Tonight in class we had a spirited debate about whether class size matters. A somewhat dated, yet applicable article called When Politics Meets Practice (1998) weighs such questions as:
- What does the research say?
- What are the trade-off’s to small class sizes?
- How did California’s Class Size Reduction Initiative work out?
- What are the political ramifications / roadblocks to limiting class size?
- What about Equity? Is space a limiting factor?
While the article points out that there is a correlation between class size and student achievement, simply lowering the number of students in a class is no substitute for poor teaching.
Further research would include the STAR Project out of Tennessee. This report indicates that class size does matter, especially in the early grades.
What do you think?
Hi, Eric,
I’ve been thinking lately about this question. Does class size matter for test scores? I don’t know. I don’t think there will ever be anything conclusive on that. As you said, the research available seems to point to both yes and no.
What I want to know is if smaller class sizes (and I’d actually say smaller, but not too small) can make school — a place young people legally have to attend — more enjoyable. What if classes were capped at 15? Would that give students and teachers a better chance to build a community or learners? Would it make it easier and more productive for my 11 and 12-year-olds to connect with each other as readers and writers?
I think so. I’m not finding a lot of folks who have studied that aspect of class size, though.
Russ
I actually don’t care if class size has any relationship to standardized testing. I don’t care about standardized testing. What I do care about is my students and I can absolutely say class size matters. The more students we have in our classes, the less time we can spend with them individually.
Eric,
I found your blog through Jon Becker (http://edinsanity.com/2012/09/18/my-departments-new-media-ecosystem/).
Assuming the right question is being asked (Russ may be on to something with his comment), I’d like to hear your thoughts on where schools might realistically draw a line in the sand when it comes to class size.
From the STAR article,
Reducing a class from 23 to 15 reduces the number of children in the room by about one-third. Having fewer children in class reduces the distractions in the room and gives the teacher more time to devote to each child.
Given the reality of public funding for schools, would reducing class size from 23 to say…21 be worth the extra thousands of dollars demanded by taxpayers? Reducing class size incrementally, would 23 to 20 be worth the money? These are rhetorical questions not intended for you to answer, but instead to continue the conversation. I am assuming a large amount of money would be needed to reduce class size significantly, as studied in STAR. If a limited amount of money would instead be available and this money may or may not have a significant impact, would the money be better spent in a different way?
Looking forward to continuing this conversation if any of my rambling makes sense!
Matt
Russ and Matt,
You bring up some good points.
I hear very little regarding the ills of small class size. Some may argue having a larger class size (20-25) may provide helpful with collaboration. This might be good for Chorus or PE classes, but I’m not convinced that core academic classes benefit from larger class sizes. Other than socialization, what are the benefits of having a larger class size other than fiscal responsibility? I’m not aware of any other potential problems with having small classes.
What is the tipping point for minimizing class size and fiscal responsibility? I think it depends on the locality, class and possibly the teacher. One respected colleague of mine says that up to a certain point, class size does not matter; it is the teacher that is the largest predictor of student achievement. I see her point. We all know of teachers that could manage a small crowd with his or her teaching ability.
Should we load good teachers up students?
Do teachers have different carrying capacities? If so, what should be our response?