No Limits on Size for Public Classrooms in the Carolinas: How Could that Impact Your Student?

There is no limit to the number of students you can have in a classroom. That's now the case in both North and South Carolina. Some districts say budget cuts mean bigger class size. How could that could impact you and your student?

As a reading interventionist at Beech Springs Intermediate in Duncan, Kim Henderson says the one-on-one time she spends encouraging students is key to their success. "I think it has a direct impact on their test scores and the way they achieve when they go back to the classroom," says Henderson. For a student falling behind, she says being able to take him or her away from the classroom can be crucial. "You can pull small groups guided reading, you know small groups within the classroom, but it's much harder to monitor all the other students."

Experts more time spent on discipline are just one of the possible consequences of increasing class sizes. Spartanburg District 5 Curriculum Coach Heather Lister says, "A lot of instruction in our classes is small group instruction, and when you are pulling five kids out of 15, that's only ten left; but if you are pulling five kids out of 25. That's twenty kids that your eyes are not directly on at that time, and you can't concentrate on those five that you have when you have to deal with discipline issues in other parts of the room." If the work doesn't get done at school, she says it would be reasonable for parents to expect more homework. "If they are not covering it in the classroom, they have got to get it done," says Henderson.

Educators at Beech Springs feel fortunate to be part of a district in which class size averages 21 students per teacher in grade three through eight; so that students don't get lost in a crowd of as many as thirty. Principal Finger Thompson says one school year of slipping through the cracks can impact student's academic future. Thompson says, "It's so important to have those smaller classes when you can. This is a tough time with the budget."

The South Carolina Department of Education says the average class size for elementary school students in South Carolina is 18.5 per teacher. North Carolina reports 19.5. We surveyed districts around the Upstate, and of those which responded, most told us they have around 20 to 21 students per teacher.

However, an expert on education at Clemson University says -optimal- class size for any age student way less than most schools can afford. According to Jane Clarke Lindle, Ph.D., Eugene T. Moore Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership, “Optimal class size for any age student is around 15 or less… Most schools, public or private, have trouble finding the funding for teachers qualified to use instructional strategies for that size of a group.”