I was asked to take on a long term sub job at Hillsboro High, right down the road from Nike and Intel. 3 Frosh World Studies and 3 Jr/Sr Economics even though I had no full time teaching experience in the states averaging 38 students per class. A week after starting I was given access to the grade book and discovered that over 40% were failing! What the heck did the contracted teacher do?
So, without any aide, assistance,guidance oversight, nothing, I dug in and created curriculum and taught it. All computer lab time was already spoken for, but I found out most of the time, nobody was there, the teachers had just blocked out that time. Pretty messed up I must say! Out of my 38 I averaged around 12 second language learners per class and they would work if I was there 1 on 1, but the second I left to help another student the pencil was down. So I stopped by a colleagues room to ask what she does, and 5 minutes later the Principal is in my room accusing me of being discriminatory! The last month nobody would even talk to me, it was crazy! With a week to go, this same Hispanic Principal ordered me to pass 2 Hispanic students who had not come close to earning a passing grade. I just reduced the % of failing students from 41 to 11% and I wasn't going to hand a passing grade to 2 kids who did not earn them and I told him so. On the last day of the school year,they fired me, wouldn't allow me to go back to my room and collect my personal items and escorted me off the campus! Not OK!
1
I went to Catholic school in the fifties. My first grade teacher was a very young nun and there were 56 kids packed in the classroom.
The nuns ruled fiercely. Threats of calling the parents did crowd control. I just remember sharing a desk. I don't remember individual time for me or anyone. The crowding in California is so wrong!!
I am shocked by the many comments that refute the importance and relevance of class size and blame teachers (and colleges!) for the issues addressed by this article. How is it that so many readers of the NYT are unwilling to affirm the importance of education, to eschew best practices, & to refute the concerns of educators? Who among these critics has ever tried to teach band to even 10 middle-schoolers? Who has tried to teach writing skills without time for even the most basic feedback? Who has, in God's name, tried to teach a foreign language when one is unable to verbally interact with only half of the class? How about taking some responsibility for our society, a society in which your zip code basically determines the quality of your education? A society that attacks those citizens who are willing to go into debt to get an education in order to teach this same society's children for a very modest income? A nation's economic and political, not to mention its humanity and sense of community and ethics, is absolutely dependent on access to excellent public education. We should be taking a long, hard look at how we recruit, mentor, and sustain educators, how we raise and allocate funds for education (property tax, really?), and what subjects and skills we want taught. I encourage all the complainers here to shadow a teacher for a week - or even a day.
8
"I can TEACH 43, but I can't REACH 43" is such a poignant quote and Mrs. Rhee is right- her students deserve better, and so does she.
6
How do you count students in a class is an interesting study. If there is a date by which a district and the union agree is the day by which the class size is officially counted, say Oct. 1 of the school year, and then student addresses are verified for actual residence by that date and the student has shown up at least once between the beginning of the school year and the agreed upon last date of the enrollment period, say Oct. 1, then the official class count is set. Then attrition by moving, by dropping out, by transferring, and other means sets in, thus decreasing the actual class count until the end of the school year. The union and the district may have agreed upon procedures for which class count actually is done up to the last day of the enrollment period and then the period of transferring students in by the end of school year. In the urban district where I worked, a regular high school class would go up to 32, at the last day if the enrollment period, but then would start to slide down to 28, 25, and by the end of the year maybe in the low 20’s for regularly attending high school students. The count of daily average attendance of a class should also be recognized as part of the total district statistics in understanding how the large class size is measured in big urban districts like LA, Miami Dade, etc. Taking attendance on a class roll would see a lot of movement of students, and attendance, not all adding up to the largest amount allowed by union rules.
How about recruiting some retired folks who would love to come into the classroom and work with students? Win-win for both. There is no easy or immediate solution unfortunately. And the people who will suffer the most of course are the students.
@Yael You can't work with students without licensing and insurance. This is America.
1
When I taught high school in New York, the largest class I ever had was 33 students, and it was impossible. Beyond not having enough desks/seats, it's simply unfeasible to teach that many students at the same time. The fact that LA USD is making a concession by going to a cap of 39 is insane. The limit should be 30. In terms of what's optimal, my experience was that class sizes under 25 worked a lot better.
To give a point of comparison to people without teaching experience, most adults know at least one parent who has three or more kids. Those parents are always complaining about how impossible it is to manage three or four kids, right? Now imagine managing 30 kids.
4
My first grade class had 41 students. Our teacher was alone with us in the classroom. She didn't have any aids or volunteers. She didn't have any periods off. She was also our phys ed teacher, our music teacher and our art teacher. The only time off was recess and lunch and the teachers had to do playground duty on a rotating basis. We all learned to read, do math and anything else first graders had to learn. We all passed at a time when there were no social promotions.
Even in first grade she divided up into groups where we could work together on reading and arithmetic while she went around giving help to those who needed it most. Why is that teachers now can't handle a classroom full of kids, even with aids and volunteers? Evidently, they are not taught good teaching techniques. Instead of years of the fly by night theories of teaching, they need to learn techniques that work.
3
@S.L. I am always suspect of comments from people stating this is how it was when I was a kid. Memories can be inaccurate, and old memories even more so. So sorry if I am skeptical of your comment. As a first grader I doubt that you were aware of the trials and tribulations your teacher had in teaching that many students.
7
@S.L. Have you ever tried being a teacher? You seem to enjoy insulting a profession which you know nothing about.
5
Californians generally have a “live and let live” attitude towards each other. This includes their attitude towards illegal immigrants. Californians will not let state officials question a person’s immigration status. They forbid municipalities from requiring businesses to use “e-verify”, a federal government program that tells if a person is allowed to work in the U.S.. And, Californians will not turn illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes over to ICE unless the crimes are especially heinous. As a result of this “live and let live” attitude, more illegal immigrants have moved to California than to any other state.
While Californians do not mind having illegal immigrants in their state, they do not want to deal with the practical realities that come with illegal immigration. Californians do not want affordable housing to be built in their own communities. And, they do not want to pay the taxes needed to properly educate illegal immigrants and their children.
Becoming a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants was a natural outgrowth of Californians “live and let live” attitude. Unfortunately, this attitude neglects to take housing, education, and other realities of illegal immigration into account.
8
@ann Those who blame immigration (legal or otherwise) for large class sizes do not understand how school funding in California works. Districts are allocated money PER STUDENT. If all immigrant children were removed from public schools, the money that follows them would be deducted from the school district's budget. Then teachers would be laid off, thus packing the remaining teacher's classrooms with the remaining students. The problem is not with student population, the problem is with the state not allocating enough money per student to hire enough teachers to lower class size (providing one could find enough people willing and trained to be teachers).
8
@Alexa The money doesn't follow the student. Often students who aren't remedial have their instructional allocation taken for unfunded mandates...and they are put in study hall or large classes. I'm in rural NY -- my compelled child had class size of 45 in Dual Enrollment courses at the high school and received a lot of nasty remarks that he were 'stealing' money that should have been given to remedial or special needs. Plenty of people don't want to follow state law and offer appropriate coursework to all compelled students - they take the money and reallocate to their favored subgroup. And the district won't run a bus over to the community college so those who are turning 16 in 12th grade can actually get out of study hall. Compelled students here who aren't remedial can have five study halls...the state only requires english, ss, and PE...that's a lot of stolen allocation and it doesn't help these students become college or career ready.
2
@Alexa
Washington State is similar to California in how education is funded. Rather than most of the money for a municipality's schools coming from local property taxes, it comes from the state.
Illegal immigrants pay very little in taxes. The state's revenues are largely dependent on citizens and legal residents. The amount a state can allocate for education has to be divided among the number of students it has. States with high numbers of illegal immigrant students require the allocated amount be divided between a very large number of students, such that each student gets less.
2
This article raised my anxiety level, and I’m not even in the field.
7
As can be inferred in some of the Comments, the "problem" in our country is not so much class size, teacher pay, immigration, or any of the other issues that receive air time -- but a systemic lack of deep appreciation in the U.S. for learning, for ongoing education, for curiosity, and for unlocking each person's potential.
We pay big dollars for professional sports and celebrity entertainment, but for an enterprise that ensures that each individual can think, create, work productively, make good decisions, solve complex problems, and contribute to the world, we relegate education to the lower rungs of our values.
Education has a multitude of problems, being locked in a lot of antiquated traditions. But there is no national impetus or interest to move learning into a new era. We'd rather work up a lather about why New Orleans was cheated out of that Super Bowl run.
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@SGK To add on a bit, it seems many schools identities revolve around their sports teams. If there is a fund raiser of volunteer opportunity for the football or basketball team, people come out in droves. If it's for a science fair, not so much. This can apply to colleges as well as grade school.
1
Sounds like its that same as here out in underfunded rural land, all nonremedial and nonrequired courses are large class sizes. The solution is for the state to fund their unfunded mandates and their remedial, ENL, and special needs, not take the money from the compelled students and put them in overcrowding or study hall. Perhaps its time to charge tuition to all international students, by sending the ENL and remedial bill to their countries. Perhaps its time to take the medical out of the school budget. But it is time to give nonremedial students a class size that works, even if the class is AP and not required for grad. Our future depends on educating those who can benefit from that level of work.
1
Focused one-on-one tutoring and conversation with intelligent, knowledgeable acquaintances are invaluable at all levels of education.
The LAUSD faces many interrelated challenges that are both unique and all too common throughout the US, especially with many of its students hailing from households experiencing poverty and second-language issues.
Double the number of teachers and reduce class sizes by half.
Governments and administrators are reluctant too hire more teachers because they are very expensive. Teachers typically enjoy the best benefits, including full healthcare and lifetime pensions, which almost double the cost of their nominal salaries.
Pensions are calculated as a percentage multiple of years of service and highest salary. In California, a teacher who puts in forty years and retires with a maximum salary of 100K/year will receive that amount as a pension for the rest of their lives. Administrators who typically enjoy much higher salaries will receive much more. This applies to most employees of public schools and colleges as well as other state civil servants. While CalPERS is the nation’s largest pension fund, its financial obligations are huge.
Once teachers become administrators, they become bean counters, knowing that their career advancement depends on cutting costs while processing the greatest number of bodies.
State and federal governments must assume greater fiscal responsibility because of regional and municipal variation in income.
1
@Silver Surfer
Just for your information, as a teacher I pay more than 10% of my salary to STRS for my pension and my monthly health coverage is $400 for Kaiser (PPO is about $700). Additionally in CA, I cannot collect Social Security for the years I worked outside of education and according to my visits to STRS (teacher retirement, no one collects 100% of their salary as a pension). It is a rewarding job but CA allots few dollars for students compared to other states and we are a high tax state. Another antiquated deal is that after a few years, a teacher drops in salary if they switch districts unlike other jobs where salary can be negotiated.
4
@kathleen
Thank you for your nuanced qualifications. I do not know the local differences in benefits among K-12 educators, CSU and UC faculty, and civil servants such as nurses, police, and firefighters.
I, too, had Kaiser health insurance when I was a faculty member in the CSU—the least expensive plan, which at that time required no contribution except for a co-pay of ten dollars per visit. Prescription drugs also required a nominal co-pay. Two dental hygienist visits per year and an optometric exam every other year.
Pensions were calculated as a product of highest salary times a percentage of years of service. The longer you taught, the larger the multiplier. Thus 40 years x 2.5 equals 100% of highest salary; 25 years x 2.0 equals 50% of highest salary. Many professors and administrators retired with pensions well into the six figures. One went on to an administrative position in another state. Some continued at the same institution after their pensions kicked in.
The LA Times comically described a high school administrator’s generosity for forgoing all but 30K of his regular salary as he continued to work even after he started receiving his 225K per annum pension.
Withholding Social Security must be the government’s ill-advised way of keeping good teachers in troubled school districts.
In any case, judging by the quality of your prose and tone, you must be a fine teacher. Your students are lucky to have you.
Rancho Santa Fe is beautiful—I know it well.
Pew estimates that about 12.5% of California students, ages 3 – 17, are either here illegally or are the children of illegal aliens.
Illegal immigration is not the sole reason for school overcrowding, but it’s one of the reasons.
3
Class size has little to do with good education. The average class size in South Korea and Japan (educationally, both ranked significantly higher than the US) is larger than that of the US.
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/eag_highlights-2010-30-en.pdf?expires=1548436872&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=4A92DFEE5F018A94F0B4E0582F87379F
There have also been studies that show class size has little to do with improved education. As teachers who are hopefully teaching their students to use sound reasoning and evidence in order to argue a viewpoint, perhaps they ought to lead by example.
3
@Paul Kim
Whenever I see these studies cited, I wonder about the children of the authors of these studies -- are they in schools with 40+ students per class? I suspect that even having conducted the research that produced these studies, those academics have their children in schools with reasonable student-teacher ratios. Another thing I wonder about when I see these studies cited is whether it makes sense to compare class sizes in South Korea and Japan -- homogeneous societies with strictly hierarchical structure -- with class sizes in the United States, which has a more individualistic tradition and a huge range of students, many of whom, especially in our large cities, are English language learners or don't speak English at home.
11
@Paul Kim, you make a good point about class size, but I believe that is also cultural. A disciplined culture produces children that have more self control. A more free-wheeling culture, such as that of USA, has an element of that freedom in the classroom usually manifest as chatter, restlessness, and attention seeking in students. To maximize the abilities of teachers and students, class sizes in this type of culture should be smaller to be most effective.
5
Only people who have never stepped inside a classroom can truly believe this. I hear this all the time and it simply isn't true. Large class sizes are PURELY the result of trying to save money. Like having too few nurses on a hospital unit, there are diminishing returns. Classrooms (and hospitals) don't scale.
Also, there are a lot of other differences between South Korea / Japan and the United States, when it comes t education - like time actually spent teaching and time spent with colleagues.
I would suggest that class size isn't the first thing to model.
10
What are the estimates of the % of LAUSD students who do not have legal status in the US?
8
When I was a boy the farmers took the greatest care
with their " Seed Corn " as the future of next year's crop
depended upon it being fit and ready for planting in the Spring.
I don't understand how people do not see that
our Children
are our Society's
"Seed Corn".
Failure to provide the education they need -
will destroy America...
22
Teaching a large group of children requires creating community, an 'us against the system' mentality. One key to success is understanding that the kids are far more interested in each other than they are in the material. As a social studies teacher who had classes over 40, I taught the students independent learning, exploration of current events and creative expression. There is no ideal class size, no ideal teacher, no ideal student. The task is to reach every child the best way you can.
2
@Andre There are enabling circumstances and unnecessarily difficult circumstances. Overcrowding can be overcome, but it is very unnecessary.
2
Of course it’s possible. Teachers across our nation work nonstop for zero compensation in order to serve their communities. Do surgeons? Architects? Engineers? Financial planners? Why do teachers continue to fortify their position at the bottom by working for free? Y’all aren’t doing the nation any favors. Because of low compensation and unrealistic demands, there aren’t enough teachers to fill our classrooms on any given day.
2
@Andre accepting your point, surely we can agree that a biology or music class without enough equipment for each student is doing a disservice to the kids and the teachers.
4
Overcrowding, I would bet a lot of it has to do with the influx of immigrants, legal or illegal. In the case of the illegal ones, the public schools are forced to pay for their education. I don't blame parents who send their children to charters and private schools in order to meet their children's needs. As for proposition 13, good for homeowners refusing to be held hostage to government officials bent upon taking tax payer dollars for their expansive policies. Keep that money in the taxpayers' hands.
9
@Barbara Absurd. Overcrowding is all about not recruiting enough teachers, among other reasons because teaching has become a very unattractive proposition, as this piece shows.
5
@Barbara Taxpayers benefit from public education. Keeping money in taxpayer's hands is a nice idea but there are public needs and public goods that require public support. Should roads be privately financed also? Public schools ensure an educated population that helps everyone.
As for illegal immigrants, let them sleep in the manger right?
6
@Barbara
Public fund are being misused by unions and districts because there is no skin in the game for people who run them.
Lack of transparency and accountability.
I think 26 is the maximum size a high school class should be--our district caps at 30 and 30 is even too large to get to everyone in a discussion.
10
Ha! 1960s parochial school classes consisted of 1 teacher and more than 50 students. My first grade class was 57; 8th grade graduated 48. Those at the top did well, those at the bottom did poorly, and those in the middle got by. We sat in one room for the entire class day. It was boring for the students and trying for the teachers. Not ideal by any means. They should do what they can to get the class size down to a manageable size, whatever that is, which will be different for each community.
10
You do realize the era you cite was two generations ago when two parent families were the norm and employment was possible with limited education? Our culture expected the 3 R’s and that’s it. Since then, businesses have demanded job training, math and reading requirements have been shoved down 2 grade levels and generations of urban students suffer
from the effects of lead or other environmental poisoning, courtesy of corporations. Interestingly enough, it’s corporate leaders who have pushed legislators to create the underfunded situation we find ourselves in. Without that climate, corporations couldn’t justify the tax breaks they demand. Yes, corps control the background narrative in order to benefit themselves. And we take the bait every single time.
5
In 1972, in Northridge, I was given a 4/5 combination class of 45 9 and 10 year olds. I only had room for 38 desks. The rest of the kids were on the floor. It was overwhelming! A parent got the fire department involved. My room was checked by a fireman for width of exit aisles and number of inches behind chairs to the next desk. The principal was ordered to remove all but 35 desks and he also had to remove all but 35 students. He blamed me and tried to get me fired because I was a probationary teacher. The parents had my back. He was ordered to stay out of my room, and a district supervisor did my evaluations. This is a LONG going problem in LAUSD.
36
This story is heartbreaking really. California used to have a very good public schools. Public schools in California and around the country are being forced to do more with less, while money is siphoned out of an already underfunded public system into charter schools, a massive transfer of tax payer money into private hands with less overall accountability. White flight and flight of those with money from the schools in major cities has left public schools largely with minority students, while those who can afford it pay upwards of 30, 40 and even 50,000 per year to send their kids to private schools. There is no valid reason why one of the wealthiest states in the country cannot adequately fund public schools.
26
@LS Are you saying that somehow non-white students need white students to learn? What is the problem of not having white students in the classroom?
3
@LS The reason (not valid) is : the rich do not want to pay for the poor.
Apart from the fact that most rich claim to be Christian...
they do not realize that the more educated the population is, the better for everyone. Ask the Dutch, the Swedes...
4
Ummm...not sure how teaching the marching band is going to be seen by most people as a strike-worthy crisis. Also, 37 x 2 history classes = 74. Not 175.
I realize that teachers in this country are not paid what they are worth and schools are drastically underfunded, but I don't think that the class size thing is going to move the needle.
3
@Nadia The history teacher said she had two classes at 37 each, and those were her largest classes. Teachers don't teach just two classes a day. I don't know LAUSD, but I am a teacher. My guess is that this teacher likely has five each day. That would put about 33-34 in each of the others. Re the marching band, the situation the director described is a teaching issue for sure, but also a safety issue.
12
@B I do know LAUSD (28 years in the classroom) and you are correct. Middle school and high school teachers teach 5 classes a day. That means around 200 students a day. 200 papers to grade. 200 individual personalities, family circumstances, and motivations (or lack thereof) to deal with. It's amazing the teachers and students do as well as they do.
5
@Nadia If you're not a teacher, then how could you possibly know that class size isn't an issue?
1
I liked reading something like -
recall [some time] after listening to a lecture = 3%;
recall after teaching someone else = 95%.
my biggest breakthrough as a teacher was realising I couldn't captivate everyone's attention lecturing for the duration of a class - that was a recipe for 'kill me now' glazed expressions of boredom on students' faces.
if I tried to help a struggling student, other students would feel they weren't getting attention and would start to act up - a recipe for disaster and chaos
so I changed to just setting an easy-to-understand project and giving it to the kids and encouraging them to help each other
when high-achievers fearing losing their competitive edge demanded to know 'why should I help someone else !?' - I said 'because I'm watching - and you'll get better marks'
so - I'd give the project - sit back and watch them go for it - when a struggling student put their hand up, top students would rush over to help them - and explain it to their peers in a way they preferred and understand much better than from the old guy they didn't care to listen to.
so - talk less - listen more - get them to do it - and sit back and enjoy - marvellous to watch.
9
@Frank Were the high-achievers members of the union as well? What renumeration were they getting for doing your job?
1
@DL
This is the currently embraced teaching model( easy street ) - "cooperative learning," learning" centers", flexible" skill groupings". Direct instruction is regarded as fossilization, so whatever the higher performing students are willing to share with the lower performing students is what they get. Who is checking the quality of that help ? The teacher can't because he or she is "too busy: doing what exactly if they're not teaching? It's the "guide on the side vs. the sage on the stage" role for teachers now- and believe me with this model, no one is breaking rocks to craft skill -based differentiated learning plans when they can sit back and observe the "engagement" and call it a lesson.
I'm from an era in which my teachers actually taught me, then tested me and went back and taught me anything that was missing. It worked for generations and I was seldom in a classroom of less than 35 with 1 teacher. Strong classroom management was/ is the key.
1
@Frank Thank you for saying this. The reason those high achievers were learning is because they, or any students who can explain what they're learning to others, actually learns it in a deeper way. These students use critical thinking mechanisms that engage the brain in evaluation and synthesis. By having them show others, and then expecting those others to explain it and show others, you are actually teaching them to be independent learners. They are also practicing broader application of their skills. This is absolutely what a good teacher should do. Thank you!
As along term high school teacher from Melbourne, Australia, I am appalled by these class sizes and working conditions, which are incredibly stressful for everyone. Here the teacher unions mandate a maximum of 28 students in a room for both educational and health and safety reasons. You cannot possibly give adequate individual attention and resources to students in classes larger than 30. Los Angeles Teachers were left with no other option but to strike to alert people to this intolerable situation.
47
The effects go beyond high school. At the college level, we complain that the students can't write and are grossly unprepared (I teach remedial and college level composition). The grading load in an English class is intense. Simply assigning a score doesn't help the students learn a thing. The numbers in these districts' classrooms are staggering. Only
the student who already knows the material has a chance at success. Everyone else is left behind, and you are left with an elaborate babysitting system for teens. I have no idea how they retain teachers. They would make more working at Target, with far less stress.
32
And, the administrators who were 'teaching' (if you can possibly call watching videos and movies, and doing worksheets as teaching) and watching our students while we were on strike are receiving hardship pay. For what? Doing their jobs?
18
This is very sad. These teachers have an impossible job.
29
Dr. Peos Balanitis was a teacher long ago and agrees with every statement in the article. He adds, though, that as "babysitters" teachers are a fantastic value to the parents of the students.
8
18 students is an ideal class size—manageable for group work, whole class discussion, teacher can give individual feedback. It would be wonderful if America truly invested in public education—small class size and fair pay for teachers
39
I have taught classes of 45 students in California and 20 students in Wisconsin. Class size absolutely makes a difference. With 40+ students, your job becomes crowd control. With 20, you can actually connect with your students and teach effectively.
If California is supposed to be a state that leads the country, then its education system needs to do so as well. After teaching in the Central Valley and the Bay Area, it is clear that not enough is being done to support teachers and students at the state level. Indeed, I am no longer teaching because of burn out.
42
The maximum class size should be 15.
26
Public education in the U.S. has become increasingly segregated. Our urban public schools are effective primarily as a feeder system for the corporate prisons and politicized courts of our carceral state.
A democratic republic requires that there is a modicum of truth in the suggestion of an equal opportunity for all citizens. U.S. education has yet to provide that opportunity.
18
The article makes me glad I'm not a kid today, and sad for those who are.
26