State's Student-Teacher Ratio Shows Improvement

Maryland's overall student-teacher ratio has improved significantly over the past 10 years, but the state still hovers in the middle of the pack when ranked against other states during that period, according to U.S. Department of Education data.

The number of students per teacher in an average classroom in the state has fallen from 16.8 in 1995 to 16.3 in 2000. It fell even more sharply to 15.2 in 2005, following the years during which the so-called Thornton school-funding plan was put into effect.

The post-2000 improvement in student-teacher ratios shows up in the state's overall ranking: After falling from 27th to 37th place between 1995 and 2000, the state bounced back to 32nd place in 2005.

Experts say there is a simple explanation for the shift: The state keeps hiring teachers while the growth in the student population has slowed since 2000.

"We had a bubble [in student enrollment] that came through the system a couple years ago. It fell off a little bit after that," said Ronald Peiffer, deputy superintendent of the Maryland State Department of Education.

The federal data showed that the state teacher population grew 8 percent between 2000 and 2005 while the state student population grew only 1.5 percent. The number of students grew faster than the number of teachers in only four districts: Carroll, Cecil, Talbot and Washington counties.

Timothy Mennuti, president of the Anne Arundel County Teachers Association, hailed the improvement in student-teacher ratios, saying it is a change that helps everyone.

"All of the research shows you do better with students in smaller settings," he said.

Mennuti attributed the teacher population growth to the 2002 Bridge to Excellence Act, known as the Thornton plan, a state law that increased state funding to local school systems. Mennuti said the funds enable many districts to raise their teacher salaries and benefits, and thus attract more new teachers.

"It's been very, very helpful," he said.

That is particularly true where school districts have been able to assign the additional teachers to "at-risk" students, he said. Schools with low reading assessment scores, for example, might get more reading specialists.

"What you're seeing is an attempt by school boards to catch up and address some of their own long-term problems," Mennuti said.