Fact: There is NO threshold that has to be reached before class size reduction provides benefits. Since STAR involved comparing outcomes between students in classes of 22 to 25 students and those in classes of 13 to 17, many critics have argued that classes have to be reduced to a certain level to provide benefits.
Indeed, esteemed researchers such as Peter Blatchford have found that there is no particular threshold that must be reached before students receive benefits from smaller classes, and any reduction in class size increases the probability that they will be on-task and positively engaged in learning.
Fact: Large scale programs such as class size reduction in California did indeed work. Every controlled study of the California class size reduction program — and there have been at least six so far — have shown significant gains from smaller classes.
Unlike the STAR studies, nearly all elementary schools in the state reduced class size at once — especially in grades K-2nd — so it was hard to find a control group with which to compare outcomes. Also, the state exam was new, making it difficult to compare achievement gains to past trends.
Yet given these limitations, the results were striking: even when analyzing the achievement of third graders who had the benefits of a smaller class for only one year, as compared to those who were in large classes, the gains were substantial, especially for disadvantaged students in inner-city schools. In the five largest school districts other than Los Angeles, namely San Diego, San Francisco, Long Beach, Oakland and Fresno, researchers found that class size reduction raised the proportion of third graders who exceeded the national median by Even larger gains occurred in schools with high numbers of poor students, and in schools that had percent black enrollment, lowering class size resulted in Another study found substantial gains in California student scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress assessments, due to class size reduction.
Though anecdotal reports in California said teachers from disadvantaged schools fled when new positions opened up in other schools when class sizes were reduced , what the follow-up studies show is that after rising temporarily in all schools, teacher migration rates fell dramatically to much lower levels than before, most sharply in schools with large numbers of poor students.
In fact, for the first time, teacher migration rates began to converge in all schools, rich and poor. This finding is not altogether surprising, since teachers in high-poverty schools had better working conditions and a real chance to succeed, their incentive to flee elsewhere was substantially alleviated.
Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution to our work. Click here to sign our petition for the smaller classes that our kids will need next year more than ever before. Fact sheets on class size Two research summaries on the benefits of small classes These research summaries provide the evidence for the positive and wide-ranging impact of small classes on achievement, school climate, student socio-emotional growth, safety and suspension rates, parent engagement, and teacher attrition, especially in schools with large numbers of disadvantaged children.
The first is for use by any teacher, parent or advocate nationally ; the second is meant primarily for residents of New York state. What does change however, is student behavior. Because it is simply more difficult for students to hide undesirable behaviors when there are fewer kids in the room.
It stands to reason that fewer opportunities for distraction will lead to more prolonged opportunities for attention. So does class size matter? Only PD and purposeful coaching can do that. Class size matters because it allows the teacher greater proximity to the students, and thus more opportunities for one-to-one and small-group instruction.
The one constant in any room with smaller numbers of students is simply the proximity of the teacher to all of her students? What does this mean for us as educators? We should continue to fight for classrooms with fewer students and more highly qualified teachers. What we can do is approach the conversation of class size with a collective understanding that any such initiative should also be accompanied by deliberate PD aimed at cultivating the individualization and personalization skills we desire.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of HMH. Join our nationally recognized, professional learning community for ongoing support and on-demand resources. You're proud that she's achieving this milestone but also worried that she won't fit in, won't find her voice within the class.
Would you rather her first real experience with school be in a classroom with one teacher, one aide, and 30 students, where the adults are frantically running around spending all of their time trying to corral the students and maintain order, or in a classroom with one teacher, one aide, and 18 students, where each student gets all of the attention they need?
Or for your child who is just going off to high school, entering those essential years to prepare for college, would you want him to be in a lecture hall with 50 other students?
Or would you want him in a class with 15 others, where the professor had time to answer every student's questions? Schools with small class sizes are more successful overall in terms of helping students meet educational benchmarks, and are especially successful at helping underprivileged students meet those benchmarks. Reducing class size confers a wide variety of advantages, the most simple of which is time. Fewer students means on average fewer discipline problems as well as less time spent ensuring the entire class is on track.
It also means fewer students that need individual attention. This gives teachers more time to dedicate to the students that do need help with the coursework.
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