Smaller classes: the wrong investment

By ROBERT GORDON

Thursday, December 13th 2007, 4:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/12/13/2007-12-13_smaller_classes_the_wrong_investment_for.html

Be Our Guest

The New York City Department of Education recently agreed to reduce class sizes at 75 middle and high schools under the state’s “contract for excellence.” Now, advocates at the Campaign for Fiscal Equity are pushing the department to shrink classes even more at all grade levels.

It’s time for advocates of student achievement to push back against the growing class size obsession.

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In a new paper on North Carolina high schools, three Duke University researchers found that having a class with five fewer students had a “very small” effect on student performance. Having a class with a strong teacher, rather than a weak one, had an impact 14 times bigger.