THE PROBLEM OF LARGE CLASS SIZE

WHEREAS, many proposals on achieving excellence in education completely ignore the very important issue of class size; and

WHEREAS, mainstreamed children are often "lost" in large classes; and

WHEREAS, class size continues at unacceptably high levels in many districts throughout the nation; and

WHEREAS, many parents turn to private schools to find smaller classes; and

WHEREAS, smaller classes have been shown to encourage more creative and more successful teaching methods; and

WHEREAS, smaller classes allow for the kinds of activities that promote motivation as well as achievement; and

WHEREAS, smaller classes encourage the enforcement of positive self-discipline habits and promote student self-confidence; and

WHEREAS, the management of large classes often leads to early teacher burnout and discourages younger teachers from staying in the profession; and

WHEREAS, the prospect of dealing with large classes makes it difficult to recruit new teachers:

RESOLVED, that AFT promotes federal aid formulae that reward districts which lower class sizes; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT Executive Council be urged to expend funds in the promotion of public information campaigns on behalf of the merits of smaller classes; and

RESOLVED, that the American Teacher continues to emphasize the class size issue and give intense publicity, whenever feasible, to successful small class size experiments and campaigns.