In the Triangle area, more than 90 percent of kindergarten through third-grade children learn in classrooms that are overcrowded, according to the findings.
Studies show a correlation between smaller class size and higher student achievement.
For this reason, the U.S. Department of Education has established a national objective to reduce class size in the early grades to a nationwide average of 18. Congressmen David Price and Bob Etheridge are joined by Superintendent Bill McNeal for a news conference at the front steps of Cary Elementary. We are in a time of unprecedented prosperity in this country and there is no excuse for having prisons that are nicer than our schools. Joyner Elementary is at 221 percent capacity, and Wake Forest Elementary is at 126 percent capacity. Both congressmen agree overcrowding is both a facility issue and a staffing issue.