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By Suzie Boss

"Recent research confirms what parents have always known—children learn better in small classes with good teachers."

—President Clinton

After decades of research on class size, the evidence is considerable and compelling: Especially in the early grades, smaller classes do make a difference.

Studies show that the academic benefits for students continue after they move into larger classes, and are especially promising for poor and minority children. For teachers, smaller classes offer the opportunity to spend less time enforcing discipline and more time guiding students' individual learning—a chance to "become the type of teacher that they value," as one research team put it. On the wish list of new teachers, smaller classes rank well ahead of higher salaries, according to a recent survey by Public Agenda.

With at least 21 states and the federal government currently pouring resources into reducing class sizes, the conversation seems to be shifting. Instead of asking, "Will this really make a difference for our kids?", states and individual districts are now asking, "How do we get started?" The national Class-Size Reduction Program is helping move from idea into action, with $1.2 billion awarded in 1999 and another $1.3 billion in 2000.

Tennessee's Project STAR (for Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio), the largest scientific study to date on class size, showed that certain conditions are critical to achieving the benefits of smaller class sizes. Class Size Reduction: Lessons Learned from Experience, a 1998 policy brief from WestEd, highlights these conditions:

• Adequate supply of good teachers
• Sufficient classroom space
• A representative student mix in each class
• Teacher access to adequate materials and services

These conditions have been underscored in California, where the nation's largest class-size reduction effort—with a pricetag of $1 billion annually—was launched four years ago with the goal of reducing class size in grades K-3 to 20 or fewer students. Small positive gains in achievement were reported for the second consecutive year in an evaluation released in June 2000. But California's massive effort has been hamstrung by a shortage of qualified teachers and a crunch for classroom space. What's more, teachers in California's smaller classes have not substantially changed their classroom strategies, reports a recent ERIC Digest, Capitalizing on Small Class Size.

Professional development is a critical need to help teachers "take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by smaller class sizes," according to a recent national conference on class size cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the Laboratory for Student Success. Conference attendees also suggested aligning "teaching practices with the class-size reduction strategy. … Small classes should enable teachers to cover material in greater depth than they do in larger classes," they explained in a report of the proceedings, How Small Classes Help Teachers Do Their Best (published in The CEIC Review, journal of the National Center on Education in the Inner Cities, March 2000).

In his 1999 book, Let's Put Kids First, Finally: Getting Class Size Right, Charles M. Achilles adds another consideration for teachers by pointing out that smaller classes "are preventive, not remedial. … If a student does not experience small classes when first entering the 'system,' there may be little gain without tutorials (the ultimate class size) or other expensive 'treatments'." He surveys the research on class size to point out several reasons why smaller works better, including:

• Less crowding: Crowding causes humans to change their behaviors. Why would it be any different in classrooms?
• Better attitude: In small classes, teachers often explain that they and their students feel alive, alert, and active all day long. Some of the best learning continues until the final bell.
• Deeper content: In smaller classes, teachers introduce more topics, cover more content, use more individual teaching strategies.
• More connections: Smaller classes result in more parent involvement with the school and more frequent interactions between teachers and children.

To gain the benefits of smaller classes, the authors of Capitalizing on Class Size recommend that a district begin with concrete goals, and consider these points when creating policy:

• Target money and other resources to minority and low-income students who stand the most to gain from smaller classes
• Make better teaching and learning the cornerstone of class-size reduction, and provide inexperienced teachers with training
• Assess facility needs, and plan for reconfiguring existing space or undertaking new construction
• Continually evaluate the results of class-size reductions, including changes in teachers' classroom practices

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