skirts the issue. He asks 11 good questions pertaining to “working
conditions,” but not one on class size and teachers’ workload.
A revealing headline. Governors – sadly, many school boards, superintendents, and even principals too – all equate “appreciation” with salary. A clear sign of how little they understand. Appreciate this. What job asks you to meet 170 teenagers each day, to know, support, and encourage them? This is the day-to-day experience for too many teachers. Leading to the persistent frustration: I am trying, but you ask too much. I cannot do what I know I should do to serve each student well. What’s the problem, you say, not enough gas in the tank? Reader, can’t we speak in more human terms? No, a teacher will answer, I simply do not have enough love and patience to do right by 170 students.
|
Governor Jared Polis and class size I doubt our governor is familiar with this problem for K-12. But as pre-K is his focus, he must know of the “quality rules” for our youngest boys and girls (see “National Quality Standards Checklist Summary - Maximum class size 20 or lower”[iii]). Colorado will fall short next year. “No new quality rules for first year of Colorado’s free preschool program” (Addendum B). After the
governor makes sure our pre-schools meet quality standards on class size, I hope
he will do something about class size in K-12. He talks a good
game on this issue (Addendum C). But have we seen any progress? I think I know how teachers in Aurora and
Denver would respond. |
“It Will Take More Than $60K Salaries to Solve the Teacher Shortage” The focus is on “… overworked and stressed teachers…,” and “legislation [starting] a much-needed movement to support teachers…” Any word on class size? No.
3. Administrators, principals, and support for teachers
“What School Leaders Can Do to Ease Teacher Stress"
“How to Build a Healthier School Culture”
“Advice for New Principals: The 4 Things to Focus
on First”
These articles all nod to teachers being overworked. And yet the advice and focus point to everything except class size and teacher workload. In good schools, an elementary principal will make class size a priority; secondary school leaders will insist on a reasonable limit for their teachers’ workload. A healthy culture, for teachers, is one where they can know their students well and meet their students’ needs. One where they are not so overwhelmed that quitting is an ever-present consideration.
|
CDE reports the student- teacher ratio in
2022-23 at East High as 20:1.[iv]
Not what teachers see. |
“When It Comes to
the Teacher Shortage, Who’s Abandoning Whom?”
“What
Districts Need When Investing Their Funds”
“Making
Time for Academic Recovery in the School Day: Ideas From 3 Principals”
From what I was told last year, faculty members at Denver’s East High, some with 170 students enrolled in their classes, pleaded with administrators to address this excessive load. No luck. Have school leaders not been in a teacher’s shoes for too long? I recall the 2020 Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado (TLCC) Survey: “school leaders view teaching conditions more positively” [85.4%] than do teachers [55.9%], “especially in the area of time.”[v] A startling gap. Or do principals powerless, subject to the central office. Is a “district's staffing allocation formula” the problem, drafted by those with little sense of the impact?
A Secretary of Education. Governors. Policymakers. The media. Principals too? Ignoring the obvious.
You may brush all this aside. Mock my argument as simplistic: “So, Another View has discovered the magic bullet to good schools!” No, but I concede this: my point is a simple one. We must pay attention to this critical issue. It is essential to serving our students well and supporting our teachers. We cannot continue to ignore it.
**
Addendum A – Quotes from and comments on these 12 articles
(All
bold mine)
1. Working Conditions – time and teachers’
well-being
“Could Educator Shortages
Affect the Future Workforce? Here’s What Business Leaders Think”
“You
have 91 percent of those business leaders basically saying, if we don’t have
qualified teachers in classrooms in really three to five years, they’re going
to have businesses and work that is not going to be supported by a qualified
workforce…”
“They
all agreed that we needed to have increased compensation and benefits and improve
the working and learning conditions. [They] also advocated voting for those
political candidates who are including addressing the educator shortage issue
in their agendas and platforms. Things like advocating more of a voice of
really promoting the respect for teachers—just like we do with our
veterans, our frontline health care workers.”https://www.edweek.org/leadership/could-educator-shortages-affect-the-future-workforce-heres-what-business-leaders-think/2022/11
“How
Can I Give My All to Both?”
“Atlantic
Rethink,” The Atlantic Magazine, 2022
“For committed and empathetic educators, achieving a healthy work-life
balance can be challenging—especially now. But there are ways to limit
stress, increase satisfaction, and find a sustainable middle ground.”
[Keonaka
Brown taught elementary school in Texas.] “But seven years into Brown’s career
as an educator, she hit a wall. The job wasn’t just challenging. It was
consuming. There was never enough time to get everything done: paperwork,
meetings, responding to parents, and teaching pre-K, kindergarten and first
grade classes. Work followed Brown home, night after night, where her first
child also needed her care and attention…
“One day, it all became too much. So Brown quit her dream job—not because she had lost her sense of purpose, but because she was burned out, unable to square her career with the rest of her life. ‘I was like, ‘I am absolutely done with education,’ she says. ‘I’m not doing it anymore.’”
“Take Charge of Your Time
– According to a recent national
survey of more than 1,300 educators, teachers spend a median of 54 hours per
week working. That’s almost two extra eight-hour days at the office each
and every week, a perpetual motion machine of planning, grading, coaching,
supervising clubs and after school activities, meeting with colleagues, and
interacting with students and parents outside of the classroom.”
“Caring Starts With You – At work, Cheris Pipkins is always on. An elementary school principal in Texas, Pipkins is a relentlessly positive presence, the kind of school leader who personally greets students every morning, regularly checks in on her teachers’ workloads and emotional wellbeing, and generally puts everyone else’s needs first.” https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/equitable-2022/educators-work-life-balance/3752/
COMMENT:
So many useful insights in this article, but unable to examine one key factor.
“Teachers Aren’t Burnt Out. They Are Being Set Up
to Fail.”
By Alexandra Robbins (author of the new book, Teachers: A Year Inside
America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession), Education Week, May 5,
2023
“School leaders should fix the
underlying causes—school climate, staffing numbers, and resources—not just to
prevent employee demoralization, but because that’s how a proper workplace
should operate.”
COMMENT: Perhaps Robbins’
book explores what she merely mentions in this 1,000 word essay. She places the
blame for teacher burnout on “school systems that set both teachers and
students up to fail.” Sounds fair to me, and yet blaming “the system” is too
vague. Better, I think, when she puts the responsibility on men and women who
determine the conditions for a teacher.
Is “Being Set Up to Fail”
overstated? I might put it this way: “Being set up to feel that what I am
expected to do, to meet the needs of my 170 students every day, is impossible
and unfair. It is deeply frustrating to think no one recognizes this. Above
all, to think my principal doesn’t get it.” https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-teachers-arent-burnt-out-they-are-being-set-up-to-fail/2023/05
2. It’s more than pay
“Teachers Need More Than Pay Raises,
Education Secretary Argues”
Education Week, May 17, 2023
EW: “What are some concrete actions the Education
Department can take to improve teacher working conditions?”
Secretary of
Education Miguel Cardona:
Teachers, once they get into the parking lot, they’re on. They have students in
front of them the whole day. Maybe they’ll get half an hour for lunch where
they have to make calls and hit the copy machine because it was too busy in the
beginning. They have long days. (1)* So how do we build into the teacher day time
for professional learning, time for reflection, and time to observe another
teacher? That’s one thing.
(2) Do we
provide enough support and mentorship for teachers, teacher-to-teacher
mentorship where they have time during their workday—not on their personal
time—to grow, to reflect, to observe another teacher? (3) Do they have an
opportunity to ask questions if they’re struggling with something?
(4) And
then a third thing, do they have access to professional learning around
topics that are important to them? (5) Four, do the classroom teachers have
enough student support staff around them? (6) Are there paraeducators to
support the students that need extra support?
(7) Do they
have the right technology to make sure that they can keep up with the
needs of the students? (8) Are there enough social workers, psychologists,
and school counselors available so that when students are struggling they
have adequate support? (9) Are there school nurses?
(10) Do
they have administrative support and leaders that are well trained and
well supported so they could provide support for educators? (11) Do they have
managers or instructional leaders? https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-need-more-than-just-pay-raises-secretary-cardona-says/2023/05
*COMMENT:
I add the numbers to make a point. The educator with the biggest megaphone in America
asks 11 questions pertaining to “working conditions,” but not one as simple as:
Do teachers have too many students assigned to their classes?
“Showing teacher appreciation? More governors say, try
better pay”
By Marc Levy (AP), May
8, 2023
“As schools
across the country struggle to find teachers to hire, more governors are pushing
for pay increases, bonuses and other perks for the beleaguered profession —
with some vowing to beat out other states competing for educators….
“More than half of the states’ governors
over the past year — 26 so far — have proposed boosting teacher compensation,
according to groups that track it. The nonprofit Teacher Salary Project said it
is the most it has seen in nearly two decades of tracking.
“Magan Daniel, who at 33 just left her central Alabama school district, was not persuaded to stay by pay raises as Alabama’s governor vows to make teacher salaries the highest in the Southeast. …Fixing teachers’ deteriorating work culture and growing workloads would be a more powerful incentive than a pay raise, she said. [Worth noting! It is mentioned! Once.]
“Sylvia Allegretto, a senior economist [at] the Center for Economic and Policy Research, called salary promises by governors one-time “Band-Aids” that barely keep up with inflation. ‘You’re kind of chipping away at the margins,’ Allegretto said. ‘You’re not fixing the problem, generally.’” https://www.klfy.com/national/teacher-appreciation-more-governors-say-try-better-pay/
“It Will Take More Than $60K Salaries to Solve the Teacher Shortage”
By Katherine
Norris & Kathryn Wiley, Education Week, March 10, 2023
“The American Teacher Act is a good start, but more
will be needed to address the challenges to the teaching profession that we
have seen firsthand. Because the bill structures funding for states and
districts in the form of four-year grants, we worry that already overworked
and stressed teachers and administrators will have to jump through
bureaucratic hoops to apply on top of their regular daily demands—not to
mention handle additional paperwork burdens on the back end of the grants. Such
additional work assignments tend to have a harder impact on Black and brown
communities and high-poverty schools, whose teachers and administrators are
already overtaxed.”
“… This legislation is a start to a much-needed movement to support teachers across the country. But no single piece of legislation can address everything. It will take a concerted effort on the federal, state, and local levels to improve the status, compensation, school climates, and protections for teachers.”https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-it-will-take-more-than-60k-salaries-to-solve-the-teacher-shortage/2023/03
3. Administrators, principals, and support for teachers
"What School Leaders Can Do to Ease Stress"
By Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week, April 17, 2023
“To reduce teachers’ stress, [professors
Christopher McCarthy, University of
Texas-Austin, and Richard Lambert, University of North Carolina-Charlotte] found school leaders
can:
“Listen to teachers. Teachers
are more likely to report a disconnect between their demands and capacity
if they’re not consulted on decisions about school support and resources. (This
is particularly important when it comes to teacher wellness initiatives;
mandated teacher-relaxation interventions, for example, can backfire if staff
don’t want a particular approach.)
“Perhaps one of the most important ways
principals can support teachers is by providing time and space for them
to support each other.”
TO OUR PRINCIPAL: You are asking us
to (try to) teach too many students!
“In follow-up studies of teachers, the Yale center researchers found administrators need to go further than just a staff survey to understand what underlies teacher stress…. Marc Brackett, director of the Yale center, said: “When people say they are tired, ask, is that really exhausted or anxious or frustrated? Knowing that will shift the way you support [teachers].” https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-school-leaders-can-do-to-ease-teacher-stress/2023/04
COMMENT: Again, we talk around the issue. Let’s
say it. You ask me to teach and know, monitor the progress and grade the papers
of, be kind and helpful to 170 students. That is why I’m tired!
“How to Build a Healthier
School Culture – The easy,
low-cost places to start in making employees feel valued”
By Laurie
J. Carr, Education Week, May 20, 2022
“… How and when administration
communicates with employees matters and clearly demonstrates the values of
the leaders of the organization…. “Another
meaningful gesture is assigning each new employee a buddy who can
welcome and orient them to the district. Regular communication via check-in
calls, texts, or meet ups will also help transition and aid in an employee’s
ability to feel a part of the larger organization…. “Affinity groups are a good way to begin
cultivating a healthy community of support for individuals who are
underrepresented in a school or district….
It’s one thing to recruit a diverse workforce, but if you’re not
willing to examine your practices and create structures that support their
retention, you’ve created a revolving door. It’s not too late to make a
shift toward developing a healthier and happier educator workforce….” https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-what-a-birthday-card-says-about-how-your-school-is-run/2022/05
“Advice
for New Principals: The 4 Things to Focus on First”
By Lebon “Trey” D. James III & David E. DeMatthews, Education Week, Sept. 20, 2022
“Learn your school. First-time principals will need
to quickly learn the history, standard operating procedures, and strengths and
areas of growth for their campus. To quickly learn, principals will need to
prioritize one-on-one meetings and small-group discussions with all campus
stakeholders, including custodians, secretarial staff, attendance clerks,
teachers, and counselors.
“Moreover, principals will need to gain
insights about curriculum, assessment, instruction, and interventions from lead
and veteran teachers as well as special education and bilingual education
teachers. These insights will allow principals to respond to problems,
identify and utilize talent where it is needed, and build capacity for individual
teachers who are struggling.” https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-advice-for-new-principals-the-4-things-to-focus-on-first/2022/09#:~:text
COMMENT: The authors of this piece work at (can you guess?) colleges of education. “Let’s set up a convoluted process, utilize talent, and prioritize.” I say, if a new principal finds her school has class sizes of 30 or more and teacher workloads of 150, she already knows one problem to tackle!
“When It Comes to the Teacher Shortage, Who’s
Abandoning Whom?”
By Michael Fullan & Joanna Rizzotto, Education Week, Aug. 15, 2022
“Teacher resignations are common knowledge
these days. It’s like COVID itself. Nearly everyone personally knows a teacher
or knows of teachers who have left in the past year—often abruptly. These days,
students often have different teachers, unqualified substitutes—more and more
schools are stress zones. It seems like no one wants to be a teacher
anymore….”
“In the meantime, if quality teaching is
lacking, if students are insufficiently motivated, if inequality
continually worsens, are individual teachers and students to blame or is the
existing system the problem? Who is abandoning whom? Our conclusion is that
the old, deeply flawed system has de facto abandoned the teachers, not the
other way around. We continue to try to patch up a flawed system with segmented
ideas…. We need to shift our understanding and energy to developing
a new system where both new learning and technology develop in tandem.” https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-when-it-comes-to-the-teacher-shortage-whos-abandoning-whom/2022/08
“What Districts Need When
Investing Their Funds - If a
district’s plan has the scope right, it will prioritize investing in proven
strategies”
By Denise Forte & Thomas J. Kane, Education
Week, Jan. 10, 2023
“Many schools
and districts have been left to find solutions to unfinished learning on their
own. This is a missed opportunity. There are decades of research on what
works. District and school leaders can build on that knowledge base to
implement programs that are aligned with best practices during this summer and
fall, with an eye toward scaling up and sustaining the most effective
approaches. An iterative process of testing strategies, evaluating the
impact, adapting based on continuous learning, and replicating the most
effective approaches is the key to progress. It’s not just about short-term
pandemic recovery but about using this unprecedented federal investment to
change how we do school in the long term, especially for the most underserved
students.
“Now is not
the time to ‘get back to normal,’
when doing so will mean allowing the inequitable impacts of the pandemic to
continue to exacerbate existing inequities. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-education-recovery/2023/01
COMMENT: Once again, an article with terrific points. Three recommendations around Tutoring, Summer learning, and Core instruction. Guess what is not mentioned? No mention of class size/teacher workload as among the most fundamental issues to put on the table. One reason, sadly, why our school structures have, post-pandemic, “returned to normal.”
“Invest in proven strategies.” Schools and districts (perhaps
a governor too) can find compelling research on the benefits of smaller class
sizes for low-income and minority students. It shows that this is one of “the most
effective approaches” that can do so much to improve learning for “the most
underserved students.” A proven strategy—and yet we do not act on it.
“Making Time for Academic Recovery in the
School Day: Ideas From 3 Principals”
By Denisa R. Superville, Education Week, Dec. 20, 2022
“Schools are
still figuring out how to add time for academic recovery during and
after the regular school day to help students catch up from the upheaval of
pandemic-era schooling.
“… Many
principals are in uncharted territory and are most likely defaulting to the
traditional ways of doing things—and that’s likely limiting access to
accelerated learning and other academic recovery, according to Sarah
Woulfin, a professor in the department of educational leadership at the
University of Texas, Austin.
“‘Leaders
have more agency than it looks like on paper, and yet we’re still not seeing
those leaders making leaps into action and shifting things around in their
schedules and in their use of time,’ Woulfin said.
“And despite millions of dollars from the
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (or ESSER) still
available to spend in districts, school systems have not always given local
principals the flexibility to create tailor-made programs that would work for
their specific schools and communities.” https://www.edweek.org/leadership/making-time-for-academic-recovery-in-the-school-day-ideas-from-3-principals/2022/12
COMMENT: Nice suggestions by three principals on expanding the advisory period “from 30 to 55 minutes to help students focus more on standards recovery in math and reading,” adding “90-minute tutoring sessions,” and setting up “a 45-minute lunchtime academic support program for students who had been flagged as needing assistance.”
Note, however, that the writers seem to start
with the question: what can we add?
Perhaps all needed
where teachers have 170 students in their classes. But is that a given?
How about asking
what can we subtract?
Addendum B
Preschool class size
Class size in
Colorado’s preschools will fall short of "quality standards"
-
From "No new quality rules for first year
of Colorado’s free preschool program"
By
Anne Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado (April 7, 2023)*
Bold mine
“The state’s decision means that next fall,
more than 30,000 Colorado children who’ve signed up for universal preschool
will attend preschools that vary widely in quality. Some will attend programs
with the state’s top Level 5 rating, which indicates excellence in several
categories. Others will go to preschools with the lowest Level 1 rating, which
indicates the program is licensed by the state and meets basic health and
safety standards.
“There are various ways to measure preschool
quality, but class size caps, staff credentials, teacher training
requirements, and curriculum choice may be among the criteria. The National
Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers University rates states using 10 benchmarks of
preschool quality. Colorado’s existing state-funded preschool
program, which serves about 15,000 4-year-olds, only meets four of the benchmarks.
“Colorado is allowing some
providers to have 24 students per class this fall, higher than the 16-student
maximum the current state preschool program allows and the 20-student maximum
the institute’s benchmark recommends.
“Leaders from the Colorado Department of
Early Childhood, which is running the universal preschool program, said they’ll
adopt quality standards in the fall that will take effect in the summer of
2024.”
https://co.chalkbeat.org/2023/4/7/23674706/colorado-free-preschool-quality-standards-delay#:~:text=
.
Addendum C
Gov. Polis and K-12 class size – talk vs. action
“As
governor, I’ll take bold action: free preschool and kindergarten, better
teacher pay, smaller class sizes,” (Polis for Colorado, Sept. 29, 2018).
Still a goal, yes? Perhaps
Gov. Polis realized, once he took office, what little impact he can have on
this issue. So it might be wise to make fewer claims, and say less. On the
other hand, if he believes the issue truly matters, I hope he will take it on. No
one can do more to focus our attention on such a critical issue.
Spring 2019
“Gov. Polis signs free, full-day kindergarten bill into law,” May 21, 2019
DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis
today signed HB19-1262… The bill:
|
To “free up resources” creates opportunities
for districts and schools to decrease class size, but does nothing to ensure
school leaders actually make this happen. |
Frees up resources for school districts that currently subsidize
full-day kindergarten to spend on other priorities, including increasing
teacher pay, decreasing class size, and purchasing new technologies. https://www.colorado.gov/governor/news/gov-polis-signs-free-full-day-kindergarten-bill-law
Spring 2022
“Governor
Signs Two Education Bills to Address Funding, Teacher Retention,” May 27, 2022
“Yesterday,
May 25, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed two education bills into law that
will increase K-12 public school funding on average by $545 per pupil…” Rep.
Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, said, “This law increases funding for K-12
|
“Can maintain
small class sizes…” Not a reduction. Nothing about class sizes already being
too big. |
Fall 2022
“Voter guide: Jared Polis and Heidi Ganahl answer 8 education questions,” (Oct. 25,
2022)
|
“allowing for
reduced class sizes” “can support smaller classes” More funds “allow for” or “can support” smaller class sizes. But is there any evidence this has happened - e.g., in DPS or
APS? |
Polis: … My
administration has made major progress to improve our schools by increasing per
pupil funding by nearly 20%, allowing for reduced class sizes and
increased teacher pay, and ensuring that no matter where you live, your kids
can attend preschool and kindergarten for free…https://www.longmontleader.com/schools/voter-guide-jared-polis-and-heidi-ganahl-answer-8-education-questions-5999862
Winter 2023
From State of
the State by Gov. Polis (Jan. 17, 2023): “And
for K12 learners, I'm proposing in my supplemental and budget amendment package
today that we raise per pupil funding by an additional $925 - or an additional
20,000 dollars for Colorado classrooms every year… These new funds can also
support smaller class sizes, revive extracurriculars, or fund mental health
support for our students.
Endnotes
[i] “School/District
Staff Statistics,” Colorado Department of Education, http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdereval/staffcurrent. Student Teacher Ratios by District (XLSX)
[ii] “The Promise: Better teacher pay and
smaller class sizes”
Bold mine
Progress: No Movement
The Quote: “As governor, I’ll take bold action: free preschool and kindergarten,
better teacher pay, smaller class sizes.”
The Context: In a separate item, we address the issues of preschool and kindergarten. So this one looks at teacher pay and smaller class sizes. … the average Colorado public school has 17.6 students per teacher, according to the Colorado Department of Education. That, too, is worse than the national average of around 16.1 students per teacher, according to the most recent data available from the National Center for Education Statistics. “Jared Polis made a lot of promises in bid for governor. Here’s his progress on the 10 biggest.” https://coloradosun.com/2019/04/17/jared-polis-top-campaign-promises-colorado/
[iii] The State of Preschool 2021, STATE PRESCHOOL YEARBOOK, The National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers Graduate School of Education, https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/YB2021_Full_Report.pdf
[iv] “School/District
Staff Statistics,” Colorado Department of Education, School by school - Student Teacher Ratios
by School (XLSX).
[v]
“Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado Survey Summary Report,” Spring
2020, https://tlcc-2020-reports.cedu.io/summaryReport/tlcc2020summaryreport.pdf,
page30.
