Fair Share Can Make Smaller Classes Possible
Parents and educators value small classes and education policy research has demonstrated that small class sizes can improve the quality of the education students receive. The evidence shows that they can be particularly beneficial for low-income students and students of color. With additional funding, many more schools in Massachusetts could create small class sizes that would benefit their students academically, as well as creating a better environment for their social and emotional well-being.
The policy research on smaller class sizes is compelling:
Bruce Baker, a leading Education Policy Researcher at the Learning Policy Institute finds:
“A significant body of research points to the effectiveness of class-size reduction for improving student outcomes and reducing gaps among students, especially for younger students and those who have been previously low-achieving. These reductions for young children have long-term effects on outcomes many years into the future. Often studies find that the effects of class size reduction on achievement are greatest when certain smaller class thresholds (such as 15 or 18) are reached and are most pronounced for students of color and those in schools serving concentrations of students in poverty.”
Colin Jones of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, describes evidence from the STAR class size reduction program in Tennessee:
“Project STAR supported small class sizes for early elementary students (kindergarten to 3rd grade) over four years. Research on this effort has consistently found positive academic improvement for kids whose classes were reduced to roughly 15 students. Kids in these smaller classes continued to do better throughout the later grades and did better on college entrance exams. The positive impacts were greatest for low-income students, students of color, and those in urban schools.... The STAR program allowed the most rigorous evaluation because it randomly assigned teachers and students to either large classes with 22 to 26 students or small classes with 13-17 students. This ensured that any differences in academic performance could be attributed to smaller classes.”
Susan Dynarski of Harvard, on smaller classes increasing college attendance, with effects more than twice as large for Black students.
“We find that assignment to a small class increases the probability of attending college by 2.7 percentage points, with effects more than twice as large among blacks. Among those whose predicted probability of attending college is in the bottom quintile, smaller classes increase the college attendance rate by 11 percentage points. Smaller classes increase the likelihood of earning a college degree by 1.6 percentage points and shift students towards high-earning fields such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and medicine), business and economics.”
Data on small class sizes
In Massachusetts, there is evidence that districts that can afford smaller class sizes have smaller class sizes. Chapter 70 divides districts into five categories based on the wealth and incomes of each school district. The data shows that as wealth and income increases, class sizes get smaller:
While some of our highest-wealth districts have relatively smaller class sizes, many of our lower- and middle-income districts have average class sizes that are larger than the size the research suggests can create the best learning conditions. While the evidence suggests that districts that serve more low-income students would benefit the most from smaller classes, the data shows those districts are least likely to have them.
Data from local contracts shows the same pattern. While there is wide variation, many districts have provisions that aim to cap class size at about 25 students, but for some lower-income districts the cap is as high as 30. As school districts work to provide safe learning environments and address the social, emotional, mental health, and academic impacts of COVID-19, class size and the influence it has on the ability to meet the needs of the most vulnerable students is even more pronounced.
Very few states across the country provide the funding needed for optimal class sizes. Massachusetts has a better teacher-to-pupil ratio than most (12.8-to-1, compared to a national average of 15.9-to-1). This likely contributes to our school performance ranked at the top of the nation. But there are eight states with better teacher-to-pupil ratios. (Note: since there is not good comparative data on class size, the teacher-to-pupil ratio is used as a proxy.) Our positive showing is likely driven by our more affluent districts and does not reflect the reality in school systems serving more low-income students.
It is also useful to compare how class sizes in the most elite schools in Massachusetts compare to what we can afford in our public schools. Many of the schools identified as the “best” private schools in Massachusetts have teacher-to-student ratios of about 6-to-1, which translates to twice as many teachers per student as most of our public schools.