Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area
by Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian
HAPPY VALLEY -- After walking into Carl Sander's algebra class with a late pass in hand, Alex Gonzales, 13, found himself alone at a side table. It wasn't punishment. The Happy Valley Middle School classroom simply doesn't have enough desks for 47 students.
In many school districts across Oregon, this year's classes represent the largest yet, and students are feeling the effects. "We just learn better in smaller classes," said eighth-grader Hannah Pasco, 13, from the back of Sander's first-period algebra class. "We'd get a better education."
Every day, Sander's six math classes, four with more than 40 students, exemplify the problems with bigger classes -- claustrophobic desk arrangements, more noise, more distractions, student questions that go unasked or unanswered.
"When you're increasing class sizes, you're creating a system in which we are preordaining that a certain percentage are going to fail," said Leonie Haimson, the executive director of the Class Size Matters, a New York-based organization that advocates for small classes. "For the high-need
In many school districts across Oregon, this year's classes represent the largest yet, and students are feeling the effects. "We just learn better in smaller classes," said eighth-grader Hannah Pasco, 13, from the back of Sander's first-period algebra class. "We'd get a better education."
Every day, Sander's six math classes, four with more than 40 students, exemplify the problems with bigger classes -- claustrophobic desk arrangements, more noise, more distractions, student questions that go unasked or unanswered.
"When you're increasing class sizes, you're creating a system in which we are preordaining that a certain percentage are going to fail," said Leonie Haimson, the executive director of the Class Size Matters, a New York-based organization that advocates for small classes. "For the high-need
