Class Size: Return Flexibility to Administrators
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“A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.”
- Daniel Webster
Dr. Joyner, Superintendent of St. Johns County School District, was quoted in an article in the Orlando Sentinel regarding efforts to ease the class size amendment. The article reports that lawmakers are preparing to push for changes to ease the requirement in the coming year that each class has a maximum number of students, rather than allowing the schools to use average class size as the compliance metric.
Unintended Consequences: Class Size
It is fair to say that an unintended consequence of the class size amendment is the placement of emphasis on numbers versus effectiveness. Under the current requirements, an individual class can go below the class-size target and “make up” for another class that might be over the class-size amendment. This allows administrators to provide more individualized instruction for students - an 8th-grade remedial math class can have 18 students because an honors class has 26 students. If forced to achieve the class-size requirements in each class, students of differing abilities will be lumped together making individual instruction all but impossible.
A class-size requirement is necessary to prevent school boards and administrators from packing classes according to room size. As a student in Florida schools in the 70’s and 80’s, I distinctly remember high school classes of 35+ students and teachers unable to recall names, much less needs. But a balance is also required that allows today’s administrators the flexibility to configure class size and teacher assignments according the needs of the students. Today’s standard of allowing schools to calculate class size by average seems to achieve the best balance between size vs. needs.
Please contact your legislators to let them know you’d like to see Administrators retain this flexibility:
State Senate
State Senator - District 1
(904) 924-1646
Anthony Hill - DEM Election: 2008
5600 New Kings Rd. #5
Jacksonville, FL 32209
hill.anthony.web@flsenate.gov
State Senator - District 5
(904) 381-6000
Stephen R. Wise - REP Election: 2008
1460 Cassat Ave. Suite B
Jacksonville, FL 32205
wise.stephen.web@flsenate.gov
State Senator - District 8
(904) 727-3600
Jim King - REP Election: 2010
9485 Regency Square Blvd. #108
Jacksonville, FL 32225
king.james.web@flsenate.gov
State House
State Representative - District 18
(904) 247-4040
Don Davis - REP Election: 2008
2320 S. 3rd St. Suite #3
Jacksonville Bch, FL 32250
don.davis@myfloridahouse.gov
State Representative - District 19
(904) 213-3005
Dick Kravitz - REP Election: 2008
155 Blanding Blvd. #10
Orange Park, FL 32073
dick.kravitz@myfloridahouse.gov
State Representative - District 20
(904) 823-2550
Bill Proctor - REP Election: 2008
900 S.R. 16, Suite #2
St. Augustine, FL 32084
bill.proctor@myfloridahouse.gov
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