$4 BILLION versus...Nothing Wednesday, June 23, 1999 Dear Friends, This morning all of California's major newspapers carried front page stories presenting the conclusions of a multi-million dollar study of California's vaunted class-size reduction program, which has spent some $4 BILLION since 1996 on ensuring that most elementary school classrooms contain no more than 20 students. Established with the joint support of Democrats and Republicans, the policy has proven extremely popular among politicians, parents, and teachers. Unfortunately for all these groups, the research concluded that this $4 billion program has had negligible impact on student performance. Students who have spent a full three years in these smaller classrooms apparently have academic test scores just 3 percentage points higher than similar students who have not benefitted from smaller classes. Furthermore, even this tiny improvement may disappear when controlled for additional variables, and there is the possibility that the switch to smaller classes may even have had a negative impact on student performance. The smaller classes had required the rapid hiring of huge numbers of additional teachers, many of whom were of poor quality, so an actual drop in educational quality is quite plausible. Despite these dispiriting results, prominent elected officials and administrators cited the alleged 3% improvement over three years as an excellent sign of progress and proof that the new program was worth the $4 billion spent. By contrast, the Oceanside district near San Diego has shown that strict adherence to the English immersion programs of Prop. 227 can increase immigrant test scores by 100% or 200% in just seven months, and other school districts around California are now also revealing post-Prop. 227 gains in immigrant test scores of 50%, 100%, or 150% in well under one year of the new Prop. 227 system, which incidentally cost...nothing. Naturally, the same officials who tout a possible gain of 2% over 3 years as excellent argue that a gain of 100% in under one year means that "the jury is still out." Sometimes public policy debates resemble Monty Python sketches. Below I provide our Oceanside press release and one of the articles on the class-size reduction fiasco. Sincerely, Ron Unz, Chairman
"Students Make Slight Gains in Smaller Classes"
California's multibillion-dollar effort to reduce the size of primary- grade classes has produced only small achievement gains for third- graders, according to the program's first comprehensive evaluation. Cutting class sizes to 20 students in kindergarten through grade three has exacerbated inequities among schools, but third-graders still made consistent though modest progress regardless of their ethnicity, income level or ability to speak English, the report found. The study, to be released today, showed that 34% of third-graders who attended smaller classes scored above the national average in reading on last year's Stanford 9 exam, while 32% in larger classes surpassed that mark. Similarly, 36% of third-graders in reduced classes exceeded the national average in language arts, while 33% in larger classes did so. In math, 38% of the students in smaller classes exceeded that level, compared to 35% in larger classes. Education officials called the differences encouraging, saying the most expensive education reform in California history is worth the price. The state has spent more than $ 4 billion reducing class sizes for 1.7 million primary-grade students--so far reaching 92% of all pupils in kindergarten through grade three. "All of the indicators are pointing in the right direction," said Delaine Eastin, the state superintendent of public instruction. "The fact that we are moving the trend line up for student achievement is important." The state-funded study was conducted by the Rand Corp., the American Institutes for Research and three other research organizations. It examined the initial two years of the reform, from 1996 to 1998, and will be followed by further reviews. Researchers said smaller classes played a role in producing higher test scores, but they stopped short of saying the reform was the sole reason for progress. They said "an unknown combination of other reforms" contributed to the overall gains. By the last year of the study, about 30% of third-grade classes had yet to be reduced. Researchers acknowledged that such classes were more likely to be in urban, minority and low-income areas, and thus were lower performers. Such inherent differences could have played as much of a role in test scores as the size of the classes, but researchers adjusted their estimates accordingly. California launched its class-size initiative three years ago in response to 1994 national tests that showed the state's fourth-graders tied for last in reading skills among students in the 39 states tested. State legislators seized on a similar effort in Tennessee that yielded impressive results. In Tennessee, smaller classes led to relatively large achievement gains for primary-grade students; poor and minority children in smaller classes gained almost twice as much as students in the sample as a whole. Tennessee students who attended smaller primary classes performed significantly better through high school than students who began in larger classes. Researchers said Tennessee students posted greater gains because they had smaller class sizes than California, the size of the reform program was far smaller, students mostly spoke English, and the state had an adequate supply of teachers and space. Space Crunch, Teacher Shortage Although the initial results in California pale in comparison to those in Tennessee, state officials here say they are prepared to stay the course. "The governor is committed to it," said Gary K. Hart, California's secretary of education. "I think this is a worthwhile investment." The researchers found that schools rapidly cut class sizes during the first two years of the reform. For example, almost 90% of first-graders were placed in classes of 20 students or fewer during the first year; virtually all first- and second-graders had made the change by the second year. But the quick response exacerbated a space crunch and a teacher shortage, problems that hit hardest in crowded urban school districts. Campuses serving poor communities had the least space with which to accommodate smaller classes. As a result, they were the slowest to implement the reform and received proportionately less state funding than others because of a formula that awards money for students actually placed in smaller classes. A shortage of available space also forced districts to convert other facilities into primary-grade classrooms. More than a quarter of schools statewide had to use space formerly devoted to special education, music classes and other programs. "We gave up computer labs, teachers' lounges, parent centers, libraries, auditorium stages," recalled Lynn Winters, an assistant superintendent in the Long Beach Unified School District. "But the net result was so positive." The evaluation also found that: * The costs of reducing class sizes exceeded state funding, forcing districts to raid money for libraries, music, art, maintenance and other services--a problem that was most pronounced in urban districts. * Instruction in smaller classes did not differ significantly from that in larger classes. Teachers in reduced classes did not spend much more time during regular lessons working individually with students, and no differences in the content of curricula were found. * Teachers in the smaller classes said they spent more time giving "sustained attention"--meaning five or more continuous minutes--to students who needed help with reading skills. And the instructors reported spending more time addressing students' personal concerns and less time disciplining pupils, compared to teachers in larger classes. * Parents of third-graders who attended smaller classes said they were more satisfied with the schools and reported more contact with teachers than parents of children in larger classes. * Principals and district superintendents said class-size reduction disrupted other reforms already underway and created new teacher training needs. At the same time, the program boosted teachers' enthusiasm for other reforms. * Primary-grade classrooms experienced a 38% increase in the number of teachers, gaining 23,500 instructors in two years. But the newcomers lowered the average level of education and experience in the teaching force. The rookie instructors were concentrated in low-income areas, exacerbating an existing disparity between the numbers of uncredentialed teachers in affluent neighborhoods and in poor neighborhoods. Credentialing Gap Almost 10 Times Bigger Prior to class-size reduction, the quarter of schools with the most low- income students had slightly more uncredentialed teachers than did the remainder of schools in the state. Since the advent of class-size reduction, the gap has increased almost tenfold as urban schools were unable to compete for better-qualified teachers. "We were surprised that after two years of class-size reduction, the gap had grown so dramatically," said Brian Stecher, a senior social scientist at Rand and one of the principal investigators in the study. The report said it is unclear whether existing professional development efforts are adequate to solve the problem. The chairwoman of the Assembly's education committee, who was briefed on the report Monday, said she plans to introduce legislation that would bolster teacher education in schools that are reducing class sizes. Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni (D-San Rafael) also said the state should consider providing additional funding to school districts for teachers who are experienced and well-trained. "I would definitely foresee some bills in the next legislative session in January that would address this," Mazzoni said. The study also recommended that state officials address funding issues so districts can provide adequate space for smaller classes. The report said the state could help by giving districts more flexibility in how they use state funds to deal with shortages of space and teachers. State officials noted that new funds are available for school construction. A recent $ 9.2-billion statewide bond measure provided $ 700 million for construction and renovation for smaller class sizes. |