"Laws aimed at lowering class sizes in US public schools are coming under fire as budget shortfalls lead many states to slash education spending. ... The moves follow California's easing of class-size targets last year, which helped result in around 75% of the state's public elementary schools incresing class sizes thus school year, according to estimates from a University of California, Los Angeles, report last month. ... The move toward bigger classes is causing a backlash among some teachers and parents, who argue that smaller classes are essential for individualized instruction. ... Others say the benefits of smaller class sizes are unproven", Cari Tuna at the WSJ, 13 February 2010, link:
Smaller class size is another Teacher-Educationalist-Social Worker complex scam. I remember New York's Catholic schools in the 1950s has classes of 40-50. So? It's good to see the dismal science at work. Fund "shortages" may even cut school costs. I remember the Columbia Teachers College fools who "visited" us in about 1962 and were shocked to find NYC public school class size was negatively related to student achievement. Had they asked us, we could have told them that's what they would find. Why? NYC assigned the largest classes to the best students, the smallest classes to the worst!
2 comments:
It's the difference between training the mind and individually nurturing the little egos.
We are a nation of soft egos. And getting softer by the decade.
Is this right IA?
"...Why? NYC assigned the largest classes to the best students, the smallest classes to the worst!"
Do you mean the "best teachers???
Anonymous:
I meant what I said. In the 1950s and 1960s, NYC practised "tracking", i.e., it separated students by IQ and reading and math achievement scores. Hence, the best students were selected for ICG classes, those for "intellectually gifted children", then you had classes all the way to CRMD classes. CRMD? Children with retarded mental development! That's what they were called 45-55 years ago, not "special ed". NYC's "1" class might have 36-40 students, the "6" class, 22-24; the CRMD class, 8-12 students.
The upshot: class size was INVERSELY related to student achievement. I don't know if the CTC geniuses ever figured out why class size in NYC was INVERSELY related to student achievement.
IA
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