“The overwhelming conclusion drawn from serious studies of class size is that class size counts.” That’s the conclusion of Gary Plano’s posting on the Seattle Times Education Lab Blog.
He cites two sources as evidence.
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1) The STAR Study out of Tennessee in the late 1908, which tracked two groups of students from grade school through high school.
2) The US Dept. of Ed. study of 2561 schools across the country a decade later.
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I recall that, during the 1960’s & 70’s, implementation of education reform that revolved around racial equality made significant gains in student learning. Among the major focuses of those reforms was class size reduction to seek equal opportunity.
Gary Palno is superintendent of Mercer Island Schools and a committee member of the non-profit organization Class Size Counts.
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