Common Sense on Class Sizes in the High Schools

James Eterno

Social Studies Teacher-Jamaica High School

I have been a teacher of social studies at Jamaica High School in Queens for many years.  The best advice I can give to anyone about class sizes in the high schools is to use common sense.  It is obvious that teaching up to 34 students in a subject class (50 for physical education and music) for five classes per day makes the job of individually reaching students very difficult for teachers.  (Five classes is a standard teaching load around the metropolitan area for secondary school teachers, but 34 in a class in NYC is much higher than most of the surrounding areas.)

NYC teachers are much more overstretched than our colleagues in the suburbs.  This explains why many of us are burning out from the stress brought about by large class sizes.  In the high schools, a teacher in New York City teaches up to 170 students per day and many are teaching over this number as many class size grievances have not yet been resolved and exceptions to the class size limits used by certain principals can worsen the problem.  Meanwhile, our colleagues in the suburbs work with a pupil load that is significantly lower.  It does not take a genius to figure out that lower class sizes and lower teacher-pupil ratios are big reasons why suburban students generally do better and fewer drop out when compared with New York City pupils.

A teacher who is working with fewer pupils can give more individual attention to each student.  It is easier to involve a greater portion of a smaller class in class discussions.  With a smaller pupil load, teachers can give students more tests, more writing assignments where there is adequate time to mark student material closely to give pupils the written feedback they need.  In addition, reducing class size leads to fewer discipline problems for teachers.  There are fewer places for unruly students to hide in a class of 20 as opposed to 34.  Students with the greatest needs can get the attention they require in a smaller class.  All of this is about common sense.

Unfortunately, the situation in New York City is even worse than the contractually mandated high class sizes would indicate because many of the pupils who would benefit the most from lower class sizes are instead shuffled around from class to class in a bureaucratic maze where programs are changed well into the school year.

This is a problem in both big schools and small schools because when there aren’t enough sections of particular classes, programmers have no choice but to overbook classes just as the airlines overbook flights figuring that some people won’t show up.  Lower class sizes would compel schools to create more sections of various classes which would stop the “shell game” where pupils are shuffled from class to class as some drop out and others transfer in.  We need lower class sizes from day one in September with no ten day grace period to reduce class sizes and no loopholes.

Whenever Jamaica High School has attempted to concentrate resources on really lowering class sizes, it has made a huge difference.During the 2003-2004 school year, the Department of Education stressed Math A Regents and English Language Arts Regents scores in determining how well a school is performing.  Jamaica High School lowered class sizes to 25 in courses that terminate in the English Language Arts or Math A Regents Exams.  What happened?  The school’s test scores improved significantly in both of these subjects this past June when compared to 2003.

I am fully aware that the story from this one school does not make a scientific research study and there are other factors besides class size that contribute to student success.  Furthermore, standardized tests are not the be all and end all when it comes to evaluating student achievement.  However, it should be clear from the common sense arguments on how teachers interact with students that smaller classes make a huge difference in both big schools and small schools.