by Claire Cummings Jackson Citizen Patriot
Saturday September 05, 2009, 10:00 PM
In the midst of shrinking budgets, staffs and student populations, there is one thing that many agree is likely to grow at some Jackson-area schools this year: class sizes.
Whether adding students to rooms harms education or makes little difference, however, is debatable.
Many parents, such as Andrea White, say they want to see smaller classes so students can receive more attention from teachers.
"If you get too many kids up in there you can't concentrate," said White, 43, of Jackson. Her daughter, Telina, attends at Jackson's Middle School at Parkside, where many classes have 30 students.
But for students like eighth-grader Ashley Holman, the size of the class doesn't matter as much as who is in it.
"They were fine," Holman, 13, said of her class sizes. "It was just if you didn't know anyone, it was really awkward."
The class size debate often pits the state's teachers union — which argues for smaller classes, especially at lower grade levels — against public policy analysts, who say the class-size effect is dwarfed by the importance of the quality of teachers.
Statistics from the 2007-08 school year, the most recent available, show a range in student-teacher ratios across the area, from as low as 15 students per teacher at Jackson Arts & Technology to as high as 24 at Northwest, according to an April report from the Michigan Department of Education.
Student-teacher ratios declined at the majority, or 79 percent, of Jackson-area districts between 1997-98 and 2002-03. But the trend reversed completely between 2002-03 and 2007-08, when 85 percent of districts' ratios increased.
This big drop followed by a big increase means that, compared to a decade ago, many of districts' ratios have stayed the same and some have even decreased.
The student-teacher ratio was calculated by the state by dividing the fall pupil count (excluding adult education) by the total number of K-12 teachers.
Most research suggests the ideal class size is 17 students or less, said Craig Raehtz, director of curriculum and operations at Western School District.
"Generally speaking, teachers can plan individually for students the lower the numbers," Raehtz said. "But the economic climate right now doesn't allow us the luxury."
Seven Western teachers retired this year, meaning some class sizes likely will increase, he said.
Contract language regarding class sizes varies by district, with some listing guidelines for optimal and maximum numbers and others mandating them.
In some districts, teachers can receive an overload payment if they choose to teach a class that exceeds the maximum.
At Jackson Public Schools, maximum class sizes range from 24 students in kindergarten to 30 in grades four through six. At Hanover-Horton, it's 27 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
At Northwest, kindergarten through fifth-grade classes cannot exceed 30 students.
But there also are several conditions and exceptions for specials or elective courses, such as gym, and contract language that limits the number of students that teachers at the secondary level can see in one day — in addition to maximum limits per class.
Many district officials tend to shoot for lower than the maximum.
At Western, where the maximum is 30 students, officials try to put no more than 28 students in each class in third through 12th grades and 26 to 27 in kindergarten through second grade.
But because schools roll over the same student rosters from spring to fall and often are not notified by families that their children are not re-enrolling, the number of students who will show up is often a mystery.
At Jackson Public Schools, students are sometimes shifted between rooms and schools to even out class sizes once the district gets a handle on its population on student count day at the end of September, district spokeswoman A'Lynne Robinson said.
Generally, the teachers union says it would like to see lower class sizes the lower the grade, says Melissa Sortman, a local UniServ director for the Michigan Education Association.
Proponents of universal class-size reduction often base their argument on a 20-year-old study done in Tennessee, said Michael Van Beek, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank.
More recent studies show that class size matters more in the lower grades but becomes less of a factor in student achievement past seventh grade, he said.
"It comes up because it seems intuitive that the less students that you have in a class, the more attention they are going to get and hence the better education they are going to receive," Van Beek said. "Class size matters, but it doesn't matter as much as teacher quality."
Educators have differing opinions on the issue.
"Class size always matters," said Brent Beamish, Columbia School District superintendent, who has worked in education for 50 years. "Usually the smaller the classes, especially in the elementaries, the better off we are."
Eighth-grade math teacher Betsy Sokolowski and other teachers at the Middle School at Parkside — where the maximum class size is 34 — say there is such a thing as too few students in a class, at least at the middle school level.
Students sometimes participate less and feel more self-conscious in smaller classes, she said.
"I don't know that there is a perfect number," Sokolowski said.
The Northwest School District closed Flora List Elementary School as part of its plan to deal with declining enrollment and is consolidating students at Northwest and Parnall elementary schools this year.
First-grade teacher Karen Adkins, who is starting her 33rd year of teaching, said she had 24 students last school year at Flora List and is planning for 30 students this year at Parnall.
Adkins, who is vice president of the teachers union, said as long as teachers are well organized and make an effort to involve all students, bigger class sizes don't adversely affect learning.
"The kids don't notice it," she said.
