how much attention do students at your school get

8/9/2019 How Much Attention Do Students at Your School Get

1/5

How much attention do students at your school get? Class size is one factor to consider when

evaluating a school's effectiveness. But small class size alone does not ensure a good education.

The quality of the teaching, the school leadership, the size of the school, the amount of parent

involvement and other factors are important to consider, too.

hat's the difference !etween class size and student"teacher ratio?

#reat$chools pu!lishes class size information for schools in some states and student"teacher"ratio

information in others, depending on what's availa!le in each state from the respective state

%epartment of &ducation. t's important to understand the difference !etween these two types of

data and what they indicate a!out your school.

hen you see class size stats on #reat$chools' school pages, the num!er refers to the average

class size at the school. $ome classes may !e larger or smaller than the average num!er you see.

This is especially true in schools which have state"mandated class sizes, particularly in the lower

grades. $chools that have mandated lower class sizes in grades (indergarten through ) may have

larger class sizes for the upper grades.

$tudent"teacher ratios are !ased on the total num!er of school instructional staff divided !y the total

enrollment of students. $o this num!er may include specialist teachers in the arts, literacy

specialists, physical education and special education teachers, who may teach smaller groups of

students. *s a result, student"teacher ratios may show smaller num!ers than the actual average

class size.

$tudent"teacher ratios, which in many states are !ased upon full"time equivalent +T&- teachers,can appear high for schools that have a large num!er of part"time teachers. f, for eample, a small

school has four part"time teachers, who each wor( /01 of the time, the student"teacher ratio at this

school would !e calculated !ased upon one teacher instead of four +!ecause four teachers at /01 is

equal to one full"time teacher-. This will ma(e the student"teacher ratio appear higher than it really

is. f you thin( your school data shows an eceptionally high student"teacher ratio, chec( with your

school principal to find out why.

hat defines a 2small class2?

3esearchers have found that gains in achievement generally occur when class size is reduced toless than /4 students.

hat are the !enefits of small classes?

5umerous studies have !een done to assess the impact of class size reduction. *lthough most

studies do show a relationship !etween small class size and increased student achievement,


2/5

researchers disagree on how to interpret the results. Because there are so many varia!les in the

average classroom 6 the quality of the teacher, the home environment of the students, the quality of

the curriculum, the leadership of the school 6 it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions a!out

student achievement !ased on class size alone. n other words, strategies effective in one setting

may not !e equally effective in another. 5evertheless, studies over a period of years have pointed to

a num!er of trends as a result of lowering class size7

Gains associated with small classes generally appear when the class size is

reduced to less than 20 students.

Gains associated with small classes are stronger for the early grades.

Gains are stronger for students who come from groups that are traditionally

disadvantaged in education minorities and immigrants.

Gains from class size reduction in the early grades continue for students in the

upper grades. Students are less likely to be retained, more likely to stay in school and

more likely to earn better grades.

cademic gains are not the only bene!t of lowering class size. recent studypublished in theAmerican Journal of Public Healthrevealed that reducing class sizes in

elementary schools may be more cost"e#ective than most public health and medical

interventions. $his is because students in smaller classes are more likely to graduate

from high school, and high school graduates earn more and also en%oy signi!cantly

better health than high school dropouts.

Next page: Why reducing class size matters in the early grades

hy does reducing class size in the early grades have a positive effect?

&ducation researchers suspect that class size reduction in the early grades helps students achieve!ecause there is a greater opportunity for individual interaction !etween student and teacher in a

small class. Teachers generally have !etter morale in a small class, too, and are less li(ely to feel

overwhelmed !y having a variety of students with different !ac(grounds and achievement levels. *s

a result, they are more li(ely to provide a supportive environment. 8ne researcher, rederic(

9osteller notes 23educing :the size of classes in the early grades; reduces the distractions in the

room and gives the teacher more time to devote to each child.2

n the early grades, students are


3/5

The movement to reduce class sizes in pu!lic schools

n recent years there has !een a movement across the country to reduce class size in pu!lic

schools. n the late =>>4s when state coffers were full, it was politically popular to cut class sizes

across the !oard in the lower grades as a way of pointing dollars toward education in a way that

would please voters. Currently, well over half the states have class"size reduction programs for their

pu!lic schools.

The federal government > with a federal class"size reduction

initiative. rom =>>>"/444, the federal government's @/.A !illion appropriation ena!led states and

school districts to hire more teachers and reduce class sizes.

3educing class size is an appealing and visi!le way for states and pu!lic schools to show that they

are improving the quality of education. Because smaller classes allow teachers to devote more time

to instruction and less to classroom management, smaller classes are popular with teachers unions

and administrators. 9any studies have shown an increase in student achievement, fewer discipline

pro!lems, and improvement in teacher morale and retention as a result of class size reduction. But

many researchers question whether the costs outweigh the !enefits.

nintended consequences

n addition to high costs, reducing class size can have unintended consequences. hen California

reduced class size in =>>A, the state found that it did not have enough veteran teachers or

classrooms to meet the challenge. $chools were forced to hire new teachers and add porta!le

classrooms to accommodate the state mandate. $chools faced a dilemma7 as it really !etter to

have smaller classes with an ineperienced teacher or larger classes with eperienced teachers?

oters in the state of lorida approved a class"size reduction amendment in /44/ that requires

classes to have no more than = students in pre"(indergarten through third grade classes, no more

than // in fourth to eighth grade classes and no more than /0 in high school classes !y /4=4. The

state Board of &ducation estimates that lorida will need to spend @/ !illion to !uild enough

classrooms to meet the demands of the amendment.

Next page: Why smaller classes aren't enough

hy smaller classes aren't enough

n California, where class size reduction !egan in =>>A, the research has shown only a modest

effect on achievement. This disappointingly small gain has !een attri!uted to the following7

&er student funding for class size reduction was not enough to cover the cost for

already underfunded districts.


4/5

School districts had to hire new teachers, many of them not certi!cated, to meet

the needs to make their classes smaller.

Serious overcrowding issues forced schools to 'cannibalize' other needed

facilities special education rooms, child care centers, art and music rooms, gyms or

rent portable classrooms to accommodate the need for more classrooms.

$he high cost of implementing class size reduction made it di(cult to fund other

education needs.

The California eperience points to an important lesson. Class size reduction, in and of itself, is not

the answer to all the pro!lems in education. n order for a classroom to !e effective, it must have a

qualified teacher and adequate facilities. hen weighing the advantages of class size reduction,

schools, districts, and states must consider these questions7

)ill there be enough resources to provide for high"*uality teachers+

)ill there be ade*uate facilities to provide for the necessary classrooms+

)ill putting money into class size reduction take away money from other

programs, such as art, music, and child care+

How important is school size?

$chool size may !e as important as class size in influencing student !ehavior. *npril 2000

report by orth -arolinas State /oard of ducation on the relationship between school

size and student achievement and behaviorsummed up the research in this area nicely. or

elementary school students, thereDs an inverse relationship !etween school size and student

achievement7 smaller elementary schools are associated with higher achievement.

or high school students, the relationship isnDt as straightforward !ecause students at smaller

schools donDt necessarily perform !etter academicallyE in fact, one study found that students at

medium"sized schools +with !etween A44 and >44 students- did !etter academically than studentsfrom smaller and larger schools. However, research shows that smaller schools are associated with

a host of other !enefits for high school students7 they are less li(ely to drop out or !e epelledE they

have !etter attendanceE they're more li(ely to !e involved in etracurricular activitiesE and they're

more li(ely to pursue higher education.

8ther important factors to consider

Teacher workload

n high schools, it is important to consider not only the num!er of students per class !ut the nature ofthe class, and the su!


5/5

Team teaching

$ome schools might have classes of F4 taught !y a team of two teachers. The class size !y itself is

not necessarily an indication of the attention students are getting.

Volunteers

$ome schools effectively use parents and upper"grade students as volunteers in the classroom. This

type of instructional help may not appear in a school's data a!out class size.

how much attention do students at your school get

Documents