When Governor Rick Snyder created the Educational Achievement Authority for the state’s lowest-performing schools, he promised bold new thinking. One of his bold plans is a kindergarten called the Brenda Scott Academy, which has a kindergarten of 100 students. It is a stretch to call it “new,” because classes of this size sometimes existed a century ago.
The lead teacher, a veteran, is 30. Her helpers are in their firstvand second years of teaching.
“The hub’s large size concerns some experts. Officials with the EAA say teachers using this system are better able to tailor their lessons to the needs of individual children.
“Research has shown smaller sizes work, but this model has pretty much in a sense, early on, has kind of proved that wrong,” said Marques Stewart, Brenda Scott’s principal…..”
“The National Association for the Education of Young Children recommends kindergartners be educated in a defined group no larger than 20 to 24 students. Within that, it says, the teacher-student ratio range should be 1:10 to 1:12.
“Particularly for younger children, you need small groups for their ability to focus and their ability to form strong relationships with the teacher and to have an effective learning experience,” said Barbara Willer, the organization’s deputy executive director.
“One of the things that’s important in terms of early childhood education is you’re focusing on all areas of children’s development. Not only academic development, but also their social development.”
“Those early relationships are especially important for at-risk children, Firestone said. At Brenda Scott, 73% of students qualify for a free lunch — a barometer of poverty — though the school gives free meals to everyone. The school is in an area with a highly transient population, school officials said.
“Firestone, Willer and Keith Myers, executive director of the Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children, all said they know of no other kindergarten set up the same way. They learned about the hub through the Free Press and have never been there.
“Denise Smith, vice president for early learning at Excellent Schools Detroit, a coalition of foundations and community leaders, was curious when she heard about the hub and observed it for 40 minutes in mid-May.
“What I think is unique and successful in this environment is that they are really using the opportunity to co-plan and co-teach, so they’re able to expand in and out of their classes, to hone in on the needs of individual children,” she said. “I think they’re making it work.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Interesting. Are the “helper teachers” paid a full salary? How is having 3 teachers with 100 kids in the same room adequate? It seems like the 3 teachers are equal partners in responsibility for various groupings of 30+ students. I think it is an experiment with the goal of “saving money” but the losers are the children.
Are there any of these bold experiments with huge class sizes and computer instruction in high income schools?
I’m wondering why this seems to be limited to poor and middle income children. Are they somehow better suited to giant classes and screens?
I cannot express in words how wholly inappropriate and unjust this is for children, especially children of poverty. If it is “working” so well, then the admin and wonks who make this ridiculous policy should feel comfortable putting their own children or grandchildren in that class. Didn’t the long term KERA research bear out that a class size of 13 to 17 children in the early grades K through 2 has the greatest long term positive affect size? Kids in this age range have so many needs outside of the academic realm. To not be able to address them, because of too many kids and too few teachers, only continues to teach them that the world is an ugly and unreliable place. Every kindergarten teacher knows that a child’s need for social and emotional security takes precedence over everything else, then the academic piece falls into place with appropriate activities, carefully planned and resourced environment and instruction. That security happens in relationship to the teacher. It is not possible, EVER, in this setting with a 1:33 ratio. I arrive at that ratio based on the report of three teachers to 100 kids.
Typo correction…effect size, not affect.
I was in a class like this once, my first lecture hall in college; could barely manage those numbers as an adult. What reformer or political would EVER let THEIR 5 year old attend this school???
This is why I don’t like the sensational “but the world is different for the children these days. . .because of the 21st Century.” The “21st Century” rationale has given carte blanche for some of the worst ideas in education ever, and we have actually moved back to the 19th Century.
Technology is a tool. The world has always been global, just at a slower pace. Our job as educators should not be to bow down to the fast pace, but to keep it at bay in how it affects the learning environment. . . which has to be, or should be, a well-prepared environment and not just whatever we can muddle together to call a school at the cheapest price.
100 children in a class. 21st Century schooling. Not good.
Anything is possible, I suppose. But the fact that this “initiative” is being taken seriously should tell everyone all they need to know about the state of public policy in this country. This example illustrates the “stockholm syndrome” in contemporary public discourse: anything plutocrats tell us we force ourselves to believe, hoping such belief will increase the likelihood of survival. It’s true for foreign policy; it’s true for economic policy; it’s true for health policy; and it’s true for public education policy. Sanity now looks increasingly like insanity. Monty Python for President!
It is all making sense now…Arne went to Haiti for Basketball and photo-op with hundreds of children in one class where one could “hear a pin drop”! I made fun of his observations and predicted that Arne, in his undereducated ‘wisdom’ would duplicate this 3rd world necessity as another US intervention. The PinDropProgram.
Crowds, Crowd Control and ultimately Crowd Funding for our US children living in Poverty, equal to 3rd World standards.
Arne can connect dots alright…dot-to-dot?
These people are absolutely out of their minds and the public is tolerating such crap. Why? Oh, it’s other people’s children!
Our society is paying right now and for years to come. The Obama Era will be known as the Anti-Child Era in my book. What a disappointment.
The only thing that comes to mind is: Herding cats or chickens. Neither one really seems possible. What educational genius came up with this idea.
“What educational genius came up with this idea?”
Somebody who has not been around cats, chickens, or kindergarteners.
This concept has been in the hopper of proposals to transform teaching forwarded by Obama, Duncan, and McKinsey & Co. since 2011 in a project intended to reinvent the teaching profession. A master teacher has 100 or so students, with help from one or more not yet certified beginning teachers working for $20,000, and a bunch of computer workstations. In theory at least one or two other teachers are also managed by the master teacher. These teachers are organized as an LLC.. You can find the discussion paper that USDE white house fellows were paid to circulate, and the final version of a report that is slick as any under the acronym RESPECT + USDE. I conclude this is a McKinsey theory of getting the most bang for the buck because the key references for the initial “discussion” paper were from the McKinsey Top Talent campaign. I have more but I am not at my computer at the moment.
‘Officials with the EAA say teachers using this system are better able to tailor their lessons to the needs of individual children.’
‘Personalized learning’ is the Orwellian phrase the tech industry uses to market their instructional software. The phrase is nonsensical. All learning is inherently personal. Teachers individualize & ‘personalize’ instruction.
In the old days you might have 3 reading groups, and sometimes teachers in different classrooms would work together and share students for math or reading. But having 100 students in one room seems crazy. Also, they’ve taken over the library, so no one else in the school has a library, right?
Besides the glaring ridiculousness of putting nearly 100 Kindergarteners in one loud and chaotic room, the comment that the “principal” made regarding his idea of what to do with such a huge space as a library struck me. Hmmm…what DOES one do with such a large space? I suppose the thought never occurred to him that the library was there to be something other than just a big room.
I have 3rd graders who are more articulate than this principal is.
This is one more example of “mad scientists” experimenting on children, with a complete absence of oversight and regulation by experts in child development, or people with common sense..
Children are being herded into this inhumane environment like cattle into a feed lot for cost and efficiency, as in industrial farming. Apparently there are no adults in charge who have a shred of intelligence or common sense about children’s social and emotional needs. This is blatant child abuse by any who approve this insanity.
Gov Snyder and these educational impostors may save some money now, but we will all pay the price for their stupidity and cruelty via increased mental illness, increased prison population, and overall damaged adults from childhood traumatic stress.
100 kids in a class with 4 adults is CROWD Control, not education.
And that fourth adult is only there for two hours a day. The entire thing is insane. I especially loved the “expert” quoted at the end who observed the classroom for 40 whole minutes and then sang its praises.
Rick Snyder isn’t capable of understanding science when he is so blinded by dollar signs and ego.
He must have been absent in 7th grade science when they talked about what happens when too many rats are put into a cage.
This is an educational abomination in the USA. I’ve seen classes like this in third world countries that have no money for educational budgets. End of story.
Has our society become so “dumbed down” that people have lost all sense of scientific thinking?
Gov Snyder, are you delusional? These are children who need a safe and nurturing environment that is small. We who are educators all know that learning environments with large numbers of children will result in anxiety…..why don’t you know that?
What would Finland think?
:^)
Future success of children is determined by adaptability and resilience. Adaptability and resilence are developed through social and emotional learning.
Has our society become so “dumbed down” that people have lost all sense of scientific thinking?
Gov Snyder, are you delusional? These are children who need a safe and nurturing environment that is small. We who still have common sense all know that learning environments with large numbers of children will result in anxiety…..why don’t you know that?
You’re assuming that “future success of children” (these children in particular) is the goal of this program. That’s where you and Gov. Snyder would disagree – I’m sure he agrees with Mayor Rahmbo that most of those kids “won’t amount to anything anyway” (not that he would admit that publicly).
Do the elite private schools herd 100 kids into a small box otherwise known as a classroom? Of course not, the elite private schools where Obama and Rahm send their kids have class sizes in the 10 to 15 range. Here in New Jerseylandia, Chris Christie sends his kids to the private Delbarton School which has an average class size of about 12 kids; the tuition is $30,000. Gee, I thought throwing more money at schools was not the answer except for the elites, the plutocrats and their flunkies, the politicians.
I also noted that the ‘hub’ this abomination is occurring in is said to be the ‘former’ library of the school. Great plan! Eliminate the proven way to help children become better readers and replace it with a factory farm model of daycare.
I can not think of a veteran teacher who would agree to this nonsense.
I personally do not consider a 30-year old teacher a veteran. This is a teacher indoctrinated herself who is just experienced enough to go along with this model.
Better education through warehousing. Um, no.
Teach them early to sit and listen (indoctrinate). Sounds like North Korea. Gov Snyder must be so proud of his legacy. I am ashamed to think that this is happening in our country.
Classical organizational model.
1. Organizations exist only to produce
2. Production is maximized through the division of labor
3. People and labor act in accordance to economic principles
It goes way back to industrialization. Does not account for internal motivations, personal satisfaction, individual capabilities, or free will.
So many aspects of society treat the masses as though they are cattle being herded. Education was the one arena that one could unlock and develop individual potential. It’s a shame that is also being corrupted.
Even cattle herding has been humanized by Dr. Temple Grandin, who advises slaughter houses and companies like McDonald’s to handle their cattle without causing stress to the animals.
Dr. Grandin is known for her own life story of a person with Autism, who has written books about living with Autism. She is also well known for her research in animal husbandry and her ability to understand the needs of animals.
Wonder what she thinks about herding hundreds of wiggly, excited and joyful 5yr olds through the K-curriculum, sitting on 100’s of carpet squares, wiping runny noses, bathrooms, story time, opening milk cartons & cafeteria, and maybe even recess?
Can you imagine what this experience would be like for any of these little children, but particularly students with disabilities, such as autism? My students with autism would melt down or regress in such a loud, chaotic atmosphere. The thought of what those little children must be going through horrifies and saddens me.
It’s amazing marketing, though. Giant classes sold as “individualized instruction”
I’m sure you’ve heard the marketing blitz for K12. They use the same hook.
Would the Detroit EAA be willing to release figures on how much they’re saving on staffing with this plan? Surely they’d let us all analyze that, right? If part of the benefit of this accrues to the budget, there shouldn’t be any reason we can’t have a real debate about that, right?
Here’s a pricey private school outside Toledo OH:
Year Founded: 1884
Affiliation: none
Enrollment K-8: 182
Enrollment 9-12: 271
Student-to-Teacher Ratio: 10 to 1
Average Class Size: 13
Do you think they’re going to 100 student kindergarten classes? Why not?
https://www.toledobiz.com/Files/maumeevalleycountryprofile.htm
So can ed tech people address this? Those of us who are in ordinary public schools (working or middle class districts) are afraid that screens are going to be used to replace teachers and cut funding for our schools.
That seems to be happening.
Is there any plan to oppose it, or are we all going to be stuck with this cheap replacement for human beings in our schools? Can anyone give me an example of a wealthy district that is doing this? Does that concern anyone, that this experiment seems to be limited to low and middle income schools? What is the possible justification for that? if it’s great, why aren’t wealthy districts doing it?
My techie family member explained 15 years ago about the plan. Fit every child with a devise and call it individualized instruction. Increase class numbers and reduce staff. It is a way to control cost. I told him America would never buy it or stand for it. Maybe I was wrong.
I’m not sure this is the answer, but if you look at where this is happening the most, it is in the urban school districts where children live in low socio-economic conditions, low parental engagement in education, and teachers unions were strong. Along came testing that seemed to indicate these kids were not learning. Weak administrators did not do their job and get poor teachers out of the classroom…and, YES, even with strong unions, you can fire a teacher, you just have to do your job!
In my humble opinion…
1. NCLB was designed to get into unions and fire teachers that were otherwise protected.
2. The only way this could happen is mandate federal law so it impacted the entire nation, even good schools that has no issues
3. Our society’s propensity to capitalize on making money saw the dollars rolling in from testing and said, “Hey! Let’s keep this going!”
4. The government gave a tax break to corporations for starting and contributing to charter schools, and released funding, so they said, “Hey! We can make money by getting into the school-business!”
5. Lucrative sales in textbooks has decreased because everything is online, so textbook companies have gone to promoting “learning through an online format” so you don’t have to pay a teacher anymore.
This was the subject of the key note address at a technology conference I attended back in October, 2013 that pondered the future existence of the teaching profession. The next day the president of McGraw-Hill spoke about how technology is revolutionizing the flow of information to the classroom and students. He didn’t come right out and say we don’t need teachers anymore, instead he spoke how the teacher’s role is changing.
Eloquent and spot on, professor!
I teach Kindergarten and disagree with this for a number of reasons. One is that it takes me about 2 days to assess my students, because most of what they are learning requires one-on-one testing. You have to ask them all the letters, sounds, reading passages for fluency testing. In math it’s how high they can count, can they tell you how many is missing, etc. You can’t always get the information you need with a computer program. It’s a lot with 25 students-I can’t even imagine keeping track of data for 100!
They also level the kids and travel through the “classes” that way. They make so much progress so fast when they are this age-you have to be really flexible in your grouping to make that work. Typically the struggling learners are the smallest group so they can get the most individual attention. And what about classroom community-how do you address that with 100 kids! It has to be distracting with all that noise. I just can’t even imagine how any thought this was a good idea for learning.
I don’t think that having the best venue for learning is their goal. This is one of many attempts to find ways to make education cost less.
In other areas of employment, computers and technology have been replacing humans for years. But in service related fields, there are no ways to cut back costs than to increase class size while increasing “accountability”. It is all about decreasing the salaries of teachers.
No matter that business models for so-called efficiency don’t apply to service industries. They must do it, anyway.
“They make so much progress so fast when they are this age-you have to be really flexible in your grouping to make that work.”
Amen to that. I get the concept of leveling, but these groups are way too large to differentiate effectively. I also find that a whole group of children can struggle with a concept at all different rates. There is so much disparity of the learning progression at this age. This structure makes little sense.
Notice how there were only still photographs in the video? I would love to observe all the social workings of this classroom live and moving. One can almost guarantee that there are children whose social needs are not being met just from the sheer numbers in this room alone.
Texas Teacher~ I forgot all about the 3 x year DIBBLEing of all Kinders. Of course, it should be done in a quiet, non distracting space under the best conditions. Good Luck! Data collection wall will look like busy pixal wallpaper and will replace cute seasonal drawings.
“Making it Work” is the operative saying? Are you kidding? Why not add 50 more kids? Why stop there? What is the largest group we can squeeze and push into a space before the teachers and children vomit? Insanity! But, according to Gates, class size does not matter. Oh, you wise college dropout!
Call me a cynic, but the Reformers can flap their lips until the cows come home. To me, it seems to come down to one thing: Money. More money for people who don’t need it. We need to invest in these children. Increasing class size with mostly inexperienced teachers is not investing in children.
Joe: a needed dose of reality to quench the nauseating Rheeality Distortion Fields generated by EAA and the leaders of the self-styled “education reform” movement.
Just where do the cage busting achievement gap crushing self-proclaimed “leaders of the new civil rights movement of our time” send THEIR OWN CHILDREN?
Harpeth Hall [Michelle Rhee], under “50 Reasons”:
9. Athlete, scientist, artist: At Harpeth Hall you can be all three.
11. Our state-of-the-art library houses 29,000 books, 1,000 ebooks, 20 electronic databases, 12 Kindles, six small group study rooms, two classrooms for library and technology instruction, and eight really comfortable chairs around a cozy fireplace.
14. Our faculty average more than 18 years of teaching experience and 80 percent hold advanced degrees.
25. 671 future leaders: One school.
29. 8:1 ratio: Our teachers know our students.
30. Harpeth Hall girls learn, work and play on 41 acres of rolling hills in the heart of Nashville.
35. Five theatrical productions, five musical performances, two dance concerts and hundreds of pieces of original art, each year.
36. Harpeth Hall girls work hard and play hard: We field 29 middle school teams and 13 varsity sports from basketball to lacrosse. More than 69 percent of Harpeth Hall students participated in athletics during the 2013-2014 school year.
38. 65 desktop computers, 130 faculty/staff/administrative team laptops/tablets, approximately 350 student-owned laptops, 316 school-owned student laptops, 47 loaner netbooks/laptops, 44 Smartboards, 74 ceiling mounted LCD wireless projectors. At Harpeth Hall we integrate technology into every part of the learning experience.
Link: http://www.harpethhall.org/podium/default.aspx?t=151749
And let’s not forget Bill Gates description of his very own cherished Lakeside School where he used to go and where his own children now go:
“Finally, I had great relationships with my teachers here at Lakeside. Classes were small. You got to know the teachers. They got to know you. And the relationships that come from that really make a difference…”
Perhaps the following helped: “79% of faculty have advanced degrees” and “Student/teacher ratio: 9 to 1” and “Average class size: 16.”
Link: http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/bill-gates-tells-us-why-his-high-school-was-a-great-learning-environment/
And U of Chicago Lab Schools where Mayor Rahm Emanuel sends his children? Pre-K and Kindgergarten surely must be especially rigorous and demanding—
“Children learn to play and play to learn in our early childhood programs. Approximately, 390 children make up our Nursery 3, Nursery 4, and Kindergarten population. Nurturing classroom environments are designed to provide opportunities for reading, telling stories, art, games, music, and exploration as students develop their cognitive and social abilities. Each classroom welcomes approximately 22 children led by a head and two assistant teachers. At the earliest stages, children learn to engage in class discussions, ask questions, and express their own ideas. They write and direct their own plays and investigate the natural world through projects and observation of classroom pets and plants.”
Link: http://www.ucls.uchicago.edu/admission/why-choose-lab-schools/our-schools/index.aspx
But don’t bring up the difference between what those folks provide for THEIR OWN CHILDREN and what they mandate/ensure/provide for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN. As Governor Chris Christie who sends his own children to Delbarton School would say:
“What is it with YOU people?!?!?!”
But a “YOU people” of long ago had already pegged the education outliars [thanks, larry!] of our day:
“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.” [Homer]
Old dead Greek guys. What would we do without ‘em?
😎
This has NOT gone far enough. I think it can really work.
I propose 300 children in one classroom (but make the space 1/3rd bigger) with one highly qualified teacher, 5 TFA people, and 20 trained parent volunteers.
Then after studying the data on all the high performance on reading and math tests, we can hold hands, sing some songs, and pass out some trays of s’mores.
Whaddya think?
Are you in?
If they can pack ’em in there and reduce their (per unit produced) cost to 5k a year they’ll do it.
I love how no one ever mentions money. It’s in bad taste 🙂
Someone needs to do another FOIA request. I bet it’s in there.
Education jobs, and middle class jobs, are quickly beginning to feel like the Sandra Bullock character in “Gravity” must have felt. Except she was saved by someone who shouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself.
Maybe we are more like Clooney’s character. I guess we must be willing to just give up as workers in order to “save” private industry from itself.
You’re not too far off, Chiara. Utah’s per pupil expenditure is about $6100.00 a year. Our classes aren’t 100 with three teachers (yet, and don’t give our legislators any ideas!), but routinely 35-40, particularly in upper grades. I usually have between 30 and 35 8th or 9th graders in each class (I teach a core, but not-yet-tested, subject), sometimes with as many as 12 students with disabilities, per class.
We can invoke ancient Sparta and Rome, Teachers will be Centurions, bonuses for scores and ….Wait a minute, some help me wake up from this bad dream….
Personally I prefer the tin of sardines packing method, cut off their heads, gut, pack em in, and can em! Preferably with a mustard sauce or smoked.
Might this absurd “experiment” amount to child abuse warranting being reported to Michigan Department of Human Services?
Per the department’s Children’s Protective Services:
“Our Children’s Protective Services (CPS) program is responsible for investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect. The Michigan Child Protection Law provides the framework for what CPS must do.
“Child Abuse: Harm or threatened harm to a child’s health or welfare that occurs through non-accidental physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or maltreatment, by a parent, a legal guardian, or any other person responsible for the child’s health or welfare or by a teacher, a teacher’s aide, or a member of the clergy.
“Child Neglect: Harm or threatened harm to a child’s health or welfare by a parent, legal guardian, or any other person responsible for the child’s health or welfare that occurs through either of the following:
“Negligent treatment, including the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care.
“Placing a child at an unreasonable risk to the child’s health or welfare by failure of the parent, legal guardian, or other person responsible for the child’s health or welfare to intervene to eliminate that risk when that person is able to do so and has, or should have, knowledge of the risk.”
http://michigan.gov/dhs/0,4562,7-124-7119_50648—,00.html
There’s much stricter rules regarding 4 year olds in Michigan than there are regarding 5 year olds:
Click to access Child_Care_Center_Rules_419095_7.pdf
Michigan apparently believes that 4 year olds are VASTLY different than 5 year olds 🙂
Check out the space requirements for 4 year olds.
Excellent point Ed Johnson……This is child abuse. This is psychological abuse. This needs to be reported by every responsible citizen in Detroit with demands for intervention on behalf of these helpless children. CPS needs a watchdog organization until they do their job.
The last paragraph of the linked article: “‘Ideally, we’d love to have more staff,” she said, “but I think we do the kids a good service with what we have.’”
English-to-English translation: trying to put the best face on a very bad situation.
Let me be clear. I don’t fault the teachers and school staff and parents. They are trying to make do under what are very straitened circumstances. But when you use euphemisms and nice-sounding verbal bandaids to cover gaping wounds, you are doing more than misleading and covering up.
Among the general public served by such schools, you help create significantly lower expectations for what the vast majority of children need and are due.
That’s one of the most insidious parts of the linked article that all viewers of this blog should read—in its entirety. And that goes hand-in-hand with accepting very different expectations for the advantaged few. *See my comments above on the schooling the “education reformers” ensure for THEIR OWN CHILDREN.*
What do you call a preposterous century-old idea re class size for very young children [see the first paragraph of the posting]? If you are a leading member of the charterite/voucherite/privatizer movement it’s known as “cage busting achievement gap crushing innovative disruption”—Caveat: intended only for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN.
To which there is no better reply than:
“I reject that mind-set.” [Michelle Rhee]
Even a broken clock is right two times a day.
😎
I feel as if I would need to see the actual physical environment. I could see this being done in spacious environment. What also concerns me is there are no experienced ( older) teachers involved. Nothing against the younger generation, but experience helps a lot. So many younger teachers are trained at just doing data. I too, would wonder about the equality of the three teachers.
Where are the parents on this ridiculous issue? I would be fuming. So totally developmentally inappropriate!
I wonder if our grand and glorious governor would have been willing to submit his children to this type of experiment? It’s ok to him since it’s not his kid or in his gated backyard.
And, this Brenda Scott Academy in Detroit has a http://www.greatschools.org rating of 1 out of 10! What does THAT tell you!
Simply unbelievable.
The principal seems to think this is just dandy. I’m guessing that if he walked into a classroom where everyone was spending a big part of the day watching television, that teacher would rightly be found to be failing to do his/her job. So it must be that the SIZE of the screens is what matters! Putting babies in front of small screens for “education” is so innovative!
Children are now being warehoused and processed like the junk food of education.
Shame on you Detroit!
You gave to be kidding me. There is a reason for teacher to child ratios.
This is absurd.
Only in economically challenged neighborhoods would this be allowed. Imagine something like this in the affluent part of Michigan
It is a theory, they need more, give them even less….there are reserved seats in hell for who ever thought this was a good idea.