Benefits of Re-Envisioning elemendary education

(Evelyn Kraber)

Standardized class sizes

Pairing schools and/or using academy schools would allow attendance numbers to be more standardized across the district. Through pairing schools, this would be achieved by having less schools that students go to for each grade, making it much easier to even out class sizes. With academy schools, Malone hopes that people would choose to send their kids to a school that has space for more students, which would also help acheive this.
(Evelyn Kraber)

Benefits of standardizing class sizes

According to Malone, standardizing class sizes would have multiple benefits for ICCSD students. “It allows for more attention for students [for example,] that one-on-one teacher, student interaction. It allows for better socialization, understanding of the material and all around, better school environment for all of our students, not just at certain buildings,” she said.
(Evelyn Kraber)

More consistent staffing and scheduling

As of now, some staff members have to travel to multiple schools within one work day. Pairing schools has the potential to eliminate the need to feel these gaps in staffing by having teachers travel to multiple different schools. Last year, the district spent over $30,000 for this kind of travel.
(Evelyn Kraber)

Increased efficiency

Multiple of these factors add up to increased building efficiency. If more teachers are in a building, they can complete things like professional development together. Decreasing the need for teachers to travel between schools also contributes to this as well.
(Evelyn Kraber)

Increased collaboration

Pairing schools would mean more teachers of one grade in a single building. As of now, many schools only have two teachers per grade, and under this system, a school could have up to six. This would mean teachers could collaborate more with other teachers of the same grade.

“Sometimes we have just a single section in the building so that teacher doesn't have a counterpart to sort of strategize with or share teaching innovations with,” Malone said.
(Evelyn Kraber)

Equitable opportunities

Having more students in one school could help even out access to different services, making opportunities more equitable for all students.

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