A couple weeks ago, Bill Gates stood in front of governors nationwide to counsel them on how to deal with budget shortfalls. One thing he told them probably sent shivers down educators' backs: lift caps on class sizes and put more students in front of the very best teachers at each school.

While many agree that students deserve the best teachers, many disagree with larger class sizes.

One science teacher of 18 years wrote into the Washington Post late last week disputing Gates' suggestion. While Gates is hoping that schools will put in place better evaluations systems and give the best teachers a raise, this science teacher is afraid that with the little time left to balance budgets, governors will end up just raising class sizes across the board. He also questions what kind of evaluation system will clearly identify the top 25 percent of teachers and whether schools will even have the money to give these teachers a raise.

Another 30-year teacher wrote into Education Week last week about Gates' proposal saying that while it may be more efficient to for teachers to lecture to a larger class, great teacher don't often lecture "because students actually absorb knowledge through action and interaction." "Simply listening to content is wildly inefficient, unless the student is able to apply the new knowledge--through discussion, re-framing, deconstructing concepts, answering questions, receiving feedback, producing documents or performance assessments."

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A group called Class Size Matters also has a web page full of research indicating that smaller class size equates to students scoring higher on state tests, having higher grades and having better attendance.

And in an article written by the Deseret News earlier this year about class size, teachers commented how even having a couple less kids in their class helped them to address more students needs.

Yet many parents would agree that they would rather have a better teacher with a larger class size than a bad teacher and a smaller class size. And the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation conducted a study in 2008 and 83 percent of teachers said they would support increasing their class sizes for more money.

Also in his speech to governors, Gates showed that since 1960 the number of teachers and support personnel has increased from about 40 adults per 1,000 students to about 125 adults per 1,000 students today. Yet these changes, he said have not equated to higher test scores — High school scores in math and reading have been flat since the 1970s, according to the Associated Press.

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