Good luck at the races, Jim!

While you've tossed out a couple great topics, I still can't help thinking about that U25 group in Tewksbury.

Tewksbury's district wide student/teacher ratio is 17.3/1. Surely more than the state average of 13.2/1, but then, we've never questioned whether 13.2/1 is too low? How can a student/teacher ratio be too low? Well, for starters when it becomes too expensive to maintain. And then there is also the question of whether class size impacts student learning. Lower class sizes certainly make parents feel better. It makes a teacher's job easier (unless of course, you're a music teacher -- give me a S/R ratio of 100/1 in band, and I'm a happy teacher!). The oft-cited Tennesse STAR study was only of K-3 students. There are a lot of holes to poke through that research, but even if it were bullet proof, you cannot cite that research as supporting smaller classes at a high school!

Smaller class sizes are one of those "feel good" initiatives that get people fired up. Why does U25 want smaller classes? If it's to raise student performance, how will that be measured? Is there another way to get similar results that is more affordable? If small class sizes are adopted and then it's found that the metric isn't reached, will you back out that policy or stay entrenched in an expensive "solution" that didn't work?
Afterall, there are many districts that have lower ratios than Tewksbury that don't perform as well, and there are others with higher ratios that perform better. Take a look at Acton-Boxborough or Acton elementary for examples -- both excellent districts that have higher SR ratios than Tewksbury.

Normally, I don't put my nose in other town's local affairs, but this class size debate leads to bad policy that affects all of us.

newt is flawed, this is the man who divorced his wife while she was dying of cancer. if he wins the gop nomination we will see a democrat in the white house for sure

Diane, you ask several logical questions and make many good points about the importance of student-teacher ratios. For starters, the premise that smaller class sizes improve educational achievement in students is one of the many myths of secondary education. The other is that more money will improve education. Smaller class sizes have proven effective at younger grade levels, particularly K-4, but the impact thereafter is uneven, if not, muted. Te most important factor, studies show, is the quality of the teacher in the classroom and the access to educational resources, like libraries, computer, etc. The U-25 group has done one good thing: heightened awareness about the public school system but it has done little to pinpoint what is so deficient about Tewksbury's present teacher-student ratio and the standard of achievement. The Sun did a class by class breakdown, from figures provided by the School Dept.,and found that only a handful of classes were bordering on crowded. The U-25 group has been divisive in its approach, going after other town departments for money, and destructive in its single mindedness that it knows what's best for public education and everyone should just pay up and go back to sleep. They are obviously shills for the teachers' union, which avoids accountability measures at all costs. And there is no mechanism to evaluate whether more teachers will necessarily translate into better academic achievement for students. Tewksbury taxpayers have already rejected a $1.8 million override request from U-25, and now they will have to deal with the group again, at Town Meeting, where the teachers' lobby will surely pack the place. Maybe Tewksbury taxpayers should put an article on the Town Meeting warrant calling for privatization of the school system. Let's see how fast U-25 comes to its senses.

when my oldest son was about to become a freshman at b.c. high i asked one of the administrators what the average class size was? when told it was about thirty five i was astounded and alarmed. he reminded me that this was a private school with a stict code of discipline and for that reason larger class sizes were not a problem. now theres a novel thought, but im sure the mass teachers union could tell me why they are all wrong with there approach at B.C. High.

It only takes some clear common sense to realize that the larger a class size gets, the less efffective the teaching will be. Think about it. One teacher can only effectively teach so many kids.

Anyone who claims otherwise is just deluded or doesn't care at all about education.

Now, I do agree that reasonable minds can definitely differ about what is a good and proper number of students per teacher in a class. And large class sizes can be mitigated somewhat by teasching assistants or tutors. But just plain common sense tells that anything beyond 30 students per class is pushing it.

You know the difference between public and private schools? The parents pay extra and expect more of their kids. The teachers know the parents will back them up and be involved in the kids education. When I went to Catholic school it was expected we would do our work and behave. If we didn't there would be consequences from the school and my parents. We knew we were getting a good education and not to waste it. Its about class, but not class size.
There's a reason the middle class town kids perform better on average and the upper class town kids perform even better still.