For Teachers

Small class sizes work. In fact, small class sizes are one of the main reasons why you send your child to boarding school. Here are some reasons why small class sizes are so important.

1. There's nowhere to hide in a small class.

Imagine your child is in a large high school class of 30-35 students. She's not good at math. Most of the students in her class don't understand math and could care less about it. So your daughter hangs out in the back of the class, keeps quiet and tries to pay attention. The distractions and cutting up going on around her mitigate against any meaningful learning. Your daughter falls further and further behind in math. Sadly, public school class sizes continue to increase in many districts as schools struggle with staffing shortages and budget pressures in 2026. Class sizes of 30-35 students remain common in many public high schools.

Contrast that learning environment with 12-14 students seated around a Harkness Table in a boarding school. A Harkness Table is an oval table. The teacher sits at the table with his students. Immediately students are placed in a situation where they have no choice but to engage and interact with each other and with their teacher. A Harkness table creates a climate for learning.

Implicit in the small teaching groups is a climate of tolerance. The views of each individual are expressed. Critical thinking skills are practiced and polished precisely because the small group allows time

One of the most important considerations in choosing a boarding school for your son or daughter is what goes on in the classroom and in the larger school community. In other words, what are they teaching, and how are they teaching it?

You must never assume that, just because a school enjoys a solid reputation, has been there forever, and looks wonderful on the surface, it will provide the kind of teaching you want and expect for your child. Doing your due diligence with respect to the curriculum and how it is taught has to be one of the most important parts of your school evaluation process.

Here's how to proceed:

• Observe
• Question
• Research

Observe

When you visit the school for your admissions interview, try to do so while the school is in session. Summer visits are often more convenient for all of us, but you won't be able to observe any classes. Summer sessions do not usually offer a typical classroom experience. So you cannot judge the teaching or what is being taught by what you see during the summer. The teaching staff is frequently not the same as the faculty who teach during the year. Because it is summer, the whole atmosphere is much more relaxed.

When you visit the school and observe a class, is the class size small? Do students interact with the teacher and each other? Are the students learning how to think analytically? Are they using texts? Laptops? Are they sitting around a table