What is the average class size for a discussion class?

-       Each CenterForLit class section is limited to 44 students. How do we arrive at this number?

In more than ten years of closely monitoring the performance of all our classes, we have found that an optimal Socratic discussion features up to 10 students actively raising their hands and participating aloud.

We have also found that while approximately 90% of registrants attend an average live session, only 25% participate by raising their hands and asking or answering questions. The rest are content to learn by listening quietly.

In order to ensure an optimal number of active participants, therefore, we cap our enrollment for each class so that 25% of 90% of the enrollment equals 10.

On occasion, a class session ends with some students still waiting to speak. In such cases, our teachers always remain online after class, taking all questions and comments that remain.

By these policies we hope to maximize each student’s opportunity to participate while ensuring that a healthy Socratic disucssion takes place in each class.