One administrative change that could help me be a more effective teacher this year is...

In descending order of responses the results of this poll were: smaller class sizes, more time to work with my colleagues, greater classroom management support from building administrators, fewer class periods to teach, and more professional development opportunities. The greatest response was to the category of smaller class sizes which received more than double the votes of the next closest answer.

The number of students in a classroom has been under fire for a number of years. With increasing pressure on school district budgets in recent years one of the solutions to affect cost savings is to increase the number of students taught per teacher. Less money is spent on teachers as less are needed and fewer classrooms are required meaning schools can be downsized or closed resulting in savings to maintenance and heating costs.

From a budgetary standpoint this practice makes perfect sense. From an educational standpoint it is less than ideal. The workload placed on teachers by increasing classroom size causes stress and burnout. The personal attention and one-on-one time that teachers would like to spend with students is difficult to manage and the increased amount of prep work and grading that is required means that teachers are putting in more time outside of the classroom than ever before. It's no wonder that many teachers feel a smaller class size would make them more effective.

The other response categories have to do with professional development, both with colleagues and personally, fewer class periods to teach presumably freeing up much needed time for grading and other prep work, and greater support for classroom management. All the categories indicate a desire to improve on teaching effectiveness and skills.

While these issues obviously affect the teachers, they affect students and parents as well. In frustration some parents chose private schools were the teacher to student ratio is lower. In fact, that is one of the biggest selling points that private schools use to advertise for enrolment. The solution as always is quite simple: more money. More educational funding is needed to alleviate overcrowded schools and classrooms and to allow teachers adequate professional development. While money doesn't make the world go around, it certainly makes things a whole lot easier to manage.