|
RESEARCH The Student Teacher Achievement Ratio Study The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE): Major
Findings NCREL's National Estimates for Class Size Reduction, 1998 - 1999 New Class Size Report Highlights 21 States Poll
by Japan's National Institute for Educational Policy Research Would Smaller Classes Help Close the Black-White Achievement Gap?
The
Student Teacher Achievement Ratio Study STAR was a large-scale, four-year, longitudinal, experimental study of reduced class size (NOT pupil teacher ratio), that is considered "one of the most important educational investigations ever carried out and illustrates the kind and magnitude of research needed in the field of education to strengthen schools." [Frederick Mosteller, Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Statistics at Harvard University (Summer/Fall 1995). The Future of Children: Critical Issues for Children and Youths, 5(2), p. 113-127.] Class size and pupil teacher ratios (PTR) are not the same. Arguments using these two terms as synonyms are flawed. Class size is the number of children in a teacher’s room daily for whom the teacher is accountable. The PTR is generated by dividing the number of students usually at one site by all educators, including administrators, counselors, special teachers, etc., and other adults who serve the site. Class size often includes 10 or more students than the PTR. Class size change does help students in many ways. PTR change does not influence student outcomes. There are 3 phases of STAR:
Some of the major findings from the 3 phases of STAR are:
Due in part to the findings from STAR, National Association of Elementary Principals, The Carnegie Institute, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers have adopted class-size reduction policy statements. However, Project STAR findings will make little difference in the improvement of education unless the people who fund education receive the results, understand them, and use them. STAR research should guide education policy. With this in mind, results cannot be reserved only for other researchers or statisticians. Nor should the STAR results be presented and disseminated in a way that would require a degree in statistics to interpret their meaning. To impact class-size in this country, the STAR results have to be disseminated to and understood by local city councils, county commissions, state legislatures, and the U.S. Congress. Although, STAR results pointedly show that smaller classes help children in many ways, STAR researchers do not tout small classes as the cure-all, end-all solution to improving public education. STAR investigators do not promote small classes as mutually exclusive to other important components of public schools (e.g., teacher training, quality teaching, etc.), but they do believe that other components should be thoroughly researched just as the effects of small classes have been. To help the American education system remain public and improve our schools, proponents of public education will need to collaborate and cooperate in developing a portfolio of options which can be implemented in ways that will lead to desired student outcomes.
The
Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program is a statewide effort to increase the academic achievement of children living in poverty by reducing the student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through third grade to 15:1. Schools participating in the SAGE program are also required to implement a rigorous academic curriculum, provide before- and after-school activities for students and community members, and implement professional development and accountability plans. The SAGE evaluation is being conducted under contract with the Department of Public Instruction by the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Major
Findings First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Additional Analyses
Reduced Class Size and Life in SAGE Classrooms Data collected from case studies conducted in three selected SAGE schools during 1998-99, from Teacher Questionnaires administered to all SAGE teachers, and from Principal Questionnaires completed by all SAGE principals confirm, clarify, and extend SAGE results from 1996-97 and 1997-98 regarding classroom events. The major findings related to teaching a reduced size class are the following:
In 1999 the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) produced "Cost Benefit Issues and Implications of Reducing Class Size in Public Schools." This document included the following table:
Source: Brewer, Krop, Gill, and Reichardt, 1999 For a copy of the complete document contact NCREL: 1900 Spring
Road, Suite 300 New Class Size Report Highlights 21 States On Thursday,
June 27, the Economic Policy Institute will release a report finding
that the benefits of class size reduction programs In The Class Size Debate, Princeton University economist Alan Krueger reveals that in addition to enhanced academic achievement, students in smaller classes benefit from improved future earnings potential. He also notes flaws in research conducted by Professor Eric Hanushek, of Stanford University, a leading opponent of the benefits of class size reduction policies. Professor Hanushek defends his research in a separate chapter. The following link connects to the EPI press release, embargoed for release on Thursday. The second link, in Acrobat, will download the text of the entire 102 page book. Both documents list the states in which class size reduction programs are at risk: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. http://epinet.org/press/releases/class062102.html http://epinet.org/books/class_size_debate.html
Poll
by Japan's National Institute for Educational Policy Research
An
Excerpt from C. M. Achilles Testimony and Evidence Why Class Size Should be a Cornerstone of Education Policy. A. Positive Benefits of Small Classes Are Supported by Many Well Researched Theories About Teaching, Learning, and Learning Groups.
Would Smaller Classes Help Close the Black-White Achievement Gap? Executive Summary This paper examines the effect of reducing class-size on student achievement, with particular attention to differential effects by race. A review of the literature suggests that low-income and black students tend to benefit more from attending a smaller class than white students. We extend the literature by providing new results from a long-term follow-up of students who participated in Tennessee's Project STAR. Project STAR was an experiment that randomly assigned 11,600 elementary school students and their teachers to a small class (target of 13-17 students), regular-size class (22-25 students) or regular-size class with a teacher-aide. The experiment began with the wave of students who entered kindergarten in 1985, and lasted for four years. After third grade, all students returned to regular-size classes. We analyze the effect of past attendance in a small class on standardized test scores through the eighth grade, on whether students took the ACT or SAT college entrance exam, on performance on the ACT or SAT exam, on criminal conviction rates, and on teen birth rates. The results indicate that, while students are in small classes, average test scores increase by 7-10 percentile points for black students and by 3-4 percentile points for white students. After all students are returned to regular-size classes in 4th grade, the gains from having attended a small class fall to about 5 points for black students and 1.5 points for white students, and persist at around that level. If all students were in a small class in grades K-3, we estimate that the black-white test-score gap would fall by 38 percent in grades K-3, and by 15 percent thereafter. Combining estimates of the effect of small classes on 3rd grade test scores from the STAR experiment with national trends in the pupil-teacher ratio for black and white students since 1971, we find that historical movements in the pupil-teacher ratio can account for almost all of the narrowing of the black-white test score gap as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam. We also find that having attended a small class compared to regular-size class raises the likelihood that black students take the ACT or SAT college entrance exam from 31.8 to 41.3 percent, and raises the likelihood that white students take one of the exams from 44.7 to 46.4 percent. As a consequence, if all students were assigned to a small class, the black-white gap in taking a college entrance exam would fall by an estimated 60 percent. In addition, we find that past attendance in a small class raises the average score on the ACT or SAT exam by 0.15-0.20 standard deviation for black students, and by 0.04 standard deviation for white students. Lastly, we find evidence that criminal conviction rates are 20 percent lower for black males who were assigned to a small class than for black males assigned to a regular-size class, and maximum sentence rates were 25 percent lower, although both of these effects are not statistically significant. The teen birth rate was one third less for white females who were assigned to a small class compared to those assigned to a regular-size class, and the fatherhood rate was 40 percent lower for black teenage males assigned to a small class than for those assigned to a regular-size class. The effect of class size on teenage births for other groups was not statistically significant.
How
To
| Research
| State of the States
| Contacts |
Answers to Critics
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
