coincidence?

[moonshine]

Anyone hear WBEN this morning? They reported a "study" that claims to show that smaller class sizes increases graduation rates, especially among impoverished students.

Anyone think it was a coincidence that this study was released just days before the school budget vote?

[lyn1639]

I missed that. I'm just a dinosaur who believes that class size is less important than a student's ability and willingness to learn. You can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn even if there are 2 teachers for every student.

As for the budget vote, my district sent out the budget information along with the notice of the public hearing. It arrived at my house TWO DAYS after the hearing took place. My district doesn't even have a handle on just how much of an increase they're looking for because they don't have all the information they need to set an exact rate yet. All they could give us is the proposed budget and say they're looking for something of an increase between A and B.

[buffknut]

In this day & age, for a major media outlet like WBEN to cite a "study" without providing specific links (which they can easily do via their website at the very least), is useless. Questions about who sponsored the study, what the sample size was, what the specific questions were, the analysis methodology, etc. all should be open information to give a study any credibility. Otherwise it's just anectdotal, opinion, or just plain lies - take your pick.

I'll bet the "study" was provided from a group with a vested interest in smaller class sizes (gee, maybe a teachers group ya think?).

I recall (and no I don't have links but I'm not a major media outlet) reading that class sizes in Japan are significantly larger than here. And I don't know about you, but all my classes through grammar and high school were at least 40 kids and up to even 50. Somehow I done managed to lern a think ore too!