Politics & Government
Roseville Class Sizes Remain Stable Despite Enrollment Increase
Further reduction would be expensive, district official says.
Class sizes remain about the same as last year in Roseville’s elementary schools, despite a dramatic increase in enrollment, a district official told the District 623 Area School Board School at a study session this week.
And to try and lower that average by even one student per class would be very costly, Assistant Superintendent Joe Wemette said.
Classes average 24.71 students at the district’s seven elementary schools. That compares to 24.5 last year – despite the fact that enrollment increased by 178 students, from 3,393 to 3,571, Assistant Superintendent Joe Wemette said
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“We’ve done a pretty good job of holding our own, despite a dramatic increase in elementary grades,” he said.
The largest elementary class size average in the district is the fifth grade at Little Canada, with 31.5 students. Fifth grade classes at Brimhall average 31.33, while third grade classes at Edgerton average 31.
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Average class sizes in elementary buildings are: Brimhall, 24.79; Central Park, 23.23; Edgerton, 24; Falcon Heights, 25.28; Little Canada, 24.53; Emmet D Williams, 24.53; and Parkview, 24.71.
Average class size at Roseville Area Middle School is 28.19, though individual classes range from 19 to 35 students.
The average class size at Roseville Area High School is 29.44, though individual classes range from 17 to 36 students.
Though class sizes are larger than optimal in some areas, reducing class size is cost prohibitive – especially in lean economic times, Wemette said. It would cost $974,794 to reduce class size by one student in grades K-12, he said.
Reducing elementary class size to the optimal 15 students per class would cost $9.4 million, and require the construction of four to five more buildings, he added.
Wemette cited a University of Minnesota research report which concluded that the cost of reducing class size greatly exceeds the benefits. Educators need to look elsewhere to find innovative strategies to improve student learning, the researchers said.
