Parent tells committee large class sizes and heavy technology use are hurting learning

During the public-comment period of the Curriculum and Student Success Committee meeting, Emily Hill, who identified herself as a parent with children in kindergarten and fourth grade and a physician by trade, asked the committee to "advocate for more resources" for her school and raised two main concerns.

Hill said class sizes this year are "almost 25 students" in the fourth grade at her school and that she believes that scale is "seriously affecting the learning environment for all of the fourth grade students for both reading and math," stretching lead teachers and making it harder to implement curriculum with fidelity. She also questioned the district’s use of digital products, saying she and other parents are "a little bit shocked at how much it’s technology" and asked whether the evidence supports that level of classroom technology use compared with more analog instruction.

District staff acknowledged the concerns and said the curriculum implementation plan and PD are intended to provide teachers with the training, coaching and walkthrough supports needed to implement high-quality instructional materials so students have access to grade-level tasks. Staff reiterated that they pilot only research-based materials aligned to Common Core and that assessments and walkthroughs include accommodations and supports for multilingual learners. The committee did not take formal action in response to the comment during the meeting.