Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, “Identifying and Implementing Educational Practices Supported by Rigorous Evidence: A User Friendly Guide,” Dec. 2003. Class size reduction is identified as one of only four education reforms proven to increase learning.
Jeremy D. Finn et.al., “Small Classes in the Early Grades, Academic Achievement, and Graduating From High School,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 2005. http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/edu972214.pdf Summary at http://www.apa.org/releases/smallclasses.html
Fatih Unlu, “California Class Size Reduction Reform: New Findings from the NAEP,” Princeton Univ., Nov. 2005; Study showing large gains from smaller classes in California.
Douglas D. Ready and Valerie E. Lee, “Optimal Context Size in Elementary Schools: Disentangling the Effects of Class Size and School Size,” Brookings Papers on Education Policy,- 2006/2007, pp. 99-135. Study finds that class size rather than school size makes a positive difference, and suggests that”if children remained in the same elementary school for five […]
Elizabeth Graue, et.al. “The Wisdom of Class-Size Reduction,” American Educational Research Journal, September 2007, Vol. 44, No. 3. “SAGE in particular, and CSR in general, allows teachers the space to create meaningful learning opportunities for students. Giving teachers support to develop new strategies for teaching smaller groups makes it more likely.”
Thomas Dee and Martin West, “The Non-Cognitive Returns to Class Size, ” NBER Working Paper 13994, 2008. “Our results indicate that smaller classes in 8th grade lead to improvements in measures of student engagement ….Using the estimated earnings impact of these non-cognitive skills and the direct cost of a class-size reduction, the implied internal rate […]
Sarah Theule Lubienski et.al., “Achievement Differences and School Type: The Role of School Climate, Teacher Certification, and Instruction,” American Journal of Education 115, November 2008. This multilevel analysis of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics data on over 270,000 fourth and eighth graders in over 10,000 schools finds that smaller class size is significantly […]
Philip Babcock and Julian R. Betts, “Reduced-class Distinctions: Effort, Ability and the Education Production Function,” NBER Working paper 14777, March 2009. Results indicate that small classes elicit enhanced effort and engagement by disadvantaged students.
Peter Muennig and Steven H. Woolf, “Health and Economic Benefits of Reducing the Number of Students per Classroom in US Primary Schools,” American Journal of Public Health, published online September 27, 2007. Conclusion. Reducing class sizes may be more cost-effective than most public health and medical interventions, with large savings in health care costs and […]
Peter Blatchford et.al. ‘Do low attaining and younger students benefit most from small classes? Results from a systematic observation study of class size effects on pupil classroom engagement and teacher pupil interaction‘, paper delivered to the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 2008. “… the main implication of this study is that smaller classes can […]
Please join us on Wed. June 18 when we will honor Dr. Betty Rosa, former Bronx principal, District Superintendent, Board of Regents member and now NY State Education Commissioner for courageously standing up against the Trump administration on the importance of preserving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in our public schools. Wine and food will be served!
Sign up here for our Annual Parent Action Conference on June 7th 2025, with keynote speaker Jamaal Bowman!
Sign here to urge NYC to implement a real, multi-year strategy to lower class size, as the law intends, without exempting up to half or more of all students.
Talk out of School radio show and podcast airs Sunday night at 7 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM or online at www.wbai.org when Leonie Haimson and Daniel Alicea interview guests and discuss issues affecting public schools in NYC, the state level and nationally. You can stream or subscribe to the podcast here; or at iTunes, Spotify or Google.
