Benefits of smaller classes

1
Benefits of smaller classes

• When classes are small enough to allow
  individual student-teacher interaction, a minor
  miracle occurs Teachers teach and students
  learn.
• --LouAnne Johnson, the teacher whose life
  inspired the movie, "Dangerous Minds"

2
Maimonides in 12th century

• Twenty-five children may be put in charge of one
  teacher.
• If the number in the class exceeds twenty- five
  but is not more than forty, he should have an
  assistant to help with the instruction.
• If there are more than forty, two teachers must
  be appointed
• (source Chapter II of Laws Concerning the
  Study of Torah in Maimonides Mishneh Torah.)

3
STAR experiment

• 11,600 Children
• 79 Schools
• began 1985-86
• Teachers and students randomly assigned
• Small (15-18 students)
• Regular (22-24 students)
• Regular with Aide
• K-3rd Grade
• In 4th grade all returned to regular class

4
STAR results
Average Percentile
Students starting in Kindergarten percentile rank
on Stanford Achievement Test Source Krueger
(1998) Table 6, column 4 model.
5
STAR re achievement

• All students in smaller classes made significant
  gains on all measures.
• They had higher test scores, better grades,
  improved attendance and were less likely to be
  held back.
• Gains largest for minority, low-income and
  inner-city students. By 3rd grade, achievement
  gap between black and white students narrowed by
  38.
• Many gains lasted through 12th grade.
• Dropout rates cut by more than 50 for low-income
  students in smaller classes for 4 years.

6
Poor and minority students assigned to small
classes more likely to take ACT/SAT reduced
black-white differential by 60
Percent Taking SAT or ACT
Sample consists of 9,397 STAR students who were
H.S. seniors in 1998. Source Krueger and
Whitmore (1999).
7
Other research on benefits of smaller classes

• Narrowing achievement gap replicated in
  Wisconsin, California and elsewhere.
• Smaller classes increase parental involvement.
• Reduce disciplinary referrals.
• Improve teacher morale and retention.

8
Students with smaller classes since Kindergarten
in 1st and 2nd gradesMontgomery Public Schools
9
Special category students in 1st and 2nd
gradeswith smaller classes since Kindergarten
Montgomery Public Schools
free and reduced-price meals
English for Speakers of Other Languages
10
Small classes in upper grades

• At least 10 studies link smaller classes in
  grades 4-12 to higher achievement.
• One study looked at achievement at 2,561
  schools across the nation, as measured by NAEP
  (national) exams.
• Data from at least 50 schools per state, large
  and small, urban and rural, affluent and poor
  districts.
• After controlling for student background, only
  objective factor correlated with higher scores
  was class size, not school size, not teacher
  qualifications, nor any other variable .
• Achievement gains more strongly linked to smaller
  classes in upper than lower grades.
• Source Donald McLaughlin and Gili Drori,
  School-Level Correlates of Academic Achievement
  Student Assessment Scores in SASS Public
  Schools. Washington, DC U.S. Department of
  Education, 2000.

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Percent students achieving at grade level by
years in smaller classesMinneapolis Public
Schools
12
Percent students achieving at grade level by
years in smaller classesMinneapolis Public
Schools
13
Percent students at grade level in reading by
ethnicity and years in smaller classesMinneapolis
Public Schools
14
Percent of students at grade level in math by
ethnicity and years in smaller classesMinneapolis
Public Schools
15
High School graduation rates are highest where
fewest students per teacher
Graduation rates
White females
White males
Black females
Hispanic females
Black males
Hispanic males
Student-teacher ratio (by quartiles)
(data NEA from NCES common-core, 2000-2001)
16
Graduation rates by years in small classes
(Source J. Finn et..al., Small classes in the
early grades, J of Educational Psychology, 2005,
Vol. 92, no.2)
17
Class Size and dropout rates

• Recent study from Great Britain shows that
  students with smaller high school classes more
  likely to remain in school through graduation.
• Study also found that smaller classes in high
  school have significant positive effect on wages
  later in life.

Source C. Dustmann et.al., Class size,
Economics, and Wages, Royal Economic Journal,
2003, Volume 113, Issue 485.
18
NYC class sizes

• NYC has largest class sizes in state, by 10-60,
  and among largest in nation.
• In rest of state, schools average 18-22 students
  per class.
• 2001-2, NYC with 29 students in HS Regents
  biology, compared to 18.7 in rest of state.
• In 2002-3, 60 middle school students in classes
  of 28 or more. 15 in classes over UFT
  contractual cap of 33.
• 2003-4, only 38 of students in K classes 20 or
  less 33 of 1st and 2nd graders, and 28 of 3rd
  graders.
• In Oct. 2004, over 11,000 classes violated UFT
  cap of 34.
• (sources, UFT, NYSED and IBO)

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NYC class size vs. rest of statesource NYSED,
2001-2
29.1
28.6
26.5
21.8
21.3
21.1
18.7
18.7
20
Average HS teaching load, NYC vs. US

• In NYC, most HS teachers have five classes of
  28-34, averaging about 150 students each.
• Nationally, HS teachers have an average teaching
  load of 89.

21
What we found in NYC schools first year of
CSR(source Smaller is Better, Educational
Priorities Panel)

• Students appeared to be learning faster.
• Teachers able to give individualized attention
  and small group instruction more effectively.
• Smaller classes allow more frequent evaluation
  and follow-up.
• Heightened level of student participation and
  enthusiasm.
• Sharp decline in disciplinary referrals.
• Upsurge in teacher morale and parental
  involvement.
• Reform focuses on prevention rather than
  remediation.

22
NYC gains through smaller classes

• From 1999-2003, K-3 average class size fell from
  24.9 to 22.1 due to state funding and enrollment
  decline.
• In 2002-3, 322 NYC elementary schools made most
  improved list largest no. ever -- based on 4th
  grade scores. Cohort first to have smaller class
  since 1st grade.
• From 1999-2003, percent of Level 1 (lowest
  scoring) students fell from 19.4 to 8.7 in
  math from 21.3 to 8.8 in reading.
• In Chancellors district, where class sizes
  reduced most, percent Level 1 fourth graders
  declined 35 to 9.5 in math, and 38 to 13.1 in
  reading .
• District analysis found decline in 4th graders at
  Level 1 from 1999-2003 significantly correlated
  with class size reduction in grades K-3 from
  1998-2002.
• (Source statistical analysis by Leonie Haimson
  and Dr. Jacqueline Shannon, NYU. Math .425(),
  reading .322() Pearson correlation, one-tailed
  N33. )

23
Evidence that NYC violating law on class size

• Since 2000, with 88 million annually, DOE claims
  to have formed 1586 additional classes in K-3.
• In 2003-2004, IBO found the city formed only 540
  classes, with more than 1,000 missing classes
  last year in grades K-3. 
• .   
• Last three years, total number of classes has
  been cut by over 600.
• In 2003-4, K average class sizes rose citywide
  for 1st time in 5 years, and  for K-3 in 15
  districts, despite falling enrollment.
• In Jan. 2005, Speaker Miller and others asked for
  audit by State Comptroller.
• State Comptroller released earlier audit showing
  that by 2002, NYC had only formed 2,613 classes
  of 4,034 55 -- of those claimed.

24
Teacher quality and class size

• No shortage of teaching candidates in summer
  2004, NYC had 75,000 qualified applicants for
  6,000 openings.
• Smaller classes will help retain experienced
  teachers.
• In national surveys, teachers respond that best
  way to improve the quality of teaching is to
  reduce class size.
• (source Public Agenda, "A Sense of Calling Who
  teaches and Why, 2000.

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CA teacher migration fell most in schools with
high of low-income students after class size
reduction
26
COST -BENEFIT ANALYSIS Every 1 spent reducing
class size in early grades results in 2 in
higher income (in present value) down the road.
In high school, smaller classes also found to
have significant positive effect on wages later
in life. (Sources Professor Alan Krueger of
Princeton University and former chief economist
for US Labor Dept Christian Dustmann et al.,
Class size, Economics, and Wages, Royal
Economic Journal, 2003.)
The question is not whether we can afford to
reduce class size, but whether we can afford not
to!
27
How much NYC Council vs. the Mayor propose to
spend on smaller classes
28
What percent of CFE funds will be devoted to
class size reduction?

• The Mayor plans to spend 110 million -- or 2
  of CFE funds -- on smaller classes, and would
  lower average class size in no grade higher than
  3rd.
• Our charter amendment calls for a minimum of 25
  of CFE funds to reduce class size in all grades.

29
Norma Genao, principal at PS 185 in East Harlem,
on class size reduction

• Finally the children in a public school ... have
  a fair chance to succeed . The government is
  investing in our schools the right way, providing
  the resources the children really need ... For
  decades its been the thing we knew would make all
  the difference for our children, but I never
  thought I would live to see the day where it
  would actually happen.
• Now it should be expanded to all the schools in
  the city. All children in this city, this state,
  this country are entitled to the benefits of
  smaller classes. Speaking as an educator, it
  should not be a privilege, it should be a right.