Some Students Simply Need Smaller Classes and Schools
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses why class size and school size matter enormously for some students.
Key Takeaways
- 30 students is too many for some kids - Students who struggle with behavior or attention need smaller settings to succeed
- Large schools overwhelm some students - 1,000+ student schools create environments that are too chaotic for some learners
- Small is sometimes necessary - Smaller classes and schools cost more but produce dramatically better outcomes for students who need them
Transcript
Some students simply need smaller class sizes, smaller schools, smaller programs.
Anytime I do a video on behavior, people ask about two things.
They ask about special education and they ask about students whose behavior is so difficult that they eventually get kicked out of their schools.
And I think in both cases, there are slightly different things that we need to consider, but both involve smaller placements.
Let's talk about special education first.
I think one of the reasons so many students with IEPs are having such a hard time now is the push for 100% full inclusion, no specialized programs, no smaller classes.
And I have to say, this does not make any sense to me because I have seen so many students who could not deal with a big classroom with 25 or 30 students.
It was just too stimulating.
It was just too much for them.
And when they moved to a eight students, a teacher and two aides.
It was marvelous.
I mean, it was just a complete transformation.
And I think that kind of program has gotten stigmatized now, wrongly stigmatized as some sort of seclusion or isolation or segregation.
People use all these nasty words like segregation.
Like, come on.
If you put a student in a classroom where they can succeed and get the support they need, like, I do not think that is segregation.
And the law is is on my side here, right?
The IDEA law, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, says it is an IEP team decision where to place a student so that they get their least restrictive environment, right?
And like, I get that we don't want to place students in specialized programs, in different buildings, in more restrictive programs than they need.
But if you look at a student who is just melting down daily in a regular classroom with 30 kids in it, they need that place placement parents will tell you my child needs a placement where they are not going to be so overstimulated where they are not going to melt down like this so i fully believe that we need those programs so that's special ed let's talk about alternative school because a lot of people say well if you kick a kid out if you send them home if you expel them like what are you going to do well if a district does expel a student their legal obligation is over but hopefully before we get to that like if there's a gun or something then yeah that student may need to be expelled But for the most part, when a student's behavior is persistently bad enough that they get kicked out of their school, they go to an alternative school.
Do people not know that alternative schools exist?
They've always existed.
Like, frankly, I think we need more of them because what happens when you go to an alternative school is two things.
Number one, you've had a boundary put in place.
You've gotten the wake-up call that says, wow, those people at the regular school are not willing to work with me anymore anymore.
because of what I did, I really need to get my act together.
The second thing that happens, number two is you get different educators who can give that student a fresh start and a smaller setting.
Don't underestimate how powerful it is to have more adults per kid, to have smaller classes, to have a smaller school overall.
And I've heard from just many thousands of educators who work in alternative schools in a And of course, there are alternative schools of all types.
Some you can go to voluntarily.
You don't have to get kicked out of another school to go to.
But I think we need a variety of different types of schools and programs to meet all of our students' needs.
This idea that we can just serve everybody in a 30-student classroom, in a 1,000-student school.
Traditional schools are not a good fit for everyone.
And when it is not working for a student...
Do we give up on them?
No.
But do we keep doing something that's not working for them?
Also, no.
We need to have alternatives.
And, you know, I'm talking about two separate issues here.
I don't want to conflate alternative schools and special education, but I think we need to be willing to look at the needs of the student when it comes to placement.
Let me know what you think.