Happy “Tastes like Chicken” Friday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Fatwa, and Sven!
I loved PDT’s letter canceling Nancy Pelosi’s congressional delegation to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan. Yes, it’s petty politics, but it’s about time our side fought back against the petty attacks from the other side.
I don’t think there’s anything “petty” about keeping those progressive scoundrels from going to Brussels (which, IMO, was the main thrust of their junket).
They’d probably have been dealing behind Trump’s -- and America’s -- back…and I would not be at all surprised if they were expecting some other, ah, “valuable considerations” from the EuroFilth.
One of the LAUSD strike talking points is that, like all libs, they are doing this for the children -- that class sizes must be smaller -- for instance: “Los Angeles science teacher Michele Levin knows she caught a break: She only has about 33 students in each of her classes at Daniel Webster Middle School — pretty small, by district standards. In most LA Unified School District middle schools, the largest core classes have 37 kids — with other classes sometimes as large as 46. That’s compared to a national average of 26 to 28 students at similar middle schools.”We’re at the whim of the district for class size,” Levin said as she picketed on the first day of her union’s strike against LAUSD.”
OK. I get it. So how many students and teachers are there in LAUSD? “The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in the state of California and the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. During the 2016–2017 school year, LAUSD served around 734,641 students, including 107,142 students at independent charter schools and 69,867 adult students. During the same school year, it had 26,556 teachers and 33,635 other employees. It is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County, after the county government. The total school district operating budget for 2016–2017 is $7.59 billion.”
I do like the word “served” in the above quote -- not taught, but served. So 734, 642 students divided by 26,566 teachers gives me 27.65 students per teacher. It seems to me that LAUSD has enough teachers already to reduce class size and their problem appears to be one of resource distribution, which is on them. Or that they are just lying about overcrowding and the causes thereof.
Districts typically like to use the approach you used to show that class sizes are just fine. The problem arises in middle school and high school, when each student requires 6 or 7 teachers for 6 or 7 different subjects. At the brick and mortar school I last worked in, the contract called for no more than 26 students per class in high school. By their calculations, they met that. Meanwhile, I had 40 students in each of 4 classes, and 22 in my AP Chemistry class.
Some classes, like adult ed, may have low numbers. Some teachers are not in the classroom, but are “curriculum specialists” or in other non classroom-based assignments. The reality is that classes of 40 are no problem in the upper grades, if you expect everyone to learn at the same pace and don’t require differentiation for disabilities, English language skills, foundational knowledge (e.g. was the student subject to social promotion, but lacks the skills required to perform at grade level?). I once had a class of 53. Everyone asked me how I could teach a class that size. I said it was easy. It was just the same as teaching a lecture hall of 300 students -- and just as personal.
The entire education paradigm needs to change. Students should be grouped by ability and not moved on to higher level material until they have mastered lower level skills. That means understanding that some students will never progress beyond a certain level in certain subjects and being okay with that. Algebra II is only useful to train your mind to think and as a gateway to higher mathematics. If you aren’t going to college, why do you need it? If you are going to college, does your major require it?
Happy Feline Friday GN!
I got nothin’ else; BBL.
Huh.
Good morning, GN, and happy at last Friday! Man, M-F is getting longer and longer each week.
Happy “Tastes like Chicken” Friday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Fatwa, and Sven!
I loved PDT’s letter canceling Nancy Pelosi’s congressional delegation to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan. Yes, it’s petty politics, but it’s about time our side fought back against the petty attacks from the other side.
Im liking “petty” more and more.
Hi, Sven and Paddy!
I don’t think there’s anything “petty” about keeping those progressive scoundrels from going to Brussels (which, IMO, was the main thrust of their junket).
They’d probably have been dealing behind Trump’s -- and America’s -- back…and I would not be at all surprised if they were expecting some other, ah, “valuable considerations” from the EuroFilth.
Well, they can still go, but they have to fly commercial -- buwahahahaha!
I know, but that was never going to happen; they’d have to smell citizens for, like, eight hours.
My God, what could Trump possibly have on Mueller that would make Mueller say the Buzzfeed story was lie?
Here’s a question.
One of the LAUSD strike talking points is that, like all libs, they are doing this for the children -- that class sizes must be smaller -- for instance: “Los Angeles science teacher Michele Levin knows she caught a break: She only has about 33 students in each of her classes at Daniel Webster Middle School — pretty small, by district standards. In most LA Unified School District middle schools, the largest core classes have 37 kids — with other classes sometimes as large as 46. That’s compared to a national average of 26 to 28 students at similar middle schools.”We’re at the whim of the district for class size,” Levin said as she picketed on the first day of her union’s strike against LAUSD.”
OK. I get it. So how many students and teachers are there in LAUSD? “The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in the state of California and the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. During the 2016–2017 school year, LAUSD served around 734,641 students, including 107,142 students at independent charter schools and 69,867 adult students. During the same school year, it had 26,556 teachers and 33,635 other employees. It is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County, after the county government. The total school district operating budget for 2016–2017 is $7.59 billion.”
I do like the word “served” in the above quote -- not taught, but served. So 734, 642 students divided by 26,566 teachers gives me 27.65 students per teacher. It seems to me that LAUSD has enough teachers already to reduce class size and their problem appears to be one of resource distribution, which is on them. Or that they are just lying about overcrowding and the causes thereof.
Districts typically like to use the approach you used to show that class sizes are just fine. The problem arises in middle school and high school, when each student requires 6 or 7 teachers for 6 or 7 different subjects. At the brick and mortar school I last worked in, the contract called for no more than 26 students per class in high school. By their calculations, they met that. Meanwhile, I had 40 students in each of 4 classes, and 22 in my AP Chemistry class.
Some classes, like adult ed, may have low numbers. Some teachers are not in the classroom, but are “curriculum specialists” or in other non classroom-based assignments. The reality is that classes of 40 are no problem in the upper grades, if you expect everyone to learn at the same pace and don’t require differentiation for disabilities, English language skills, foundational knowledge (e.g. was the student subject to social promotion, but lacks the skills required to perform at grade level?). I once had a class of 53. Everyone asked me how I could teach a class that size. I said it was easy. It was just the same as teaching a lecture hall of 300 students -- and just as personal.
The entire education paradigm needs to change. Students should be grouped by ability and not moved on to higher level material until they have mastered lower level skills. That means understanding that some students will never progress beyond a certain level in certain subjects and being okay with that. Algebra II is only useful to train your mind to think and as a gateway to higher mathematics. If you aren’t going to college, why do you need it? If you are going to college, does your major require it?