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A parade of educators told legislative budget committees Saturday that more money must be poured into reducing class sizes in the elementary grades to help students advance. “We have to restore class size,” said Pat Skorkowsky, interim superintendent of the Clark County School District. “Our teachers are asked to do more and more with less.” An overflow crowd in Las Vegas attended the hearing, which was televised from Carson City. Jeremy Christensen, a high school teacher in Clark County, called it child abuse when children are packed into a classroom

Administrative Overload by: Allie Winegar Duzett, October 01, 2009 William Ouchi, Eric Nadelstern, and Chester E. Finn, Jr. were the panelists at an American Enterprise Institute event on September 23, 2009. The event, entitled Total Student Load: The Secret to Boosting School Performance?, and William Ouchi’s recent book, The Secret of TSL, both pose solutions to the challenges currently faced by the nation’s public school systems. To William Ouchi, the first speaker, the answer lies in what he terms “TSL,” or “Total Student Load.” This term refers to the number of students each teacher must know and interact with. Ouchi...

http://www.tg2006.com/pdf/comparison.pdf Click above... for a PDF side by side comparission of Gallagher vs Crist.. pass it on...

"Dad, I want to go to a private school next year. I want to learn more and prepare myself for college. I believe a good private school can do that." Do you think private schools can help your child achieve his education goals? Private schools can make a difference in your child's education and future. I have attended a few private schools and will share some of what I believe are the benefits of private or independent schools. Most teenagers today have a hard time in school. Some don’t complete courses or fail to learn. Eighty percent of public school...

A group of Tewksbury parents and educators may be well-intentioned, but its idea to cap the public school system's teacher-student ratio does little but place another financial burden on the struggling town. The group is pushing a proposal to limit the number of students per class to 25. To do so, the town would have to hire an additional 20 schoolteachers, at a conservative cost estimate of nearly $800,000 annually in salaries and benefits. In all likelihood the proposal would translate into a huge tax increase for fiscal 2007, since the Tewksbury School Department is already facing a multimillion dollar...

It was 9:45 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Jane Reiser's mathematics class in Room 18 was stuffed with sixth- and seventh-graders. There were 32 of them, way above the national class size average of 25. Every seat was filled -- 17 girls, 15 boys, all races, all learning styles. A teacher's nightmare. And yet, despite having so many students, Reiser's class was humming, with everybody paying attention. She held up a few stray socks to introduce a lesson on probabilities with one of those weird questions that interest 11- and 12-year-olds: If you reach into your sock drawer in the...

Eric Hanushek's "The Evidence on Class Size" is available in PDF format. To view this document, you must use Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0. Click here to download this free software. Below is a summary of the report. This summary is also available in PDF format, complete with charts and graphs. The Evidence on Class Size Eric A. Hanushek University of Rochester Executive Summary A wave of enthusiasm for reducing class size is sweeping across the country. This move appears misguided. The primary conclusion of this paper is: Existing evidence indicates that achievement for the typical student will be unaffected by...

AMENDMENT 9 ARTICLE IX, SECTION 1 Section 1. Public Education.- The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs...

Say No To Amendment 9By IRA J. PAUL Special for The Tampa TribunePublished: Nov 3, 2002Florida voters will have a chance Tuesday to vote on the latest silver-bullet proposal to fix public education, a constitutional amendment known as Amendment 9, which would limit the size of classes in our public schools. As a public school teacher with more than 25 years of experience in the Miami-Dade public school system, I am going to vote ``no.'' I would urge my colleagues in the profession and all citizens of this state who are concerned about the quality of public education in Florida...

Voters Should Reject Costly Class-Size Amendment Published: Oct 4, 2002 During this year's regular legislative session, Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, tried unsuccessfully to get a bill passed that would limit the size of classes in Florida's schools. When his efforts failed, he started a citizen ballot initiative that, if passed, would amend the state constitution to allow classes of no more than 18 students in kindergarten through third grade; 22 in fourth through eighth grade; and 25 in high school. It would phase in between 2003 and 2010, requiring the state Legislature, not local governments or school boards, to cover...

CAPTION: Backers of the proposal say the number is just an estimate, and if the ballot carries a price tag, it could be different. TALLAHASSEE -- Supporters of a move to force the Legislature to reduce class sizes in Florida public schools released the first estimate of how much that would cost: $8-billion to $12-billion. That amounts to about a half-cent of sales tax statewide each year. The state Legislature would be responsible for finding the money if the measure makes it to the November ballot and voters approve. Supporters of the citizen initiative said they are "not afraid of...

Money also matters California's groundbreaking attempt at reducing class size in public schools may be failing in poorer districts. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Anthony York Feb. 20, 2002 | Six years after California began an ambitious program to limit class size to 20 students in kindergarten through third grade, the popular initiative is in jeopardy. One school district has decided to scale back its program and others are expected to soon follow as new budget shortfalls have wiped out money to pay for the hidden costs of the program. The problems...