There's more to class size debate
MetroValley Newspaper Group
Sat 24 Sep 2005
Page: 0010

Section: Richmond Review - Opinion
Byline:
Source:

Reading newspapers about teachers these days, you would
think Halloween had come early with the portrayal of educators as heartless,
money thirsty vampires.

Much has been made recently of studies that say that smaller classes do not
facilitate better performing students, that teachers are wishing for smaller
classes solely for their own desires.

This makes my head reel. How can this possibly be so? This goes against all
my experience as a teacher and parent.

I read the report that prompted headlines like "When It Comes to School Class
Size, Smaller Isn't Better."

As I expected, the C.D. Howe Institute report by Yvan Guillemette is
more complex than headlines would have you believe.

The most interesting part of Guillemette's article discusses the difficulty
of using statistics to evaluate classroom size effects.Studies are inaccurate
because the assignment of students in classrooms is not random.

Classes are not cross sections of students with equal performance abilities.
Class sizes often are determined by student needs and are not coincidental.
Courses are frequently weighted with students of different abilities.For
example, special needs students may have smaller resource classes so teachers
can address their unique needs.

There are many educational reasons why classes are different sizes; this
throws any class size/performance study off completely. Diverse students and
their test performance are not the same across all classes and cannot be
compared as such.

For example, it would be unfair to compare the exam results of an honours
class with one designed specifically to support students with learning
challenges.

Estimating the true effect of class size on student performance requires a
strategy that looks only at variations in class size that are unrelated to any
omitted factors that also affect students' current achievement," Guillemette
states. Most past studies comparing large and small classes and performance do
not do this.

So to summarize, don't believe the hype.There is more to the classroom size
argument than meets the headline.

And for those who say that the only reason teachers want smaller classes is
so that they will have more jobs, I say Halloween is still more than a month
away.They can save their dark thoughts until then.

Andrea Phillpotts is a writer and teacher in Richmond. Her column appears
every other weekend in The Richmond Review. Opinions expressed in this column do
not necessarily reflect those of any school district, organization, or school.

Copyright 2003 richmond

Edition:
Length: 398 words