WA’s history class sizes will increase due to budget constraints within Westford Public Schools during the 2025-2026 school year. Budget constraints will also cause history teacher Christopher Gorham, who is retiring at the end of this year, to not receive a replacement.
Gorham teaches U.S. History I & II, Honors & CP courses, and his current position will not be filled meaning that the history department will suffer the loss of a 0.8 full-time equivalent next school year.
According to history curriculum coordinator Adam Ingano, class sizes will range between 22 to 28 students. This will impact teachers and students by making it more difficult to make personal connections in a classroom setting.
“[A benefit to having smaller class sizes] is actually getting to know your students,” history teacher Christopher Connole said. “For me, the concept of differentiating instruction and being able to know who my students are as people is easier with smaller classes.”
In Westford, class sizes can play a major role in the quality of education and in creating a positive learning environment where students are engaged and receive proper instruction. WA educators are mindful of this, wanting to benefit students’ high school experiences.
“Anything that is under twenty students is what I consider a sweet spot,” Connole said. “In Westford, it is not a classroom management issue, but it is more of what we can do as far as classwork assignments [that will be impacted by the increase of students per class].”
Sophomores and juniors studying U.S. History are most likely to be affected, especially those taking the course at the Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) levels. Additionally, several history electives will be capped at 25 students per class next year, including the popular Psychology and Westford History courses, preventing students from taking classes of their choice.
“I think students not being able to take the electives they want due to budget cuts is really upsetting, considering that electives tend to be the classes that students pick out of interest or plans for their future,” junior psychology student Shalynn Shrestha said.
For the returning history teachers, it is anticipated that future projects, assessments, and assignments will need to be adjusted to fit the needs of all the students in these larger classes. With more students comes more questions, and the potential for longer in-class discussions. However, since the curriculum will not be remodeled for classes in the high twenties, teachers will need to modify what they assign and do in class instead.
“The curriculum that I cover will be the same, but group work with these expected large classes becomes more difficult,” Connole said. “Allowing student voices in the classroom to be heard becomes more difficult. When you’re competing with 18 kids, the comfortability is different than when you are competing with 28 kids.”
