I read a blog post on teaching loads and felt compelled to comment on the idea on my blog.
His school has reduced teaching loads by 44% in 44 years.
The college from which I received my undergrad and which first employed me as a full-time college teacher had a teaching load of four classes per semester when I was a student (almost 30 years ago), when I was a teacher (13 years ago), and it still has that same teaching load.
The community college at which I presently work also has a four class per semester load. Adjuncts may only teach six classes a year, though. Supposedly it is supposed to prevent cheap labor from being abused, but really it just spreads the abuse around further. (Adjuncts teach half the classes for 1/10th of the money with no benefits.)
I think some schools do more reduction of teaching loads and others don’t.
I have heard that research schools have low teaching levels and my PhD work probably shows that. The profs taught two classes a semester and had publications at least that often.
The real question, in my mind, is how many classes a person can teach well per semester. The most I’ve ever had is six classes at two different schools and I was homeschooling. I don’t recommend that load.