The Teacher to Student Ratio is Off

Tamese Lane

LIBS 490-01

Liberal Studies Senior Capstone Project Proposal

Senior Capstone Project Selection:

Community-Engaged Service-Learning

February 24, 2023

 Although my discipline is Liberal Studies, I have spent most of my undergraduate
education learning everything about Early Childhood Education. Earning over 100 credits in this
field makes Education my emphasis pattern/minor and will be the focus of my community-
engaged service-learning senior capstone experience. Of all the issues in the Early
Childhood/Education field, the one my capstone will demonstrate is effects of low student to
teacher ratios in the classroom.

As stated earlier my capstone project will be demonstrating the effects of low student to
teacher ratios in the classroom. In the previous semesters I spent at Delaware State University, as
an Early Childhood Education major, we were assigned to observe the DSU Lab School. While
observing I noticed that for some classrooms the student to teacher ratio was off, and for other
classrooms the student to teacher ratio was appropriate. According to Office of Child Care “This
responsive caregiving is extremely important to your child’s social and emotional development,
physical well-being, and overall learning.” Seeing the different student to teacher ratios in those
classrooms, is what drove me to choose this topic for my capstone project. I believe that during
my community-engaged service-learning capstone experience, that I will develop democratic
engagement and beneficial community research. It is suggested by Office of Child Care that for
children one-two years old that one adult should not care for more than 3-6 of them, and for
children 2-3 years old, one adult should not care for more than 4-6 of them. This information will
play a key part in determining the effect of student-teacher ratios, when I begin observing and
shadowing teachers in classrooms for my capstone project.

Over the many courses taken while being an Early Childhood Education major, I learned
some information about student-teacher ratio and its effects. Although I learned about it, I feel
that I need to actually see it from my own eyes and properly develop research from certified
educators and from the observations I made. Developing my own opinion and fact from what I
observe during my capstone community-service, will apply more knowledge on how student to
teacher ratio needs to be discussed more and focused on more. Teachers and officials need to
realize how important student to teacher ratio is and also realize the effect it has on students and
teachers in the classroom. Bridget Henderson states in her article “Why Student-Teacher Ratio
Really Does Matter”, “Class size has been found to be one of the most reliable indicators of
student achievement.”
 References‌

Jennifer. (2022, November 2). Why Student-Teacher Ratio Really Does Matter. St

James Episcopal. https://stjameseds.org/why-student-teacher-ratio-really-
does-matter/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20it%20does.

Childcare.Gov. (2019). Ratios and Group Sizes | Childcare.gov. Childcare.gov.

https://childcare.gov/consumer-education/ratios-and-group-sizes