This policy brief examines the benefits and the challenges that accompany class-size reduction (CSR). It suggests that when designing CSR programs, states should carefully assess specific circumstances in their schools as they adopt or modify CSR efforts to avoid the unintended consequences that some programs have experienced. Some of the…

Attempts to show that the question of class size is a complex one that should not be dealt with in isolation from such variables as desired quality of education, subject being taught, teacher attitude, total number of professional staff members working with students, and method of instruction. (Author/JN)

Summarizes evidence for the effects of class-size reduction from experimental and nonexperimental measurements, addresses questions about the robustness of each type of estimate, and suggests hypotheses that could reconcile differences resulting from conflicting evidence. Discusses potential costs and the implications for future research into the…

California's K-3 Class Size Reduction Initiative (1996) called for a 20:1 student-teacher ratio. Passage of this initiative created an unexpected teacher shortage and presented California teacher-education faculties with several dilemmas having long-term implications. When districts hired uncertified student teachers on an emergency-permit basis,…

Questions positive effects of small classes on student achievement. Describes study using 1998 NAEP reading data to determine whether students in small classes do better than students in large classes. Finds that after controlling for several factors such as gender, students in small classes did no better in reading than students in large classes.…

The purpose of this paper is to report on the methodology, findings, and implications of two meta-analyses of class size. It begins with an explanation of a graph that indicates smaller classes result in increased pupil achievement. Next, summaries are provided of meta-analyses 1 and 2, followed by an extensive critique. The paper concludes that…

This critique of two recent meta-analyses of class size research is unique among all previous studies and reports published by Educational Research Service. It was made necessary by two extraordinary reviews of class size research prepared by Gene V Glass and Mary Lee Smith and published by the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and…

California was, and remains, the largest "experiment" in class-size reduction (CSR) in the country's history. Its sweeping program to reduce the state's classes in kindergarten through the third grade covered nearly 2 million students and dropped the average class size from almost twenty-nine students per class, and often a great many…

Using rich longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K), we find that children who attended preschool enter public schools with higher levels of academic skills than their peers who experienced other types of child care (effect size of 0.14). This study considers the circumstances under which the…

Several dimensions of state-sponsored, reduced-class-size programs are addressed. At present, 20 states are contemplating following the lead of Indiana's PRIME TIME and Tennessee's STAR programs. Yet the effectivenessness of reduced class size in elementary schools continues to be uncertain and controversial. No one knows whether reduced class…

Class size is a continuing concern for administrators and teachers in the Mesa Public School system. Research examined findings that reductions in class size can increase student achievement as measured by common standardized tests, but only if size is reduced to something below 20 students per class. Class size also produced changes in…

The report of the National Council of Teachers of English Task Force on Study of Class Size and Workload in Secondary English Instruction takes the position that class size should be studied by itself and also in conjunction with other variables. It also identifies subject matter and instructional design as types of variables combining with class…

This study provides an overview of class size research, examples of various class size and pupil-teacher-ratio (PTR) configurations commonly used by practitioners, and the most recent findings of scientifically controlled experimental Tennessee STAR studies. The learning environment is hierarchical in nature, with student-level data influenced by…

This final report on the California Class Size Reduction (CSR) initiative summarizes findings from three earlier reports dating back to 1997. Chapter 1 recaps the history of California's CSR initiative and includes a discussion of what state leaders' expectations were when CSR was passed. The chapter also describes research on class-size reduction…