Publication Date: Friday, June 03, 2005
Do smaller class sizes really help?
Do smaller class sizes really help?
(June 03, 2005) No conclusive data, but teachers and parents swear by it
by Alexandria Rocha
Although class-size reduction is highly popular among parents and teachers, critics are still wary of whether it truly improves student achievement.
The reality is that despite the many testimonials and questions, there is not much research concerning the 9-year-old program's effectiveness.
A consortium arranged by the California Department of Education concluded its studies on class-size reduction in 2002. At that time, the various organizations -- which included the American Institutes for Research, RAND and the local nonprofit EdSource, among others -- had inconclusive evidence about the program's relation to student improvement.
Originally implemented in the mid-'90s, class size reduction -- or CSR -- was the state Department of Education's solution to a troubled system. A few years prior, California had scored last on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The Golden State's elementary classrooms were also the largest across the country, with an average of 29 students per teacher. Officials began toying with various reforms and a program to encourage small classes emerged.
In 1996, a bill was passed statewide allotting $650 per kindergarten student through third-grader in classes with 20 or fewer kids. The program was mostly adopted to benefit children from disadvantaged backgrounds whose first language was not English.
Like many other districts, Palo Alto Unified slowly implemented the program, augmenting a ninth-grade small-class effort already in use since 1989.
Since then, the local CSR operation and its cost have grown significantly. When voters passed a $293 per year parcel tax in 2001, the district used part of the funds to shrink class sizes in fourth- and fifth-grades, in middle school reading and math classes, as well as 10th-grade English classes.
To accomplish the task, about 84 teachers were hired.
The massive effort to keep the student-to-teacher ratio down cost Palo Alto Unified $7.3 million this year. The price is expected to grow about $200,000 to $250,000 with each school year, as enrollment and the cost of living increase, according to the district's business office.
With the 2001 parcel tax expiring next year, officials say the program and the teacher positions needed to run it are in jeopardy. The proposed parcel tax, which would cost property owners $493 per year for six years, would largely be used to maintain the small classes.
With little hard data about the program's effectiveness, parcel tax opponent Wayne Martin says the district should drop its expanded version of CSR and stick only with the grades that come with state funding.
He also highlights that the original purpose of small classes was to help underprivileged students who are English-language learners, not "the sort of kids that generally are enrolled" in the local district.
"We don't believe that the district should be hiring people from revenue that is derived from a parcel tax," Martin added.
Measure A supporters say Martin is severely wrong. Melissa Caswell, incoming president of the Palo Alto Council of PTAs, said her two children benefit from CSR.
With many parents here for business or to attend Stanford University from other countries, Caswell said Palo Alto classrooms are ideal candidates for reduced sizes. Her fourth-grader at Duveneck Elementary School has classmates who speak a variety of languages, including French, Vietnamese, Japanese and German.
In grades with CSR, Caswell said many teachers are able to group students at similar learning levels together by putting their desks in clusters, giving each appropriate assignments.
"It's not the old teaching style. You used to be able to stick the kids in the class, line up the desks and teach," Caswell said. "With class size reduction, you get a lot more team work and you're more effective in the classroom."
Caswell was a product of New York public schools until the third-grade. Not seeing enough individualized attention, her parents enrolled her into a Montessori school where she stayed until sophomore year of high school. Today, Caswell is amazed that Palo Alto children can receive the same type of education in the public schools that her family had to secure through a private, specialized system.
"School for me was a positive experience, and I don't know if everyone can say that," she added.
It's not just Caswell who raves about small classes. Her fourth-grader, Lainie has the same sentiments. She likes moving the desks into small groups because it's different than test days -- students have to sit in straight rows when they take standardized tests.
"Right now we are split up into groups to work on how to multiply, add and subtract decimals. Each group is making a big poster to teach the rest of the class about it," she said last week.
The best part for Lainie, however, is that she has been able to get to know her teacher.
"I know her favorite food is pizza," she said.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
