A big thanks to everyone who took advantage of our registration days. It was great seeing all of the parents and students as they registered for school. If you haven't registered yet, please contact your child's school office as soon as possible.
We have a number of new students in the district this year. Being new myself, I know how welcome everyone will make these new families feel in our community. Thank you for that. Speaking of new students, it looks like we will have at least 69 students in our kindergarten class and 71 students in our first grade class. That means we will average 23 students in each kindergarten class and 24 students in two of the first grade classrooms and 23 in the other one. That's doable, but it's not ideal.
I enjoy reading research and reviewing data on what's best for student learning. When it comes to class size there is a lot that has been written. With the district's financial situation, I look at all new spending very critically and carefully. As I was researching, I was looking for any information that would give me a value on reducing class size. In other words, if we hire a new teacher to reduce class size in kindergarten and/or first grade, is that the most efficient use of our limited resources? As with most research, there are studies on both sides of the issue. There is certainly a lot of research that suggests smaller class sizes make a difference in student learning, especially in the early grades. The magic number seems to be classes smaller than 18 in order to see a meaningful difference. A couple of things I found is that the students start to see a benefit with smaller classes in Kindergarten and the benefit increases in first grade and begins to decrease in second and third grades. It should be noted that I certainly found research that suggests smaller class sizes don't make a difference--especially if the teacher teaches the smaller class the same way as a larger class. I believe our teachers will teach smaller classes differently. It will allow them to work with small groups of students--something that is more difficult with larger classes. They will also spend less time on discipline and classroom management issues in a smaller class which will allow them more opportunity to work on teaching and learning.
In the end, what does all of this rambling on mean? I still have some research to do. I also need to spend more time looking at our district's finances to see if and how we can make this work. I will say, I am committed to doing whatever I can to provide the best education possible for our students with the resources we have. I also believe kindergarten and first grade are formative years that are crucial in a child's development. The fundamentals of reading and their attitudes about school are formulated during these early grades. These kids are worth doing everything we can to help them succeed. If you have any thoughts on class size in kindergarten and first grade, please contact me at the superintendent's office or via email. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for visiting.
