History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
The big squeeze is on in California classes
- 01-10-2011
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By Sharon Noguchi/San Jose Mercury News
As California crams more kids into classrooms, students are sitting in aisles and on windowsills. Fewer are paying attention and more are certain to be left behind. Teachers are spending more time lecturing and less time leading experiments and devising creative lessons. Caught in a budget meltdown, the state is forcing schools to abandon one of the most popular education reforms -- smaller class sizes. The frustrations are already showing in San Jose Unified, which boosted class sizes by 50 percent for its youngest students last school year. With the state facing a yawning $28 billion budget gap, more districts are almost certain to follow. While standardized test scores have yet to measure the result of larger class sizes, teachers and students are reporting the day-to-day struggles, from more unruly classes to more students being neglected. "A lot of students seem to be slacking off," said Mandeep Singh, 17, a senior at San Jose High School, whose history class has about 38 students. "They can get away without doing any work at all." Many teachers shoulder the burden of larger classes, by spending more time planning, reviewing and grading. (more…)
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