Last week at a school board meeting, Kansas City, MO School District superintendent John Covington told the school board that there is no research that supports reduced class size linked to increased student achievement. During the meeting, Covington cited the views of Bill Gates, who has minimized the importance of class size and suggested that teachers be paid more for teaching larger classes.
Covington went on to say that his staff had identified the "best" teachers in the district and would be giving them additional students. This was less than a week before school was scheduled to begin. The day after this announcement, teachers in the early grades received their class lists. Some first grade teachers were assigned 37 students per class, and some kindergarten teachers had 25-30 - compared to other teachers in the same schools, who had twenty students per class. Interestingly, some of these larger classes were staffed with brand new Teach for America recruits.
Then on August 19, Covington hosted a breakfast for eight elementary classroom teachers from about six schools out of 23, in grades 3-5th, whom he identified as "the best in the district." He did not explain how he determined that they were the best. He told them that if they were willing to take 6 to 8 additional students, he would give each of them $10,000. This would mean they would have class sizes in the mid to upper thirties. Superintendent Covington and his administrative team have taken the power of assigning teachers and children to classes away from school principals.
Last year Superintendent Covington introduced what he called a "Right Sizing plan" which closed 40% of the city's schools and laid off 300 teachers. This was strongly supported by the Chamber of Commerce. Covington is a product of the Broad Superintendents Academy.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/08/bill_gates_inspires_a_class_si.html
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