By: Gabby Dela Cruz

In the past couple years, class sizes have become overwhelmingly large. Classrooms are becoming packed and overcrowded, and students are being negatively impacted by the large class sizes. Class sizes do, in fact, matter and they make an impact on students every day.

Some may argue that these large class sizes are acceptable, because it saves the district money. This does save the district money, but it is getting out of hand. According to an article titled, “The Systemic Problem of High Class Size,” by the Clark County Education Association, Nevada has class sizes that are among the largest in the nation. For example, 4-12th grade class size averages have reached a ratio of 33-36:1, when it really should be at around a 22-25:1 ratio.

Nevada doesn’t have a large enough budget to reduce class sizes. In the article it states, “ If class sizes were reduced to originally conceived levels in all grades, it would cost $309.9M” (new.ccea-nv.org).This is more than double the budget that Nevada has for teachers. The district is saving money and staying on budget with larger class sizes, however, classroom sizes are becoming way too large.

These large class sizes come with many negative effects. One of the main negative effects of large class sizes is less individualized attention. Students in the larger classes won’t get as much individual attention from their teachers, simply because there are just too many students for one teacher to address. Other effects include a disruptive learning environment, less participation, and the teachers being overwhelmed with too many students.

Smaller classes can also be proven to be a better learning environment, opposed to large classes. In multiple studies, students in small classes out tested students in large classes. In the STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio) study, students and teachers were randomly assigned to a small class and a regular-sized class. The small class, which consisted of 15 students, was found to achieve more than the regular class, which had 22 students.

In a Brookings research article, it states, “This large reduction in class size (7 students, or 32 percent) was found to increase student achievement by an amount equivalent to about 3 additional months of schooling four years later” (www.brookings.edu). This reveals that students were more successful in the small classes, opposed to the larger classes. Students are getting better education and they are learning better in smaller classes opposed to larger classes.