If you belong to or work with the membership of educators/administrators who contend that class size really is not relevant to learning, then it is time for you to rethink and evaluate your procedures.
The reason? New research on the effectiveness of class size at the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Educational Policy Center has demonstrated that class size does matter. Included in their findings:
Class size is an important determinant of student outcomes, and one that can be directly determined by policy. All else being equal, increasing class sizes will harm student outcomes.
The evidence suggests that increasing class size will harm not only children’s test scores in the short run, but also their long-run human capital formation. Money saved today by increasing class sizes will result in more substantial social and educational costs in the future.
The payoff from class-size reduction is greater for low-income and minority children, while any increases in class size will likely be most harmful to these populations.
Policymakers should carefully weigh the efficacy of class-size policy against other potential uses of funds. While lower class size has a demonstrable cost, it may prove the more cost-effective policy overall.
Among the elements that the studies at the university noted that lead to higher student achievement in reduced size classes are:
- higher levels of student involvement
- increased time on task
- opportunity for high quality teachers to modify their instruction to student abilities in the classroom.
The next time your superintendent wants to cut staff and “make do” with the remaining staff using the adage of “good teachers can always successfully educate large class groups,” show him/her this blog and the connection to the origional source.
If you would like access to the origional work, please go to:
