Why class size is such a big deal

OREM — Every chair in the seventh grade science classroom has a student — 32 in all sit side by side at the black lab tables, learning about cell cycles.

Half of the students are on computers, while the other half are looking through microscopes. On days when all students in the integrated science class are present, another student would have his desk in the back of the classroom, along a table with a bug exhibit.

For part of the 90-minute class, 16 students go out in the hall to do a hands-on activity because there is not enough space in the classroom. If instructor Richard Glassford didn't have student-teachers, these kinds of activities would be impossible with 33 students.

But this is a relatively small class for Lakeridge Junior High School, which has on average 36 students per classroom. Glassford, who has been a science teacher at Lakeridge for the past 20 years, said he has had 39- and 40-student classes in the past. The recommended amount of middle schoolers in a science class is 24, according to the National Science Teachers Association.

"Management has to be spot on when you have these kinds of classes," said Glassford, who added that it is nearly impossible to spend quality time with each child with so many students. Currently, there are no plans for that number to drop.

With the economic downturn and cuts looming over state legislatures around the nation, lowering class size may not seem like an option for lawmakers. In fact some states like California and New York are increasing class sizes to cope. Utah's State Board of Education said it is just trying to maintain class sizes as the number of Utah students in K-12 public education grows by thousands each year.

According to the most recent data released by the National Center for Education Statistics, Utah schools have the highest student-teacher ratio at 27. The next highest is California with 21.5 students per teacher on average. And the lowest state, Vermont, has a ratio of 11 students per teacher. And a report released at the beginning of the school year by Utah Foundation, which compared to Utah schools with similar demographics, found that Utah schools are consistently scoring below them.

In a recent poll conducted by Dan Jones and Associates of 600 Utah voters, 73 percent of those polled agreed that class sizes need to be reduced; only 10 percent disagreed.

But Utah's Office of Legislative Fiscal Analysts say it would cost about $75 million to just lower class sizes across the state by one pupil. Getting down to the national average would nearly double the current amount of education funds, said Royce Van Tassel, vice president of Utah Tax Payers Association.