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It’s time to wake up the people of North Carolina and let them know that our public schools are in danger! Pending bills in the General Assembly could devastate our schools as we know them — lifting the cap on classroom sizes, eliminating classroom positions, slashing eligibility for Pre-K, authorizing vouchers that send public money to private/religious schools, and funneling public money into for-profit schools with no oversight.
Join us for a press conference and rally as we deliver our petition to Governor Pat McCrory! Children are especially welcome to join us — let’s show our lawmakers who will pay the price if they go through with these terrible ideas.
If we don’t let our friends and neighbors know what’s going on, no one will — and it will be too late!
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Thursday, June 6 at 4:30 PM
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Public Schools First NC
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
I agree with all the complaints except for the class-size one. I don’t have a problem with that (except for in the early grades: K-5). Smaller class size means more teachers needed. More teachers needed means more teachers trained, faster, which means lower standards for teacher training (*cough* TFA *cough*).
I taught 7-12 for almost 20 years, and honestly, I almost *never* had troubles with large classes (28-35), but I often had problems with smaller classes. Why? Simple. Schools that advocate smaller class size as an core tenet of good pedagogy tend to subscribe comorbidly to touchy-feely, progressive notions of education that are destructive to student learning, and hire administrators who are like minded in that regard It is these comorbid factors that destroy the educational experience, not the increase in class size itself.
It is in the rush to reduce class sizes that the need to fill all of the thusly-created classrooms with warm bodies has ratcheted up. What good is it to reduce class sizes from 32 to 27 if it means you have to hire unqualified teachers to do it?
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It’s good to have something to bargain with. That’s good bridge-building. Good point.
It can be a little harder with, say, a kindergarten music class to have 34 children. But if that is the chip to help secure other aspects of public education, I would give on that too.
Not that anyone is asking us, but . . .
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There is no rush to reduce class sizes. There is an effort to keep class sizes as they are.
The budget will also
— Potentially cut more than 4,000 classroom teachers and 4,500 teacher assistants.
— Continue to phase out of the Teaching Fellows Program and the NC Center for Advancement of Teaching
— Cut the 12 percent salary supplement for teachers with master’s degrees
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Andrew, the research on class size is very clear that it benefits minority children in the early grades. A class of 15-18 is far better than a class of 25-30 when the class includes English language earners and a variety of others who need individual attention. Of course, the classes should be staffed by professional teachers, not teachers-in-training,
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As a mom, I can show you a world of difference between my son who goes to a 4th grade 6:1 private school class and my son who goes to a 6th grade 24:1 public school class…no doubt it’s really a huge difference…regardless of ethnicity
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Diane- Yes, and this is why I qualified my statement to say that smaller class sizes were desirable in K-5. I also said that my teaching was entirely in 7-12 (well, and college). I am also an ESL instructor, and you are right that designated special-needs populations (and I would classify ESL in that category) should haev more targeted, focused, concentrated (ie smaller class sizes) educational experience. That still leaves a lot of otehr classrooms though… .
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There’s no need to rush to train more teachers – lord knows we’ve fired enough of them in the past several years, so why not just use the ones we have?
And I’d like to see your sources that “touchy-feely, progressive notions of education” are “destructive to education”. Very little is more destructive to education than teaching in ways such that the only thing learned is that learning is boring.
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The class size cap they want to lift is K-3 – currently the cap is 24 (although my K child had 25 in his class last year). I worry that specials teachers get cut (we have art,music, computers, science and media) teachers get cut in order to keep k-3 at 24? I hope not, because my child gets a lot out of his specials classes (I wish my child got more art and music and now I fear there will be none).
Quotes below in from the article link.
“The bill would formalize changes made in 2009 that dropped class-size limits in grades four through 12 and gave school districts more flexibility to transfer funds. But for the first time, the bill also would drop restrictions that limit class sizes in kindergarten through third grade to 24 students in individual classes.
The state provides funding for one teacher for every 18 students in kindergarten through third grade. That funding covers all teachers, including instructors of art, music and physical education. That means actual class sizes are larger.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/16/2830003/nc-bill-would-eliminate-class.html#storylink=cpy
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I think cutting “specials” (art, music, PE etc) would have to be separate legislation as I believe they are currently mandated.
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Good to know – thanks.
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Well, we have a House Speaker here who doesn’t care if the class size is 13 or 30 in elementary schools. That is irrelevant to him. Never mind the irrefutable evidence that smaller class sizes, especially among economically disadvantaged students, in those grades are crucial for future academic success. But hey, he has a background in education, right? He knows best. Just put in a “good” teacher with 30 2nd-graders and there is no problem. Right Thom?
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