What is a reasonable Class Size for a Pull-Out Resource Room Model? I know that people talk caseloads, but how many students do most of you have in your classroom at any given time and what is a good number? Our Resource Rooms have always been in closets, so teachers were only able to accommodate 4-5 students at a time, but those teachers are now moving to larger classrooms because of some building upgrades. They are asking the question about whether they should take on more students per class.
Re: Classroom Size
Classroom sizes are different for every state. In Georgia in an Interrelated classroom can have no more than 7 students in a room. However, these numbers can vary depending on the exceptionalities of the students in the room. But your best bet is to access your state’s dept. of ed. website in order to get these numbers.
Laurie
Re: Classroom Size
At the public school I taught at in Georgia, I had 10 students in my IRR classroom at the same time, and it was a true IRR. 2 students were autism spectrum, 1 had Downs, 3 had emotional/behavioral issues, 3 were identified as OHI for attentional issues, and one was identified as learning disabled. No assistant. Needless to say, I’m not there anymore, because it made me so angry/frustrated/upset that I was not able to even approach meeting my students needs in the 2 hour LA block I was alloted.
I guess even within the same state things can be interpreted differently….
Re: Classroom Size
Karen,
I have been down that road several times. Several teachers in the school that I am at are over caseload and classroom size. When we expressed our concern about the lack of service that we will are able to provide, we are told by administrators to “deal with it” because if a parapro (or God forbide another teacher!) is hired then other services will have to be eliminated. In other words Karen, no matter where you are at in Georgia things are not interpreted differently.
Laurie
Re: Classroom Size
In my state, I can have 10 students, without an aide, at the middle school level, per class period. (LD resource). I can not have more than twelve, without an aide. The administration once dumped fifteen on me and I called the state department. An aide was hired in a matter of days. If your school is not following the mandates for your state then call or file a written notice to the SD.
Re: Classroom Size
I teach resource at the high school level and have often had twelve ninth grade resource students in a classroom that only seats ten! What frustration…my coworker this semester has seventeen! There is no way to meet all the needs
I just offered my two cents. WE have no limits in group sizes. HOwever, I get great results when my groups do not exceed 4. I am able to accomodate all the needs, teach 1:1, teach small group, cover the needs. When the groups become 6-8, as they often do, I have to dispense with most 1:1 activity and teach small group style almost exclusively. I have distinct difficulty getting to each child to work with their writing when the groups are that large, as my students really seem to NEED the instruction I give in group and the 1:1 conference time to improve their written language skills. Reading fluency issues also respond best to a more 1:1 approach.
If I had a larger room I would consider taking my morning 90 minute language arts block and doing something like this:
first 30 minutes just 4th grade, 1:1 work, etc. with me only (my aide is in a classroom)
second 30 minutes: larger group, combined 4-6, myself and my aide conducting whole group instruction in written language skills, advanced word reading skills, etc.
final 30 minutes: 5-6 1:1 work, etc. with my aide in the room assisting me.
I find that I can and often do teach some lessons to more than one group per day. I would like the space to combine them for the direct instruction part of the day and then break out into smaller groups for the intensive work. I could work smarter and get more done each day. However, my walk-in closet is too small to accomodate this.