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Role Group Strategies:
Policymakers
Create and fund a class size reduction initiative.
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How Class Size Makes a Difference
Egelson, P., Harmon, P., et. al. (2002). Regional Education Laboratory at SERVE.
http://www.serve.org/rsi/images/HCSMAD.pdf
The report summarizes class-size reduction efforts across the Southeast and includes detailed case studies of class-size reduction efforts at Draper Elementary School and Burke County schools in North Carolina. The authors provide recommendations for successful implementation, program design, and professional development.
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Reinventing High School: The Coalition Campus Schools Project
Darling-Hammond, L., Ancess, J., and S. Wichterle Ort. (2002) American Educational Research Journal 39. 3. 639-673.
http://www.schoolredesign.net/srn/binary/Reinventing%20
HighSchool%20-%20LDH%20et%20al.pdf
The authors document the efforts of the Coalition Campus Schools Project to create smaller, more communal schools in response to the failures of comprehensive high schools. The project replaced two large comprehensive schools with 11 small schools, which offer smaller class sizes, more time for collaborative planning, and more opportunity for teachers to work individually with students. This article focuses on the reform project at Julia Richman High School in New York City; it highlights school designs, successes, challenges, and issues for district restructuring.
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Class Size Reduction: Lessons Learned from Experience
McRobbie, Joan, Finn, Jeremy, and Harman, Patrick. (1998) Policy Brief 23. WestEd.
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/119
Drawing from the experiences of various states and districts, this brief addresses the costs and benefits of class size reduction initiatives. The authors answer common questions on the effect of class size reduction on student achievement and what conditions and infrastructure are necessary for such initiatives to be effective. The brief highlights class size reduction efforts in California, Nevada, Utah, and North Carolina.
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Reducing Class Size: Choices and Consequences
Reichardt, Robert. (2001).
http://www.mcrel.org/PDF/PolicyBriefs/5012PI_PBReducingClassSize.pdf
This brief describes different approaches to reducing class sizes for kindergarten through third grade in Wisconsin, California, and Tennessee. It serves as a guide for policymakers to consider whether and how to reduce class size. After discussing examples from three states, the author considers questions such as how small is small enough and how to finance class size reduction.
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