As class size grows, more chaotic classrooms

12-20-2011

By Richard Lee/New America Media

"Guys, I almost can't hear myself," exclaims teacher Jenna Kelly to her large class of third graders at Ardenwood Elementary School in Fremont. She felt torn between paying attention to individual students and controlling the classroom. Whenever she tried to help one student with his class work, the rest of the class clamored for her attention. Class size is a huge issue at Ardenwood Elementary, which is located in northern Fremont and serves about 900 students, over 70 percent of whom are Asian, largely Chinese and Asian Indian. Each class this year has an average of almost 30 students. Big budget cuts at the Fremont Unified School District level are to blame. Ardenwood itself did not suffer any dramatic funding. But the district budget dropped from $273 million in 2007-2008 down to $251 million in 2010-2011. (more...)

Document Actions

Send this
Print this

Personal tools

Sections

As class size grows, more chaotic classrooms

Document Actions