Class sizes are still an issue
Cariboo Press
Tue 20 Sep 2005
Page: 0002
Section:
Williams Lake Tribune - ProvincialNews
Byline: GAEIL FARRAR Tribune Staff
Writer
Source:

One of the key demands teachers are making in their
current contract talks is for the reinstatement of class size limits that were
stripped from the contract in 2002 when Victoria legislated a contract on
teachers.

"We are now seeing classes of well over 30 students. Last year we had a math
class start off with 42 students," says Sheila Wyse, Cariboo-Chilcotin Teacher's
Association president.

"The principals are doing the best they can to bring class size down but
there is only so much money. It may mean cutting other classes such as physics
which may only have 12 students."

Class size limits are still in place for Grades 3 and under, but the class
size limits were removed in 2002 for Grades 4 through 12.

Despite the change, School District 27 Superintendent Wayne Leckie says they
do try to keep class sizes low.

Kindergarten has a limit of 22 students. Grades 1-3 have a limit of 24
students per class.

In the previous contract the limit on the number of students per class was
set at 28 students for Grades 4 to Grade 12.

Although the cap is now off, Leckie says they try to keep classes in these
grades to 30 or fewer students.

He says some classes may start out around 35 students at the beginning of the
year, but principals make every effort to bring those class sizes down to 30 or
fewer students by the second semester.

"We may have the odd anomaly but we try to address those once we know about
them," said Leckie.

"Last year he said the average class size for Kindergarten was 15.2 students.
The average for Grades 1 to 3 was 21 to 23 students. And the average class size
in Grades 4 to 12 was 25.9 students.

Thirty-five years ago, Wyse says teachers started a campaign to get class
sizes below 40 students because they didn't feel that a lot of learning was
going on in the larger classes.

"When you have high numbers of students in a class, when you start getting up
over 30 students in a class you've got problems. When you get up over 40
students in a class all you are doing is crowd control," says Wyse.

Over the last 30 years as class size numbers were reduced, she says new
schools were built with smaller classrooms.

As a result classes with larger numbers of students in them are overcrowded
and there is a constant struggle to fit in enough desks for the students.

In some cases students have a chair but not a desk of their own.

The issue of whether smaller class sizes means students will get a better
education is also debatable.

"Show me the research that says smaller class sizes produce better results,"
said Leckie.

Leckie says he hasn't seen any research to indicate to him that smaller class
sizes produce better results and higher grades.

Later however, he sent over a report from the C.D. Howe Institute in
Ontario titled School Class Size: Smaller Isn't Better written by Yvan Guillemette.

Wyse pointed out that the C.D. Howe Institute is not an educational institution.

"The C.D.
Howe Institute
is an eastern Canadian economic institute like Vancouver's Fraser Institute.
It's expertise is in the area of economics, not education," said Wyse.

In response she sent over a copy of a research project in the U.S. state of
Tennessee called Project STAR which indicates that class size does indeed have
an impact on how well children learn.

Jeremy Finn presented a paper on the subject to the American Educational
Research Association conference in San Diego, California in April 1998.

Copyright 2003 tribune

Edition:
Length: 611 words