Student body shrinking, class size increasing
Hannah Bolton
Assistant Editor
Veteran English teacher Pam Gower
teaches classes that are filled to
the brim. She tag teams her biggest
class with special education teacher
Julie Shotwell, but her first block,
freshman English, she instructs all
alone, working with 30 students as one
teacher.
“I have a hard time getting to helping
all students,” Gower said. “Sometimes
students will need longer periods of
time with me to sit with them to work
on something.”
Gower also has struggles to keep
all students behaved while focusing
on giving helpful and constructive
comments on drafts and assignments
when she simply doesn’t have the time.
“Evaluating work, responding
to papers, getting through book
conferences,” all add to Gower lists.
“Having that many at once is just a
lot to do it authentically,” she said.
She is not the only teacher struggling,
however.
The student body continues to shrink
Based on 680 responses, Michigan Radio’s Mark Brush and Jennifer Guerra reported the average
class size contains 27 students. Additionally, 69 percent of surveyed teachers said they noticed
class size increasing with only 3 percent saying class size decreased.
7
fewer students
in a class can increase
student achievement by
an amount equivalent to
3 additional months of
schooling 4 years later.
STUDENT TEACHER ACHIEVEMENT
RATIO, OR STAR, STUDY
while class sizes grow. Grade levels
average 100 students at Stockbridge
which houses 599 students in 7th to
12th grade.
Schools with small student bodies
lose money given by the state per
pupil and have to reduce the amount
of teachers to avoid running out of
money.
Both parties are affected by this
equation: Students have cramped
classes stuffed to the brim with as
many students as schedulers can get in.
Teachers have larger class sizes which
makes for a difficulty in teaching all
of the students they now have in their
classes.
The teacher to student ratio in
Michigan is 23:1, according to
Michigan’s department of education.
Most classrooms, however, have a
range of upper twenties to thirties.
Teaching this many young minds is no
easy feat.
Jr./Sr. high classes have an average
size of 24 to 25, with 33 at the top.
The teacher to student
ratio in Michigan is 23:1
according to the
Michigan Department
of Education
Enrollment in Michigan’s public
schools has been dropping, causing
schools to lose funding, this causes
class sizes to grow. One reason for
this is birth rate. MLive found, “While
Michigan’s overall population has been
increased from 7.8 million in 1960 to
about 10 million now, the number of
births has dropped substantially.”
Specialty classes are another
contributor to this growing problem,
specifically, classes where teachers
select students for their class. These
typically run with students as well as
a sense of trust in those few students
that they are responsible enough for
the class.
On top of all that, online classes are
on the rise. Why take a class in person
when online classes are, for the most
part, self paced?
And, then, there are the cost savings.
“Increasing the pupil/teacher ratio
in the U.S. by one student would
save at least $12 billion per year in
teacher salary costs alone, which
is roughly equivalent to the outlays
of Title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, the federal
government’s largest single K-12
education program,” wrote Grover J.
“Russ” Whitehurst, a former senior
fellow in the Center on Children and
Families in the Economic Studies
program at the Brookings Institution
and Matthew M. Chingos Director of
the Education Policy Program at the
Urban Institute.
However, the benefit may not out way
the negatives.
“The evidence that smaller class
sizes increase student achievement,
particularly for African-American and
low-income students, is irrefutable,”
says NEA research analyst Kathy Tuck.
For a class to achieve, it needs to pay
attention and behave. For Gower to
keep 30 plus students on task, it is
difficult.
“It’s almost like you put out one fire,
and another fire starts,” Gower said.
33
Largest class jr./sr. high
class size tops off at more
than 30 students
24-25
Average class size
ranges from
GRAPHIC HANNAH BOLTON
Feature 7