Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are getting this information 2nd hand so I don't beleive that the OPs information is totally correct and I don't really understand OPs reasoning for coming to this board.

It is still two full-time teachers, teaching 50 kids. We don't know the specifics and really shouldn't be commenting on a 2nd regurgitation of the facts. Unless parents who are actually in the class choose to comment - it's dumb to form an opinion on 2nd hand info.

I know the parent of a child in the class, and op's description is what I have heard, as well.

The thing that amazed me was that the kids were told the first day that there wouldn't be enough seats for all 50, so they should arrive early each day or they would have to sit on the floor. Not sure if this was a temporary thing. If not, that would upset me more than the large class. If you are going to experiment, make sure you are properly equipped.

Still again second hand info. If everyone is so concerned about it, talk to Ms Main for goodness sake. Why is this being discussed here?

Anonymous wrote:We are getting this information 2nd hand so I don't beleive that the OPs information is totally correct and I don't really understand OPs reasoning for coming to this board.

It is still two full-time teachers, teaching 50 kids. We don't know the specifics and really shouldn't be commenting on a 2nd regurgitation of the facts. Unless parents who are actually in the class choose to comment - it's dumb to form an opinion on 2nd hand info.

I know the parent of a child in the class, and op's description is what I have heard, as well.

The thing that amazed me was that the kids were told the first day that there wouldn't be enough seats for all 50, so they should arrive early each day or they would have to sit on the floor. Not sure if this was a temporary thing. If not, that would upset me more than the large class. If you are going to experiment, make sure you are properly equipped.

11:08 here. I don't beleive this was a higher up decision though. It was driven by the teachers. Beyond that I don't know the details of how the class will be run and neither does OP so there is no point debating this without the facts.

If this is accurate, I would expect the teachers to talk about it in a positive manner. Teachers are employees and if their boss made such a decision, they have to support it. I cannot think that a teacher would actually think this was a good idea, just that they would not actively disagree with decisions made by higher-ups. It sounds like a nightmare to me and my kids simply couldn't function in such a setting. Thank goodness for our East of the Park 20ish students/class school.

We are getting this information 2nd hand so I don't beleive that the OPs information is totally correct and I don't really understand OPs reasoning for coming to this board.

It is still two full-time teachers, teaching 50 kids. We don't know the specifics and really shouldn't be commenting on a 2nd regurgitation of the facts. Unless parents who are actually in the class choose to comment - it's dumb to form an opinion on 2nd hand info.

25 to 30 8 year old kids is one thing but 50??!! That is ridiculous

You know what, the Straight DOpe column answered the question about the research on small class size very recently - past couple of weeks. I happened to grab a City Paper and read it. Not sure if it is archived online.

From what i recall, the small class size thing came from one large study in - Louisiana, maybe? And they found that it definitely made a difference. And based on that one study, the state of CA for example, legislated smaller class sizes. The thing is, the study looked at sizes like the previous poster said was 14 or 15. And CA mandated dropping from 28 to 20. It's probably intuitively obvious that smaller class sizes are "better" but there's not much study it seems.

on the other hand, one thing that circles around in education circles is that really good teachers can probably control and teach larger class sizes than less good teachers. But how youquantify that is a mystery.

Anonymous wrote:all i can say in reaction is....most of the educational research shows that small class size is the biggest predictor of student success. literally, the number of people in the room. not student/teacher ratio either. just the overall number. there was some magic number that predicted success. i think it was 14. so 1 teacher and 13 students was actually better than 2 teachers and 14 students, for example.

interesting stuff.

That is actually not true. The greatest predictor of success is the quality of the teacher. An excellent teacher with 25 students will produce much greater learning than a mediocre teacher with 10 students. That being said, it would obviously be better to have an excellent teacher with 10 kids!

the research i was referring to was with respect to the educational setting, controlling for education of mothers and SES and the like.

I'd personally like to see definitive and absolute proof that small class is the biggest predictor of student success - more important than the educational level reached by parents? - the mom in particular? I think not. Economic status? Parents keep spouting this stuff as if it is truth for every kid in all instances.

As far as Lafayette goes - my kids have had both of those teachers. I think very highly of both and know they would not have made this change without thinking it through very carefully. If parents have an issue with it this board is the last place to go looking for advice. Best for parents to grill both teachers have them walk through their thought process and reasoning for it. What makes sense for these particular classes, might not work in other places.

Teacher here. This sounds a little insane.

just. jeez.

all i can say in reaction is....most of the educational research shows that small class size is the biggest predictor of student success. literally, the number of people in the room. not student/teacher ratio either. just the overall number. there was some magic number that predicted success. i think it was 14. so 1 teacher and 13 students was actually better than 2 teachers and 14 students, for example.

interesting stuff.

My DC is in third grade at Lafayette. This year, two of the other third grade classes have merged and are being "co-taught" by two teachers. They removed the partitions between the classrooms and each teacher is taking turns teaching 50 kids at a time. Needless to say, some parents are freaking out. The school and the two very highly thought of teachers insist it will be great. Anyone ever heard of thus type of thing before? Maybe if it has worked well at another school these parents will be reassured. I am glad my child s in a different class.