What happens when class-size reduction is implemented to scale?
Why is this question important? Billions of dollars are spent each year to fund smaller class sizes with the expectation that this will improve student achievement. These data suggests that this investment may not have had a large impact on California’s students’ learning. See further discussion below. Source: Class Size Reduction in California: Early Evaluation Findings, 1996-1998, Technical Report, June 1999, pg. xix, Fig. 7. http://www.classize.org/techreport/execsum.html Results: While California students’ test scores generally improved during the period when class sizes were reduced, only a small improvement can be attributed to reduced class size. California’s implementation of class-size reduction did not mirror that of the Tennessee STAR Project. In California the achievement gains of students were minimal, improvement for low socio-economic students did not occur as anticipated, and the costs of implementation had a major impact on the state’s education budget. Implications: T
