Educator burnout, Instructional Leadership, Student-centered instruction, Teaching Conditions

September 2024

This year, teachers feel especially burdened by large class sizes.

Educators note that this year feels like an outlier in terms of large class sizes, and they share photos and descriptions of the on-the-ground impact. 

Sample Educator Conversations:

• Class size complaints are not new, but the constraints of the last few years have exacerbated the problem significantly. Some examples:

• • “There are 41 seats in my classroom and every single one of these seats is filled.” 
  • “Try 35-40 – happens when your school loses over a million in budget. Since COVID, we have lost 3-4 math positions. Class size and ratios matter.” 

• Teachers describe how increased class sizes lead to burnout.
  • A teacher shared, “after 16 years, I have NEVER felt this hopeless.” 
  • Another broke down the impact on workload: “I currently have 210 students. It took me 4 hours yesterday (Saturday) and 5 hours today (Sunday) to create lesson plans for next week for two classes. When would you suggest I work on differentiating?”

• Teachers describe the impact of class size on individualized instruction:  

• • 95 teachers replied to this tweet: “Teaching the same lesson to 30 students with different needs would be similar to a doctor trying to help 30 patients with different needs at the same time with the same treatment. We need more adults, and we need more planning time to do what is needed in classrooms.” (See all replies here.)
  • A teacher shares that colleagues “joke” that the district’s philosophy is, “Pack ’em deep; teach ’em cheap.”