July 22, 2020
EDUCATION&CAREERS
Page 5
School Plans Disrupted by COVID-19
Classroom sizes
factor in plans
for distancing
Oregon may have a harder time
keeping students 6 feet apart than
other states in the new school
year under plans to keep students
and school staff safe during the
public health crises brought on by
the coronavirus pandemic. This is
because, according to data from
the National Center for Education
Statistics, Oregon has one of the
largest average class sizes.
With COVID-19 already dis-
rupting the last school year, al-
most every family is wondering
how this next school year is go-
ing to go.
The virus is still preventing
many from returning to work,
but when it comes to children the
conversation is a little more seri-
ous.
Many are worried that with
such tight spaces, lots of schools
won’t have the option of follow-
ing social distancing guidelines.
With that in mind, figures
show Oregon is No. 5 in the
states with the most crowded High School students work on advanced placement physics in this archive photo from AP. COVID-19
classrooms with an average of is disrupting plans for the new school year, and Oregon may have a harder time keep students 6 feet
25.6 students per class. Utah had apart than other states because it has one of the largest average class sizes.
the most students per classroom
at 26.6 students, Washington had
24 students for each class com-
ing in at No. 8. The states with
the lowest average class count
were Vermont, North Dakota and
Maine at 17.
While these numbers are aver-
ages, they do not necessarily rep-
resent every teacher or district’s
story. For high school teachers,
class sizes can differ dramatical-
ly between periods. Others who
teach music, gym, art, and other
non-core classes typically have
larger than average class sizes.
Similarly, these numbers are
spread out across the state- some
schools will have lower numbers,
while others have larger roll lists.
In addition, newly built schools
typically have larger classrooms,
while older schools were built
with class sizes of the past in
mind.
Ultimately, while this data pro-
vides a good big picture look, it
doesn’t speak to the unique chal-
lenges each school and district
will face in returning to class.
Under state guidelines for
playing it safe, Oregon school
district may choose to continue
remote learning in the fall or a
combination of both classroom
and out of classroom learning.