OCR Text |
Show Piute School's Class Size Averages 16.50 Elementary school classes in Piute School District average 16.50 students this year, according to Utah Education Associaton Research Director Don Ulmer. The district's average elementary class size last year was 17.60 students, he said. Piute School District's average 1981-82 class size breakdown by grades is kindergarten, 12.50 students; first grade, 15.00 students; second grade, 12.00 students; third grade, 19.00 students; fourth grade, students; fifth grade, students; and sixth grade, 19.00 students. The UEA surveyed every elementary class in the state Oct. 1, 1961 to determine the number of students enrolled. Ulmer said the statewide average class size for elementary classes this year is 27.29 students up from last year's average of 26.97 students. "At least part of the blame for this increase in class size is due to backsliding on the part of the Utah Sate Legislature after that body made an earlier commitment to reducing the size of clases in Utah," Ulmer said. The Legislature, after placing a law on the books which set a goal of 24 students per class in the kindergartenrthrough third grades.lessened the state's dedication this year to smaller classes, he added. "The lawmakers did lb w-wjLWjmjLi this by removing the mandate for reducing class sizes and forcing the program to compete with others for funding funding that was reduced by one-third," Ulmer said. "For years, Utah schools have had the largest class sizes in the entire nation," he said, adding that smaller clases in the kindergarten through third grade "are critically important to boys and girls who are learning to read, to work arithmetic problems and to write. Each one needs plenty of attention from the teacher." |