Introduction to the Problem

There is currently a major problem in school districts in Arizona. Currently, the teacher

shortage has caused a rise in student to teacher ratios. It isn’t uncommon for teachers

to say they simply have no more room for students, but are told to make room. This

leads to an increase in related issues such as, lower academic performance of

students, continued behavior issues, and dangerous learning environments. (Mathis, W.

2016.) Studies show that students in lower student to teacher ratios typically perform

better academically. This can be due to a variety of causes. If a teacher has a class of

over thirty students, they typically won’t get to do as much actual teaching than if they

had a class of only twenty students. Typically those extra students can cause greater

distraction, lead to less one on one time with the teacher, and cause a wider range of

academic needs. You typically see large classes struggling with the ideology of a

teacher teaching to the test. This way the teacher feels like they are at least hitting the

requirements, but not necessarily spending the time on content that they should.

(Mathis, W. 2016.) A class of twenty students is typically much easier to manage than a

class of over thirty students. When teachers are presented bigger class sizes, they end

up dedicating more time to classroom management than teaching. (Thng, Yi Xe. 2017.)

In a science classroom, a large class size can lead to even dangerous learning

environments. As said above, large class sizes lead to less one on one instruction and

greater behavioral issues. Now add experiments to that mix. It becomes difficult for
teachers to properly manage a large class size through experiments. There typically

seems to be a higher rate of accidents in a science classroom that have large classes.

(Fortes, P. 2010)

The stakeholders in solving this problem is the students, teachers, parents, and

community. If we were to lower class sizes, we would increase the individualized

attention every student receives from the teacher. Teachers would spend more time

teaching and would spend less time acting as glorified babysitters. Parents would see

academic progress in their students quicker, and would be less frustrated by students

work and test scores. A better educated population leads to a more effective

community.

The barriers and challenges of reducing class sizes is obvious, money and teacher

shortages. A huge part of the problem in Arizona is there just isn’t enough funding. The

lack of funding leads to a lack of supplies and among other things, a lack of money for

teachers’ salaries. Without money to pay teachers, it is really hard to expect teachers to

want to teach in Arizona. Teacher shortages are leading to large class sizes. In my

current placement, we have a class that has more students than there is tables for them

to sit at. Unfortunately hearing about class sizes over thirty students is becoming the

norm and not the exception.

Internal Strengths 
There seems to be a growing problem in the state of Arizona regarding overcrowded 

classrooms. There are just far too many students and not enough teachers to keep the 

classroom size manageable. Schools are trying to tackle this by encouraging more 

technology in the classroom. Some schools are even switching into one-on-one schools 

where each student is issued individual chromebooks to be used for educational 

purposes. There also is growing apps and tech tools that help encourage differentiation 

through the tool to make it an easy one stop shop for teachers. Some schools are even 

trying to use student teachers as additional educators in a classroom to lower 

classroom ratios. 

Internal Weaknesses 

A weakness that is by the largest for schools in general is funding. Without proper 

funding it is hard to have salaries in which to attract teachers. With the lack of teachers, 

there is additionally a greater workload on teachers that are currently there. This is the 

greatest contributor to the excessively large class sizes that we are seeing become 

commonplace. When teachers try to use the technology to try and bridge the gap so 

they can at least attempt to differentiate in their classrooms, they are met with a series 

of obstacles. Some students just don’t respect the technology. It isn’t uncommon for 

students to not come prepared to class. This causes flipped classrooms to become 

almost useless. The increased technology in the classroom can even go on to lead to 
increased distractions in the classroom. So the very technology that is supposed to be a 

strength gets turned into a weakness.  

External Opportunities 

There are a variety of opportunites in the community that could help with the problem at 

hand. There are schools that have PTOs that help fundraise to provide equipment and 

class necessitites to the school to lower the amount of expendatures the school does 

so they can spend on more important things. There is also a growing number of STEM 

based after school programs. These programs can be asked to work in partnership with 

the schools, or even be an additional tool for students who need additional help or 

challenge. More than a few businesses would also love to sponsor schools and help 

bridge the gaps in the classroom.  

External Challenges 

External challenges that occur for overcrowded classroom is first and foremost politics. 

There are so many politics involved in school funding. It comes down to politicians 

creating the guidelines without teacher imput that creates some of the biggest hurdles. 

Some politicans that are helping write the policies on fundings and guidelines for school 

districts often have never even set foot in a classroom as an observer. There also 

comes an issue of space. Even if there were enough teachers to lower the ratio, there 
may not be enough classrooms. Without enough classrooms, it makes everything else 

almost a moot point.  

Stakeholder Analysis

The problem of overcrowded classrooms affects several groups of stakeholders:

students, teachers, parents, and communities as a whole. All the stated stakeholders

have quite a bit to lose if the problem is unresolved, and even more to gain if the

problem reaches a resolution. All of these stakeholders would have to contribute to

solving the problem for a solution to be met.

Students are the primary stakeholders. This is the group that has the most to be gained

from reaching a solution. Class size has a big impact on the education of a student. The

bigger the class size, the more likely that students can “fall through the cracks”, and be

cheated out of a higher quality education. A large class size could also increase their

individual risk of injuries during labs due to overcrowding. Students in an overcrowded

class also have reduced amounts of one on one teacher interaction which could lead to

less understanding and clarification of content. The overall lesser education they

receive than if they were in a smaller class size could have dramatic effects on their

chances of success in future classes, university, and careers. In a smaller class size

classroom, students would gain more one on one teacher time, more individualized
instruction, and a better quality of education. A student would need to be an advocate

for their own education. Parents, administrators, and the community are often clueless

as to what happens on a daily basis in a classroom. A student who explains how they

interpret and are affected by the class size can make a difference. A group of students

working together to advocate for an answer could help bring attention to the issue to

people who can better solve the problem.

Teachers are another stakeholder with a lot to gain or lose from this problem. The

problem for teachers is a lot of stress. A crowded classroom leads to more students

needing to be differentiated for, more time spent on classroom management than on

teaching, and more work in general for a teacher. Teachers are expected to do so much

for their students, but there does come a time when there is simply too much. Seven

classes of thirty-five students a day is stressful. Overcrowded classrooms are often a

big contributor to teacher burnout. There is a huge shortage of teachers in Arizona. The

increasing class sizes are causing teachers to take on larger loads, and stressing them

out more. By reducing the classroom sizes, there could be a decrease in the turn

around of teachers. There could even possibly be a return of teachers back to the field

with class size reduction. Teachers need to advocate for the needs that they have.

Frankly, they don’t get paid enough for all the extra work that large class sizes are

putting on them. Working with unions and making the issues known to the public can be

a big way to help resolve the problem.

Parents are perpetually worried about their children. It is part of the job description of

being a parent. Their education is a big source of stress for parents. They are

continuously worrying about if their student is getting the help that they need. A student

who isn’t understanding content at school due to an overcrowded classroom is more

likely to come to a parent for help or tutoring. As a result, a parent starts to question the

education that their student is receiving. A parent advocating for the reduction of class

sizes can better get the attention of administration and politicians than a student or

teacher can.

A community as a whole is dependent upon the education that students receive. A

better educated population leads to typically more successful communities. Oversized

classrooms that reduce the education of entire generations of students can cause

damage to communities as a whole. There could be a greater need of outside personnel

to compete for jobs due to citizens lack of qualifications. Students who fell through the

cracks that otherwise wouldn’t have, could have made significant impacts on the

community as a whole. If a community worked together to raise awareness and funds,

they could successfully end oversized classrooms and better their communities as a

whole.
References

Fortes, Pauline. 2010. Dealing with Large Classes: A Real Challenge. International of

Conference on Mathematics Education Research.

Mathis, William J. 2016. The Effectiveness on Class Size Reduction. University of

Colorado Boulder.

Thng, Yi Xe. 2017. The Effects of Class Size on Student Behavioral Outcomes: The

Role of Teacher-Student Interactions. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard Graduate School

of Education.