Subject: Class Size

Thank you for listening today.  The state of the size of classes in the Beaverton School District today is reproachable!  Over the past four years, but more rapidly since the budget cuts of last year, class size has increased dramatically.  Where 35 students in a high school class once was considered large, today, 40 students are the norm, with outliers with as much as 60 students in one classroom.  At the elementary level, no one would dream of teaching a 6-year-old to read in a first grade class of 30; today, many first grade teachers report upwards of 33 in a first grade class.  This nonsense must end!

Class size has enormous effects on the ability of students to learn and teachers to effectively teach.  Numerous studies have been released that reconfirm the value of smaller class size.  For example, a 2011 study by Dynarski et al found that for “students with the lowest predicted probability of attending college, a small class increased rate of college attendance by 11 percentage points.”  Another study in 2009 by Konstantopoulos and Chun revealed that, “class size reduction appears to be an intervention that increases the achievement levels for all students while simultaneously reducing the achievement gap.”

The increase in class size across the Beaverton School District has some very real effects on teachers and students every day.  Teachers report anecdotally that more and more students are falling through the cracks, as they “hide” in the back of the overstuffed classroom, not actively participating in the discussion filled with the voices of countless other students strained for individual attention.  Effective teaching often relies on building teacher-student and student-student relationships.  These relationships create a safe space where students feel comfortable to explore new ideas and test out new skills.  However, as class sizes grow, these relationships become harder to create and maintain.  For example, it becomes physically impossible for each student to speak in class.  In class of 40, if each student spent 3 minutes speaking, the entire 90-minute period would have elapsed.  So, of course, teachers use pair-share and small group discussions.  But of course, this also poses new challenges.  Now, when dividing student into groups of 3-5, there must be about 10 different groups in each class.  Group presentations of projects now spill into two 90-minute periods, further delaying progress in the curriculum.

The dramatic increase in class size directly affects teacher workload, even as teachers are paid less because of budget-reduction days.  A high school history class where one teacher has 5 sections of 40 students equates to 200 total students on the teacher’s caseload, not including study hall or advisory.  When that teacher assigns an essay, it takes approximately 10 minutes to grade each essay with the proficiency rubric and make comments.  That means 2000 minutes of grading, or about 33 hours of work, outside of the school day which is spent meeting with students and teachers, planning, and preparing.  A teacher quickly learns that one can only reasonably get through about 5-6 hours of nonstop grading before going braindead.  33 hours means about 5 sittings of 5-6 hours to grade just one set of papers.  At the earliest, students may expect to receive their papers back in three-weeks time, if the teacher has no family obligations.  But even three weeks is far too long for students to learn from the feedback on the essay.  Plus, the teacher cannot assign more assessments during that time to add to the piles of grading.  Many teachers in the district report assigning less work, fewer big assessments, no longer grading individual formative assessment, and giving verbal feedback to the whole class about trends rather than individual comments.  Students can no longer expect to receive personal feedback during the learning process, which makes all the assessments high stakes.  This increase in class size has not created positive methods of learning for our students.

I would encourage the board to ask the district to pull the statistics of the number of 9^th graders with one or more Fs after the semester closes at the end of January.  In 2007, Allensworth and Easton, of the University of Chicago found that a 9^th grader with just 2 Fs freshman year has only a 55% likelihood of graduating from high school in four years.

Oregonian Article on STEAM

STEM + Art = STEAM

Good evening, my name is Jennifer Mohr, and I am the music teacher at Cooper Mountain Elementary and Fir Grove Elementary.  I am also a member of the Beaverton Friends of Music.

The letters S-T-E-M spell STEM.  They stand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.  STEM + Art = STEAM

On October 10th, Oregon’s Chief Education Officer, Rudy Crew spoke at a public town hall at Liberty High School in Hillsboro, which has an Intel-sponsored STEM program.  When their star student testified, Rudy Crew applauded.   Earlier in the program, as Rudy Crew was answering a question about how to help students avoid bad influences and stay focused in school, he said very emphatically that you don’t cut the arts, drama, or athletics.  He extended that these keep kids in school, making them more likely to graduate and go on to college.

The Oregon Education Investment Board and it’s predecessor have long been considering some kind of STEM project.  Along with your copy of my testimony, I have included the presentation from last week’s OEIB meeting that says STEAM—not STEM.  Quote:

“Investing in science, technology, engineering, math and the creative arts is crucial to engaging and motivating Oregon’s students to reach the 40-40-20 goal.  Competencies acquired through STEAM education—computer skills, basic math, problem solving, critical thinking, spatial awareness—are needed in a broad range of occupations and industries.  Further, the “soft skills” acquired through STEAM—perseverance, collaboration and creativity—are stronger indicators of future success in college and career than even mastery of basic content.”

In addition to the OEIB’s endorsement of STEAM, the Governor spoke about STEAM at the Oregon School Board Association’s meeting on Saturday.

In Oregon, our education and government leaders say STEAM.

In the course of many one-on-one conversations, the Beaverton Friends of Music have reminded the Board that the Arts are CORE CURRICULUM per national definitions and state requirements.  The arts are of high value to the public in Oregon, as recently emphasized by Measure 26-146 (the Portland Arts Tax) passing convincingly last week.  We know that our school budget is a year-round process.  We therefore remind you at every opportunity: the arts are crucial to our children’s development into successful, productive, educated citizens.  The arts are included in the district’s strategic plan.  The Beaverton Friends of Music encourage you to explore a further resolution to keep and grow the arts, to fund comprehensive music programs to national recommended minimums, and to recognize them as the energizing and unifying force in CORE EDUCATION.