class sizes shrink in Elk Grove

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

Class sizes shrink in Elk Grove
New guidelines reduce the number of students in district's elementary 
school classrooms.
By Dan Nguyen -- Bee Staff Writer
Published Sunday, July 23, 2006
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/v-print/story/14281100p-15089330c.html

It's easy to understand the benefits of shrinking her sixth-grade classroom 
from 34 to 26 students, says Heather Korvink, a teacher at Ellen Feickert 
Elementary School in Elk Grove.

"If you're dividing me among 26 kids, they get a bigger piece of me," 
Korvink said.

This, she said, means more time to reach each child, more contact with 
parents and potentially higher test scores.

Monday marks the first day of the new school year and the first day of the 
Elk Grove Unified School District's ambitious plan to have smaller classes 
in all grades in all 38 of its elementary schools.

If the same is being done on this scale anywhere else in the state, 
education experts aren't aware of it.

In 2004, Elk Grove Unified made a commitment to reduce classes from 34 
students to 26 in fourth- through sixth-grade classrooms by the 2006-2007 
school year.

Since 2000, the district's Title I schools have kept the classes in these 
grades at 24 students; four non-Title I schools also currently have their 
classes at 26.

This has been neither easy nor cheap for the district, Northern 
California's largest with about 61,000 students. The plan requires $4.5 
million in additional teachers' pay and operating expenses. It also means 
building the equivalent of four schools' worth of extra classrooms.

This is on top of the myriad ways the district has scrounged up more 
capacity, including shuffling teachers, cutting special programs and 
changing school boundaries and schedules.

Few districts could afford or plan such a sweeping class-size reduction, 
said Lynn Piccoli, a consultant with the state Department of Education. In 
fact, she said she hasn't heard of any district in the state trying it.

But Elk Grove educators and trustees have been determined to cut class 
sizes. "The district's commitment to this project was never a question of 
'Do we or don't we?' The question was how to bring it to fruition 
financially," Superintendent Steven Ladd said.

In 1996, state legislators earmarked money to reduce California class sizes 
in kindergarten through third grade, which were among the most packed in 
the nation. The funding has allowed most state schools to cap these 
classrooms at 20 students.

Districts rushed to apply for the funding, making scarce the supply of 
portable classrooms and teachers. Today, California spends roughly $1.7 
billion to keep class sizes small.

But that money doesn't cover all the costs. The Elk Grove district has 
spent an extra $3.3 million annually to keep its kindergarten to 
third-grade classes at that ratio.

The inspiration came from the district's poorest schools. In 2000, the 
district also reduced the class sizes of the upper grades at its 10 Title I 
elementary schools.

Former superintendent David Gordon said the hope was that those schools 
would better attract experienced teachers and improve student performance.

The program was a hit with teachers, and test scores improved. So, the 
district and teachers union cooperated to bring it districtwide.

The class-size reduction plan helped spark a $50 million district 
renovation project that brings more capacity to schools, as well as 
replaces old classrooms, said Constantine Baranoff, associate 
superintendent of facilities and planning for the Elk Grove district.

Feickert Elementary, built in 1981, looks like a brand-new school today, 
with permanent classroom wings taking the place of aging portables. The new 
buildings were designed with reduced class sizes in mind.

Cabinets have been moved into a corridor connecting the rooms. It's 
convenient for teachers on a year-round schedule -- another 
capacity-increasing measure -- and it frees up space in classrooms.

Boundary changes and cuts to busing were also made in 2005 to balance the 
district's enrollment and its budget.

This meant that Elena Mendoza's three children had to carpool and use 
public transportation, as well as apply for intra-district transfers, to 
attend their current schools.

The changes were inconvenient, Mendoza said, but she was optimistic about 
the benefits of smaller class sizes.

Her son will soon enter fifth grade at Feickert.

"I think it'll make a big difference," she said. "But time will tell when 
it's implemented and we're further along."

Will all the effort and funding be worth it?

The state sponsored a four-year study, released in 2002, of the K-3 
class-size reduction program.

It found only modest gains in academic improvement and couldn't tie those 
directly to smaller class sizes.

It's unclear if Elk Grove will get its money's worth, said Michal 
Kurlaender, a UC Davis assistant professor in education policy.

She said most class-size reduction research focused on the primary grades 
and that the gains occurred mainly at schools that serve low-income 
populations.

On the other hand, Kurlaender said, studies haven't looked much at the less 
tangible benefits, such as increased parent and student satisfaction, fewer 
disciplinary problems and higher teacher morale.

About the writer: The Bee's Dan Nguyen can be reached at (916) 478-2653 or 
dnguyen@sacbee.com.





George Sheridan