As classrooms in America struggle to accommodate increasing numbers of students and teachers adjust to the expanding variation in student learning styles it occurred to me that an additional quality of effective teaching will quickly emerge in the coming years: The ability to teach and manage large numbers of students.
I have long been associated with some remarkable educational leaders from my days at The College of William and Mary in Virginia. In fact my dissertation chair, Dr. James Stronge, published a book for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, The Qualities of Effective Teachers,(ASCD, 2002) In this wonderful resource James presents in Part I What It Means To Be An Effective Teacher, and in Part II Teacher Effectiveness: Resources You Can Use. Drawing upon many valid and highly regarded sources, Dr. Stronge presents educational colleagues with a blueprint for effective teaching behaviors and a realistic profile of the characteristics of excellent teaching.
The research on teacher preparation, intellectual ability and aptitude, attainment of certifications and specializations, content knowledge, experience and effectiveness, affective characteristics, caring and communicating, knowledge of students as individuals, enthusiasm and motivation, personalization of learning, organization in managing instruction, response to student behaviors, academic interaction, group instructional strategies, differentiation, and high expectations are all discussed in depth by the author. I have used this book time and time again in my leadership role as an educator and found the qualities described to be informative and invaluable. In performing my duties as a school superintendent I often question potential teaching candidates on these qualities to assess their understanding, experience, and preparedness for the classroom.
Most recently, due to the difficult financial conditions confronting America’s public schools, the educational journals and research reports have reported upon the increase in student-to-teacher ratios and most notably the spike in larger class sizes across the K-12 educational spectrum. These reports lead me to believe that one of the effective teaching qualities those of us responsible for hiring and mentoring new teachers will be the ability to teach and manage large numbers of students.
Effective teachers appear to be in control of multiple variables simultaneously and add to that a new dimension of increased numbers of students and the very dynamic of effective teaching practices are put to the test. Years of research points to a strong correlation between low student-to-teacher ratios as an indicator of student success. Will the emerging variable of higher student-to-teacher ratios mean that students will experience less success? This is a concern all of us in leadership positions now consider as key educational decisions will need to be weighed carefully as budgets shrink and resources disappear.
The teacher who masters the ability to design and deliver effective instructional practices for larger classes may have a marketable skill in the new reality of public education: increased class sizes. Future research of a longitudinal nature may have to be conducted to prove this variable true, but I am guessing that the teacher who proves to be particularly effective with higher numbers of students will be in demand in the not so far future of America’s public schools.
