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Reducing
Class Size
Kimberley
Gress
Trisha
Ryan
Using
Information Effectively in Education, ISTC 201
May
6, 2003
Outline
Thesis:
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of reducing class
size.
I.
Introduction
A.
Definition of Class Size
B.
Thesis
II.
STAR
A.
Explanation of STAR
B.
Finding of STAR
III.
North
Carolina Lab Schools
A.
Explanation of Lab Schools
B.
Findings from Lab Schools
IV.
City Schools
A.
Changes Made at Schools
B.
Results from Changes
V.
Clarksville
Middle School
A.
Class Size at Clarksville
B.
Effectiveness of Clarksville Class Size
VI.
Why Small Class
Size?
A.
Benefits for Students
B.
Benefits for Teachers
VII.
Younger the Better
VIII.
Small Schools
IX.
Financial Problems
A.
Expensive
B.
Florida’s Experience
C.
California’s Experience
D.
Tennessee’s Experience
X.
Shortage of
Teachers
A.
Not Enough Funds
B.
Not Enough Experienced Teachers
XI.
Conclusion
A.
Overview
B.
Restatement of Thesis
Introduction:
There are a lot of issues facing the
education world today. Many of
these issues, are issues facing the learner.
One issue in particular is class size.
Merriam-Webster defines class as, “a body of students meeting regularly
to study the same subject” and size as, “a fixed portion of food or
drink”, in this case students (Merriam-Webster Online, 2003).
People have been debating the issue of class size on the learner for many
years. The number of students that
a teacher can most successfully teach is unsure, but many studies have been
conducted to try and find an answer this question.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of reducing class
size.
STAR:
One such study is called Tennessee’s
Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project.
This study was made in an effort to find out the best number of students
for one teacher to teach. “STAR
was a large-scale, four-year, longitudinal, experimental study of reduced class
size” (Reduce Class Size Now, 2003 p. 1). This project kept track of 11,600
Tennessee students in 76 schools (Small Class Size, 1999). This study found out a lot of ways that small classes are
beneficial. STAR “reported in
1997 that students placed in classes of 13 to 17 children, throughout their K-3
years, outperformed students in standard classes of 22 to 25” (Small Class
Size, 1999). It was found that if
students are placed in smaller classrooms from kindergarten to third grade, they
will perform better than students in regular sized classrooms. This is true if
the students return to a regular sized classroom for forth grade as well (Small
Class Size, 1999). The study found
that as long as the student spent a full three years in a small classroom, the
advantages would be seen. It has also been reported by STAR that the students in
the smaller classes were 6 – 14 months ahead of the students in regular size
classrooms. This large gap shows
that it is much easier for students to comprehend information in smaller
classrooms. A few other benefits
from small classes were found, for example, students in small classrooms are 7%
more likely to graduate on time. It
was also found that students in small classrooms are 4% less likely to drop out
of high school (Small Class Size, 1999). Over
all, this study showed that “lowering class size substantially improved
student achievement and was especially effective for poor children” (Small
Class Size: Education Reform that works, 2003 p. 1). With
all these positive effects shown by reducing class size, class size reduction
should be strongly considered.
North
Carolina Lab Schools:
Tennessee’s
Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project is not the only study that has
been conducted on the issue of class size.
North Carolina has also conducted a study on this issue.
North Carolina established three lab schools for the purpose of providing
smaller classes (Harman, 2002). Classes
for kindergarten thru second grade range from 14 – 21 students and for third
grade thru fifth grade students, the class size ranged from 11 – 22.5 students
(Harman, 2002). In the end, this
study produced many findings, but the main discovery was that “smaller
class sizes produce the largest and most consistent test gains among
disadvantaged children in the earlier grades“(Harman, 2002 p. 1).
City
Schools:
Recently, some city schools have been putting a lot of effort forth to
try and help the problems being faced in their schools.
Elementary schools in particular are now beginning to receive new books
and other resources needed to properly teach students.
Another adjustment that has been made to some city elementary schools is
reduced class size. Since these
changes have taken place, the test scores produced from these schools have been
“riding a five-year surge” (Doing the Two Step, 2001 p. 1).
Clarksville
Middle School:
Another school that has supported the suggestion that smaller class sizes
help students learn, is Clarksville Middle School.
At this school, there are no more than 15 students in a class (White,
2001). Some classes at Clarksville
even have as few as five students (White, 2001).
This is a very small number of students per class room when compared to
some other middle schools across the country.
These small classes have allowed the teachers at Clarksville to closely
monitor their students and give quick feedback on class assignments (White,
2001). Small class size has had a
very positive effect on Clarksville Middle School and should be considered for
other middle schools as well.
Why
Small Class Size?
These studies have all shown that small class size has a positive effect
on the learner. Smaller class size
simply improves student’s achievement (Small Class Size Works 2003).
The main reason why students tend to perform better when being taught in
a small classroom is because there is more individual time available for each
student. In a small classroom
environment, students and teachers can get to know each other better (Scherer,
2003). When students know their
teacher well, they tend to feel more at ease and can there for focus more on
their work (Scherer, 2003). Also,
with such a small environment, students tend to feel more challenged to succeed
(Elley, 2001). This can cause the
students to work harder and in turn become better students.
The small class environment is also beneficial for the teacher.
Since the teacher gets to know each student on a personal level, they can
then create assignments that will cater to each student’s needs (Scherer,
2003). “For teacher Debbie
McCann, having 15 kids in her all-day kindergarten means getting to know each
child as a learner” (Gardner, 1998 p. 1).
Being able to know each student personally will allow the teacher to most
effectively teach the students. Also,
since each assignment is able to be catered to the individual student, the class
will be managed more effectively (Kennedy, 2003).
This is true because students tend to act out when they are not already
occupied by something else. When a
student does not understand how to do something, the student tends to act out,
in order to get the teacher’s attention.
If all of the students in the classroom have an assignment that works
well with their needs, there will be less chance of this occurring.
With the decrease in discipline problems, the teacher will have more time
to effectively help the students understand the lesson (Kennedy, 2003).
“Students do best in places where they can't slip through the cracks,
where they are known by their teachers, and where their improved learning
becomes the collective mission of a number of trusted adults” (Wasley, 2002 p.
1). The best known example of this
is a small class size learning environment.
This is why small class sizes should be implemented.
Younger
the better:
It has been shown that small class size is the best environment for a
student to learn, but time has a lot to do with the benefits as well.
STAR project is a great example of this.
This project showed that students that were placed in small class size
classrooms between kindergarten and third grade tended to retain the benefits
the most (Small
Class Size, 1999). The STAR project
is not the only study that has come up with this idea.
Many other studies have shown “that students whose classes were small (15-20students) in the early grades retained their gains in
standard-size
classrooms through high school” (Scherer, 2003 p. 1). Since students tend to retain their gains better at a younger
age, the lower grades should strongly consider making their class size smaller.
Small
Schools:
In addition to small class size, small schools are also a plus.
It has been proven that students that attend small schools obtain higher
grades and attend class more often (Scherer, 2003).
These students also tend to participate in extra-curricular activities
more often (Scherer, 2003). The
idea of small schools is very much like the idea of small class size.
In both cases the student–teacher ratio is very low.
When the student–teacher ratio is low, there is more one-on-one time
available. Overall this will result
in many benefits.
Financial
Problem:
Although it is very evident that smaller classes will help students, it
is not easy to produce these small classes.
It is very expensive to reduce class size.
In order to do this, more teachers would be needed.
Another big expenditure when reducing class size is the additional
buildings needed. When class sizes
are smaller, there will be more classes of students.
Since there are not empty classrooms in every school, new buildings will
need to be built. “Building the
additional classrooms needed to accommodate smaller classes is a
multi-billion-dollar proposition, and paying the additional teachers costs
billions more” (Kennedy, 2003 p. 1). When
adding all the additional expenditures involved in reducing class size, the
project becomes very expensive.
Florida
has recently developed a plan to reduce their class sizes.
It was estimated that in 1999-2000 the execution of Florida’s class
reduction plan cost nearly $3.5 billion (Kennedy, 2003).
That is a lot of money that most states do not have to spend on a project
like this one. “The issue of cost
effectiveness looms especially large in light of the huge shortfall in tax
revenues being projected” (Kennedy, 2003 p. 1).
California has also developed a kindergarten-3rd grade class
size reduction plan (Class Size Reduction, 2003).
With California’s plan, an incentive has been given to class size
reduction. In the year 2002, $1.6
billion was given to this plan (Kennedy, 2003).
Unfortunately, $1.6 billion is not enough money to cover the entire cost
of reducing class size. Many school
districts in California have found that they need to take resources from other
areas in order to fund the rest of the money needed to reduce their class sizes
(Kennedy, 2003). Another problem
that some California school districts are having is that “they won't be able
to afford to hire or keep the number of teachers required to trigger the
incentives” (Kennedy, 2003 p. 1).
Tennessee, on the other hand, found a lot of positive financial effects
from reducing class size. Tennessee
realized that by reducing their class size, students would perform better in
school (Small
Class Size, 1999). When students
perform better in school, less children will need to repeat grades, saving the
state at least $3.5 million a year (Small Class Size, 1999).
Another positive effect discovered by Tennessee’s plan is that “the
increased earning power of the additional high school graduates could bring
another $2 million annually into the economy. Social service expenditures could
also decline, because high school graduates are more likely to work and less
likely to need welfare” (Small Class Size, 1999 p. 1).
This proves that reducing class size may cost a state money, but in some
cases it brings the state a profit instead.
Shortage
of Teachers:
Not only are there not enough funds to pay the new teachers required to
reduce class size, but there are not enough teachers needed to teach these new
classes. With the large number of
teachers needed to reduce class size, the number of qualified teachers available
becomes very low. As a result, many
school districts end up hiring teachers that are under qualified (Kennedy,
20035). The purpose of reducing
class size is to allow students to learn more effectively. But, when students are being taught my under qualified
teachers, this whole purpose is lost. It
has recently been reported that “the proportion of K-3 teachers who were not
fully credentialed increased from 1.8 percent... to 12.5 percent” with the
reduction of class size (Kennedy, 2003 p. 1).
This could become a huge problem.
Conclusion:
There are many reasons why class size should be reduced. Not only does it create more one–on–one time between the
teacher and the students, but it seems to produce students that better
understand the information they are taught.
There may be some problems produced by reducing class size, such as
financial problems, but overall the positive affects out weigh the negatives.
With the positive effects created by reducing class size on the students,
a class size reduction plan should be strongly considered and supported.
Work
Cited
Books:
Finn, Jeremy D. (1998). Class
Size & Students at Risk.
Dictionary:
Merriam-Webster Online.
Retrieved May 1, 2003 from http://www.m- w.com/netdict.htm.
Internet:
Class Size Reduction.
Retrieved May 1, 2003 from http://www.cde.ca.gov /classsize/.
Reduce Class Size Now.
Retrieved March 6, 2003 from http://www.reduceclasssizenow.org/.
Small Class Size: Education
Reform that Works. Retrieved May 1, 2003 from http://www.aft.org/issues/classsize.html.
Small Class Size Works.
Retrieved May 1, 2003 from http://www.bctf.bc.ca/bargain/wlc/SmallClass.html.
Journal
Articles:
Elley, Nida. (2001 December).
Big Benefits in Small Classes. Psychology
Today, 34(6),pp.28. Retrieved May 1, 2003 from EBSCO database at
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=5327701&db=aph
Gardner,
Bonnie. (1998 February). Proving Fewer Means Better. NEA
Today, 16(6), pp. 21.
Retrieved
May 1, 2003 from EBSCO database at http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=406393&db=aph.
Harman, P., Egelson, P., Hood,
A., & O'Connell, D. (2002 April 1). Observing Life in
Small- Class Size Classrooms.
Retrieved March 6, 2003 from ERIC database at http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=ED465724&db=eric&tg=AN.
Kennedy, Mike. (2003
February). Sizing Up Smaller Classes. American
School and University,75(6), pp.15. Retrieved May 1, 2003 from EBSCO database
at http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=9155368&db=aph.
Scherer,
Marge. (2002 February). Why Think Small? Educational
Leadership, 59(5). pp.5. Retrieved May 1, 2003 from EBSCO database at
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=6503336&db=aph.
Wasley, P.(2002 February 1).
Small Classes, Small Schools: The Time Is Now. Educational Leadership, 59,
6-10. Retrieved March 6, 2003 from ERIC database at http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=EJ640897&d
b=eric&tg=AN.
(September
1999). Small Class Size Produce Long-Term Benefits. NEA
Today, 18(1), pp.33. Retrieved
May 1, 2003 from EBSCO database at http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2214049&db=aph.
Newspaper
Articles:
White, Tanika. (2001, April
8). Schools gird for results of strict
policy Tougher standards for Howard pupils are focus of effort; Officials see
motivation; After- school classes for
middle grades help with basic skills. The Baltimore Sun, pp.1B. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000071014160&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=11&Sid=4&RQT=309
(2001,
October 12). Doing the two-step in
Baltimore schools ; Reform: Progress starts and stops, but efforts to improve
must continue. The Baltimore Sun,22A. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000084294028&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=8&Sid=4&RQT=309.
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