Would Class Size Reduction Help Anybody?
To summarize what we have already learned, evidence that reductions in class size have a positive effect is strongest in the primary grades.59 Data collected from the Tennessee STAR experiment suggests that this benefit is achieved in the initial small kindergarten or first grade class a child attends. The evidence also indicates that, because benefits to reduced class size have not proven to be cumulative, providing additional grades (above the first grade) with reduced class size may have no significant positive affect on student learning.61 In other words, the assumption of the STAR experiment was that a reduction in class size of any grade would change the rate of student learning. If this were true, then every year a student is in a smaller class, he or she should get farther ahead.62 Experiments to date, including the STAR project indicate that learning gains, do not build cumulatively from year to year. Effectiveness may also depend on the extent of the drop in class size. STAR
