A new Georgia law mandates that no more than 21 students be permitted in grades 1-3, and no more than 28 students in grades 4-8. Most Georgia Schools, however, see things differently. You see, 26 school districts have requested a state waiver on the law. Some cite cost, and others cite space. Frankly, it just costs Georgia too much to lower class sizes.
The NEA (National Education Association), however, recommends 15 students per class (or less for students with special needs). Studies have shown that smaller classes produce more graduates as teachers can be more effective.
My school system is not on this list, yet. However, the school from which I removed my children has class sizes of about 30 and very cranky teachers. There were some classes however with reasonable amounts of students. Of course, they were in trailers, so they were still cram packed. The local schools in my county are often referred to as trailer cities. Frankly, I cannot see how either of the choices we are allowed here could be conducive to effective education.
In this blog post entitled Mixed Up First Day of School by Teresa McEntire; you can see some evidence of what happens when a schools and classes are overcrowded. In addition, this post by Kaye Siders entitled “What Can Teachers and Administrators Do to Prevent Student Dropouts” strongly suggests that class size can make or break student dropout rates. Finally, in her post Tell Tale Signs of a Great School , Valorie Delp itemizes class size as being important in a charter school, but warns us to be wary of promises of a small class size as it can be fiscally impossible.
And so, we have come full circle in our discussion on class size. First, studies show that a class size of 15 or more is ideal. Secondly, common sense and experience shows that such small class sizes are difficult to finance. So what is a parent to do?
For me, I sure am glad we homeschool.