Class Size

While many education reform proposals remain controversial, reducing class size to allow for more individualized attention for students is strongly supported by parents, teachers and education researchers.

Teachers with small classes can spend time and energy helping each child succeed. Smaller classes also enhance safety, discipline and order in the classroom. When qualified teachers teach smaller classes in modern schools, kids learn more. It's common sense, and the research proves it works to increase student achievement.

NEA past presidents Helen Pate-Bain and Helen Wise are working to develop consistent state data to track progress in reducing class size nationwide.  Your help is needed  to convince states to report class sizes consistently.

STAR Project Proves Long-term Gains

The benefits of smaller classes are now widely acknowledged. Few education issues have been studied more than the effect of class size on student achievement. But until Tennessee’s longitudinal class-size study — Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) project — results were contradictory and inconclusive. The STAR project showed that those enrolled in small classes as youngsters were more likely to:

• Graduate on time — 72 percent of students, versus 66 percent from regular classes and 65 percent from classes with a paraprofessional
• Complete more advanced math and English courses
• Complete high school — 19 percent dropped out, versus 23 percent from regular classes and 26 percent from classes with a paraprofessional
• Graduate with honors.

Goal Should Be Student-Teacher Ratio of 15 to 1

According to Alan Krueger of Princeton University, who served as chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor in the Clinton administration, lowering class sizes in Tennessee narrowed the achievement gap between blacks and whites by 38 percent.

In a four-point plan to ensure that all children are educated to their full potential, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching President Ernest L. Boyer called for reducing class size to "no more than 15 students per teacher" for the early elementary grades. The National Association of Elementary School Principals has revised its class size policy statement from a student-teacher ratio of 20 to 1 down to recommending a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, "A growing body of research demonstrates that students attending small classes in the early grades make more rapid educational progress than students in larger classes, and that these achievement gains persist well after students move on to larger classes in later grades."

Given the strong support of parents and teachers — and the demonstrated effectiveness of smaller classes — Americans should urge their elected representatives at all levels to support continued class size reduction. It’s education reform that works!