Class Size and the Seattle Education Association Contract Negotiations
It’s contract bargaining time again for Seattle Public School teachers and one important aspect on the table this year is class size.
The district wants to increase class sizes, not for budgetary reasons, but as they put it, due to issues of “capacity”. I have to smile to myself about this because just a few years ago, there was a big push by our former Broad superintendent and her school board contingent to close schools. A costly and pointless exercise that created an even greater demand for classroom space the following year.
Bill Gates and other ed reformers have said repeatedly that class size doesn’t matter and yet they send their children to private schools where classes are intentionally smaller to allow for more individual attention.
Class size doesn’t matter for the rest of us, or even more pointedly, for minority students who are the target of corporate reform.
Many private enterprises such as Rocketship and K12 repeat this mantra to sell the idea that a district can put 50 children in front of computers and only require one teacher. Wow, what a deal!
The Learning Lab at Rocketship Si Se Puede Academy in California.
Common sense would say that it’s better to have fewer students in a classroom than