BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
MIDDLETOWN -- Forty-two primary grade teachers in Middletown - Monroe Schools will take part in the district's reduced class size project for the upcoming school year.
The project will lower class size to 15 students per teacher for kindergarten and first grade at Jefferson, Oneida and Roosevelt; kindergarten through second grade at Taft; and kindergarten only at Mayfield.
At Jefferson, Mayfield and Roosevelt, 30 kindergarten children and two teachers will share a classroom in a "team-teaching" approach.
For the other grades and buildings in the project, one teacher and 15 children will be assigned to each classroom, said Judy Artz, the district's coordinator for elementary curriculum.
"Research is clear that (smaller) class size improves instruction," Ms. Artz said at Monday's school board meeting.
In some districts, the student-to-teacher ratio can be as high as 25 to 30 students per teacher.
The change at Middletown - Monroe is being financed with a $650,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Education. The state set aside money for urban school districts, such as Middletown - Monroe, with large numbers of low-income families. The grant can be spent only to offer all-day kindergarten or reduce class size.
Superintendent Wayne Driscoll said many of the teachers who will "team teach" are younger ones who received training in that approach while in college. Some veteran teachers also volunteered to tag-team in the classroom with someone specific or who had a voice in hiring the teacher with whom they would be partners.
"We did not force anybody into a situation they were not comfortable with," Mr. Driscoll said.
Board member Carol Brotherton said she wants to see lower class size in all buildings, not just those with higher concentrations of families with lower incomes. Mr. Driscoll said the state didn't provide enough money to do so but he is forming a plan to offer all-day kindergarten at some buildings for the 1999-2000 school year. That plan will be implemented first at buildings that were not part of this year's project.
"We'd all like to see smaller class sizes (at all our buildings)," said Board President Tom Brickey. "This is where we have the funding to start. I'd like to give it a fair try."
To assist all the teachers in the project, the district will conduct a daylong seminar Aug. 18. There, teachers will learn strategies for team teaching and discuss ways to structure lessons for smaller classes. What the district doesn't want to happen in the team classrooms is that the teacher divides the class into two groups, and each teacher works exclusively with the same group, Ms. Artz said.
"Our hopes are that two teachers will take full responsibility for all 30 children," Ms. Artz said. "We want flexibility in grouping, and we want the children and teachers to become a community of learners."
