CLASS SIZE REDUCTION

Studies

Class Size Reduction Brings Mixed Results
Heartland Institute | Lisa Snell | January 1, 2004
"Two recent studies of student achievement for students enrolled in class-size reduction programs in Wisconsin and California offer mixed results and call into question the cost effectiveness of large-scale programs with mandatory class-size caps."

Smaller Classes Mean Less Qualified Teachers
Manhattan Institute | Jay P. Greene and Greg Forster | October 2, 2003
"When class size reduction has been applied on a large scale, any gains from having fewer students in each classroom seem to have been negated by the need to hire less qualified people in order to fill all those newly created teaching jobs. Only two things have been shown to result from large-scale class size reduction: less-qualified teachers and much higher education costs."

The Politics of Class Size Reduction: Smaller Classes vs. Better Teachers
American Legislative Exchange CounciL | Andrew LeFevre and John Rankin | July 2000
"Contrary to popular opinion, concrete evidence demonstrates that smaller classes have little correlation to substantial increases in achievement … It would be misguided to seize upon class size reduction as a means of improving the education of our children."

Class Size Reduction: Costly and Ineffective
Heartland Institute | David Kirkpatrick | April 1, 1999
"Continuing to press for mandated class-size reductions will waste billions of dollars on a reform that, to date, has produced minimal results at best. Far better to pursue more promising reforms that focus on genuine needs and more efficient options to improve student learning."

The Evidence on Class Size
University of Rochester, Wallace Institute on Political Economy | Eric A. Hanushek | February 1998
"Existing evidence indicates that achievement for the typical student will be unaffected by instituting the types of class size reductions that have been recently proposed or undertaken. The most noticeable feature of policies to reduce overall class sizes will be a dramatic increase in the costs of schooling, an increase unaccompanied by achievement gains."

Class Size Reduction: Lessons Learned from Experience
WestEd, LSS, SERVE | Joan McRobbie, Jeremy Finn and Patrick Harmon
"Class size reduction is not a silver bullet or an end in itself. Rather, CSR is one approach that has been shown effective in reaching the real goal: improved early learning."

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org