SACRAMENTO - School districts must stop dismantling one of the most successful public education reform programs of the last six years - California's effort to reduce class sizes - says California Teachers Association President Wayne Johnson.
"Any efforts to roll-back or dismantle this program are outrageous and should be stopped immediately," said Johnson, declaring that the 330,000-member CTA will fight such moves.
"Study after study has proven that smaller classes improve the environment for student learning - particularly for ethnic minority students," said Johnson. "Parents and teachers have seen the difference in the classroom and on test scores."
Approved by the California Legislature after a strong campaign by CTA in 1996, the class size reduction bill (SB 1777) limits class sizes to no more than 20 students in kindergarten through third grade. It also provides permanent state funding to school districts to implement the program.
"We know the state is facing a budget shortfall and that some funding reductions must be made, but any school district official who cuts this program or suggests cutting this program should be ashamed," said Johnson. "These school administrators are taking advantage of the budget crisis. Any cuts should occur away from the classroom. Eliminating class size reduction makes no sense at all."
"This is just a typical administrative bargaining ploy to pit school programs against teachers and parents. Any reduction of class sizes must be negotiated with local teachers."
Johnson also warned that local school districts should not be too hasty to make significant reductions in programs until the Legislature approves the proposed state budget reductions. The Legislature will consider a bill next week that restores many of the proposed cuts, including money for district equalization aid, energy grants, employee retirement and school block grants.
Numerous research studies have documented the effectiveness of class size reduction:
- Class size reduction in the Los Angeles Unified School District increased reading scores by 9.5 %, math scores by 13.9% and language scores by 14.5%. The effects of class size reduction for "high need" children are nearly double those of children in educationally advantaged neighborhoods. For "high need" students, CSR increased reading scores by 19.5%, math scores by 29.2% and language scores by 22.5%. - Vital Research, April 2001
- "For 1998-99, we also found that between 1 and 4 percent more third-grade students scored above the national median in [California] schools that had implemented CSR than in schools that had not." - Class Size Reduction Research Consortium, June 2000
- Smaller classes benefit all students, but had a stronger impact on African-American students. Scores for African-American students increased by 7-10 percentile points. Scores for white students increased 3-4 percentile points. In addition, the achievement gap for African- American students in smaller classes decreased by nearly 40 percent. - Princeton CSR Study, March 2001
- The official evaluation of Wisconsin's SAGE Program found that smaller classes help reduce the achievement gap between African-American students and white students. In addition, African-American students in smaller classes outscored their counterparts in larger classes in Language (630 to 610), Reading (628 to 610) and Math (599 to 578). - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee SAGE Study, January 2001
- The STAR Project, published in 1990, was a four-year examination of Tennessee's class size reduction program. According to the STAR Project, smaller classes are more effective academically than larger classes for students in primary grades. In some cases, test scores jumped more than 10 percentage points. - STAR Project Report, 1990
More class size reduction research is available at the California Alliance for Public Schools website at http://www.ourpublicschools.org/.