Conclusion of Exploration

Through out the research I have done on the topic of if large class sizes effect student’s education. Before doing all this research I figured that large class sizes couldn’t be good for the education of our youth but I had no idea how bad it was actually hurting these students. I have learned about a lot of bills that have passed or haven’t passed. Many of the bills that the government has passed have been successful in helping class sizes become smaller and have been proven to be successful in the outcome of student’s education. After all of my research I have found a satisfactory answer to my initial question.  The answer I found to my initial question is that having large class sizes of 20+ students in one class at a time does effect student’s education. After doing research I came to find out that I actually had more questions about this topic than I originally thought I did. One question I still have is how can we as taxpayer’s help to make sure class sizes are staying below 20 students per classroom. I also have been wondering through out my research what kind of test researchers run to see how class sizes effect children’s education. I never really found an answer to what type of students are effected most by larger class sizes. Every source I read on this topic has a different answer for what type of student was affected most by larger class sizes. In the weeks ahead I will still wonder what the governments plan is on funding for schools so that schools can start working towards having smaller class sizes. After learning more about this topic I would argue the importance of smaller class sizes in schools and argue all of the people that are affected by schools having larger class sizes.

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For this week I went a researched more on my topic of why smaller class sizes in schools are important to children’s education. This week I decided to look into the laws that are put in place for class sizes in America and what evidence has been proven that have made this policy’s possible. 

The first source I came across is Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach of the University of Colorado Boulder, National Education Policy Center. This article was produced in 2014 and is titled Does Class size Matter? Diane starts this article off by explaining how schools have changed in the last 30 years from stressful standardized testing to Common Core standards. Many of these things make school stressful and extremely overwhelming for students. Larger class sizes in schools make all of these changes in education even hard for students to be successful at. Many policymakers argued that a smaller class size does not matter towards a student’s education. Although many policymakers are under the impression that class sizes don't matter, research supports that children learn more and teachers are more effective in smaller class size environments. 

Do to the amount of research done that has proven large class sizes to negatively impact children’s education many policy recommendations have emerged. Some of these policy recommendations include that class sizes is important when determining students education and something that can only be determined by policy and that increasing class size will be harmful to the education of our youth. Low-income families are more impacted by the reduction of class sizes and that increasing class sizes will be most harmful to this population of students. Class sizes have been proven to impact test scores during a students education but also the their overall life outcome in years after research had been done. 

The second source I found was titled What are the Advantages to schools with small class sizes. This source states multiple different reasons as to why smaller class sizes in schools are important. Some of the advantages of smaller classes as stated in this source are higher test scores, less stress on educators, being able to tailor instructions easier, and less distractions and interruptions. It has been proven that test scores are usually higher in classes that have 20 or less students per class. Teachers are already very busy as it is even if they don't have a huge classroom. The teachers that do have 25+ students in their classroom find it harder to find time to grade assignments or even time to help the kids who are struggling. When teachers have smaller classes it is easier to fix lessons plans based on what the students need or don't need to learn. It is also harder for instructors to keep their classrooms under control when there are a lot of students in one small class room and its hard for one adult to keep 20+ students under control at once. 

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While doing research I came across an article written by Sara Mosle titled “Does Class Size Count?”  During this article Sara argues that Americas economic problem is the reason for class sizes becoming larger. Sara states, “As states cut education budgets in response to the nation’s continuing economic woes, student-to-teacher ratios are again on the rise after decades of decline.” During this article Sara argues that smaller class sizes is not the answer to get successful students. Instead she argues that schools should implement a program where children who do need a little extra help are put into smaller class rooms where they are able to get more one on one attention.

I do not agree with this statement because I believe that every student should feel equal no matter their level of education and if students who are struggling with their education are taken into smaller groups this may make these students feel like they are less than the others. 

 “President Clinton announced the release of a Department of Education report” (Class Size Reduction: Success stories noted in New Report, 1) This report was a 9- pages and addressed the problems and opportunites to reduce class sizes. This report included appointing qualified teachers, strengthening the accountability of teachers and taking low performing schools and doing everything to fix the problems these school are having that are making them have low performance, and addressing space limitation problems within public school districts. In this report it is proven that in just one year public schools across America have 29,000 new, highly-trained teachers and that this is all do to the class size reduction initiative. At the same time that the report was released Clinton said “It also shows that in the early grades in those schools, class size has been reduced by an average of five students per class. Over 1.7 million staudents are now directly benefiting from this class size initiative”( Class Size Reduction: Success stories noted in New Report, 2)

After the anncouncement of the new report was released, Secretary of Education Richard Riley said that the report clearly states that the funds from the Class Size Reduction Program that ended up getting passed last year, are already being put into good use and are making a real difference in helping the students learn. Richard Riley also stated that with the flexablity within the Class Size Reduction Plan, really helps schools support their own local problems and priorities making it easier for schools to solve the personal problems within that particular school.

This article states how different cities used their funds from the Class Size Reduction Program. Columbus, Ohio used their funds to help turn around low-performing schools by reducing the class sizes within districts from 25 to 15 students in grades one through three. Montgomery County, Maryland used the funds they were granted from the Class Size Reduction Program by making class sizes no more than 15 for reading instruction for class sizes 1-2.  In the article Richard Riley states that “Class size reduction is something that is so clearly beneficial to the ability of our students to learn and our teachers to teach that I am bewildered by any effort to stand in its way.” (Class Size Reduction: Success stories noted in New Report, 3)

            “When a record 53.2 million students returned to school this fall, students and their teachers in the early grades began to benefit from a growing national effort to lower class size.”( Class Size Reduction: Success stories noted in New Report,6) The article states that now 20 states have Class Size Reduction Initiative in place, and in July, every state received its share of $1.2 billion provided by the U.S Department of Education’s new Class Size Reduction Program in grades one through three to an average of 18 students per class room.

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My First Two Sources!

The first source was a newspaper article written by Morgan Jerkins titled “Too Many Kids.” In this article Morgan states, “Small classes meant that students who struggled could be easily targeted, lessons could be tailored to individual needs, and progress could be expedited.”(Jerkins, Morgan. "Too Many Kids”) What Jerkins means by this quote is that it is easier to address children who are struggling learning the lessons they are being taught if the teacher is having to focus on less children. Being able to notice if a child is struggling is very crucial to the learning process to make sure no kid falls behind academically. The district that Morgan is working in has made it difficult to get class sizes smaller than 24 students due to budgets being cut, and the school board making the decision to decline renewing contracts. Due to these contracts not being renewed ended up in the district cutting 220 jobs.

As Morgan goes on in the paper, she explains how her class sizes have increased in the past couple years and how it has made it harder for her to “manage her classroom, properly supervise reading groups, and encourage her students to complete projects efficiently.”(Jerkins, Morgan. "Too Many Kids.") Many teachers deal with the struggle of class sizes being to large to maintain a healthy learning enviorment for these children. In this news article, Morgan explains how budget cuts are making class numbers increase and making it harder for teachers to maintain a successful learning environment.

Another source was an article written by an organization called Parents Across America. This organization main argument was that smaller class sizes do positively improve student’s ability to learn and succeeded academically. The organization states, “Studies from Tennessee, Wisconsin, and states throughout the country have demonstrated that students who are assigned to smaller classes in grades K-3rd do better in every way that can be measured: they score higher on tests, receive better grades, and exhibit improved attendance.”( "Why Class Size Matters." Parents Across America.)

As Parents Across America states  “Although there have been no large scale experimental studies done for the middle and upper grades, a there are numerous studies showing that smaller classes are correlated with achievement gains and/or lower dropout rates in the middle and upper grades as well.”(Why Class Size Matters." Parents Across America) Although smaller class sizes did not directly affect the higher grades in the long run it did have an affect on them.

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