After Gov. Christie slashed school aid by $820M this summer, 81 percent of districts said they intended to reduce teaching staff
Two physical education classes of 120 students run in class at the Herbert Hoover Middle School in Edison on Tuesday November, 16, 2010.EDISON — The gymnasium at Herbert Hoover Middle School in Edison was bouncing with energy one recent morning as 120 seventh-graders, dressed in shorts, T-shirts and sneakers, lined up and began doing calisthenics.
Teachers Phil Bouchard and Kim Baldassare walked along the rows, each taking attendance of the 60 students in their classes. Last year, before state aid cuts led Edison to reduce teaching staff, phys ed classes at Herbert Hoover numbered around 40 kids.
"Most of the time is devoted to organization, not instruction," Bouchard said, pausing as he checked off names. "It’s very difficult."
Edison eliminated 150 teaching positions, including 6½ at Herbert Hoover, after the school budget was cut by more than $16 million. Herbert Hoover now has math classes of 25 or 26 students, up from last year’s average of 22; foreign language classes of 29 students; and one social studies class with an enrollment of 30.
The school’s dilemma marks a statewide trend as districts say aid cuts have meant staff reductions that in turn have led to larger class sizes. A survey by the New Jersey School Boards Association last summer, conducted after Gov. Chris Christie slashed school aid by $820 million, found 81 percent of responding districts said they intended to reduce teaching staff. Of those, 42 percent expected class size to rise as a result.
While the effect of larger classes on students’ ability to learn has been the subject of some debate, most school administrators, teachers and parents say they believe bigger is not better.
With a 2 percent cap on property tax increases coming next year, class size may increase further, West Orange School Superintendent Anthony Cavanna said.
"Given the magnitude of what the 2 percent cap means, I think we’ll have to make cuts that will affect class size. I don’t see a way around it," he said.
West Orange already has lost $9 million between state aid cuts and its defeated budget, and it eliminated 40 teachers. Some elementary classes rose from 20 to 24 students, and high school classes that once hovered between 20 and 25 students may now have up to 30.
Small classes have long been popular with both parents and educators, because they allow teachers to spend more time with each student.
The average elementary class size in the U.S. dropped from 24 pupils in 1993-94, to 20 in the 2007-08 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Jeff Shanker teaches eighth grade social studies to 30 students at the Herbert Hoover Middle School in Edison on Tuesday November, 16, 2010.In New Jersey, in 2008-09 — the most recent data available from the Department of Education — the average class size statewide was 18.8 students in first grade; 20.6 in fifth grade; and 20.0 in ninth grade.
Some studies have shown smaller classes improve learning. One of the most well-known, Project STAR, was conducted in Tennessee in the 1980s and found smaller classes improved academic achievement for children in primary grades. A follow-up of the STAR kids in 10th grade found they had higher grade-point averages and were more likely to graduate and pursue higher education.
But other experts say it’s not that clear-cut.
Small classes matter more for low-achieving kids in early grades, according to Douglas D. Ready, an assistant professor at Columbia University Teachers College. Ready, who conducted a review of class-size research, said most studies compared very small classes — less than 17, for example — with so-called large classes of around 22.
"That is considered small to most people," he said. "For a place like Newark, people would love to have 22."
Virtually all class-size research focused on elementary education, and little is known about the impact in middle or high school, he added.
Smaller classes can improve student learning in lower grades, but "there is some question as to whether the effects are large enough to be cost-effective," said William Firestone, associate dean for academic affairs at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.
"At some point ... the instructor has trouble grading all the papers. They tend to give fewer essays and more multiple choice. It’s just harder to keep track of 29 kids," Firestone said.
"Reducing from 20 to 15 will do more to increase student learning, but it costs a lot of money," he said.
GROWING CONCERN
At the Garden State Coalition of Schools, an education advocacy group that represents about 100 suburban districts, Executive Director Lynne Strickland said many "agonized" over enlarging classes.
She said small classes allow teachers to tailor instruction to different ways of learning.
Kim Baldassare and Phil Bouchard teach a combined two classes of 120 kids at the Herbert Hoover Middle School in Edison on Tuesday November, 16, 2010.West Orange mom Jennifer Winning, president of the St. Cloud Elementary School PTA, said her daughter’s third-grade class, with 22 students, has not seen a noticeable change. But she’s heard talk of middle school increases.
"The more kids you put in the classroom, it’s just got to make it that much harder for the teacher, or for kids to get that individualized attention," she said. "It concerns me as my daughter grows older."
In Marlboro, where budget cuts meant about 15 fewer classroom teachers this year, Assistant Superintendent Marc Gadswirth said elementary class size rose by two or three students.
First-grade classes are around 23 students; fifth grade, about 28.
"We weren’t happy about it," Gadswirth said. "We will have to see what effect, if any, it has on student performance."
THE EFFECT OF STAFF
At Herbert Hoover in Edison, Principal Louis Figueroa will be watching student performance closely, too. His school last year failed to make "adequate yearly progress," a federal benchmark, because of low test scores in special education — after he had requested, but didn’t get, more staff.
He said class disruptions have increased this year.
Edison interim Superintendent Ron Bolandi said primary class size would have increased there, too, but teachers union salary givebacks allowed him to save 16 teaching jobs.
Many teachers are coming in early or staying late to give students extra help, or they are adapting in other ways.
Edison social studies teacher Jeff Shanker taught a lesson on the American Revolution recently, weaving between rows of desks as he tossed out questions. With 30 eighth-graders enrolled, even with a special education teacher sharing the room, Shanker said he has to circulate more.
"When I’m on one side of the room, the left side may say, ‘Mr. Shanker can’t hear me.’ So they will start talking," he said. "Some days it feels crowded."