Public schools are limited by budget and cannot offer lower teacher/student ratios. When choosing a private school, parents can capitalize on one thing; Smaller class sizes equate to higher levels of cognition and true learning. From the Economics and Education Review, the most influential and credible study in this area, is the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio, or STAR, study which was conducted in Tennessee during the late 1980s. In this study, students and teachers were randomly assigned to a small class, with an average of 15 students, or a regular class, with an average of 22 students. This large reduction in class size (7 students, or 32 percent) was found to increase student achievement by an amount equivalent to about 3 additional months of schooling (Sims, 2009). Public schools are not controlled or intended to serve any individual parent’s choices and small class size isn’t feasible in public schools due to budgeting. Beacon Hill School controls class sizes and parents often note that this is one reason that they chose the school. If small class size is high on your list, you can trust Beacon Hill School as the private school that best meets your criteria.
Beacon Hill School promises to keep the student teacher ratios low. We know that small class sizes help greatly with student academic and social development. Our students are not just another number, but yet a viable piece of our mission statement, “The future belongs to those who prepare”. By keeping smaller class-sizes, we believe these students are better prepared.
From a recent survey, 21 reasons for choosing a private school were given by parents. These parents were asked to select one or more. In the group of top responses, “smaller class sizes” (80.5 percent) and “more individual attention for my child” (76.4 percent) were selected high in the survey (GOAL, 2013).
Parent comment while doing this GOAL survey: “My child was robbed of his opportunity to learn on a daily basis by children who were out of control and disruptive. Learning is challenging for him and he needs structure and a controlled environment. It is unfortunate that we had to sacrifice financially to remove him from public school mainly because of this reason.” —GOAL Survey Parent. Smaller class size is the answer!
Benefits of smaller class sizes:
- Better academic performance
- Teacher to student engagement
- More one on one attention leads to long-term success
- Smaller class sizes lead to teacher retention
Class sizes that are small bring more one-on-one attention from the teacher. With smaller class sizes, teacher and student relationships are stronger (NCTE.org) Your child’s strengths can be enhanced and deficits in learning can be improved. At Beacon Hill School we have multiple success stories of students who come to us 2 or 3 grade levels behind. With smaller class sizes, and this one on one attention, these students make tremendous progress, often 2 grade levels in one school year!
Contact Beacon Hill School now to set up a tour! (954) 963-2600. We are here to listen and develop an educational plan for your child.