Smaller classes don't make for smarter
kids: C.D. Howe report
National
Post
Wed 24 Aug 2005
Page: A1 / Front
Section: News
Byline:
Armando D'Andrea; with files from Tim Naumetz
Source: National Post; with
files from CanWest News Service

There is no solid evidence to suggest smaller class sizes
boost academic student achievement, according to a report released yesterday by
the C.D. Howe Institute.

The report suggests millions of dollars spent lowering class sizes across the
country would be better used improving teacher development.

"Because reducing class size is enormously expensive, it is very likely that
the money being spent there could be better spent on other educational policies,
such as continuous teacher training, which, unlike class-size reduction, have
been shown to improve student performance," the report by the Toronto-based
think-tank says.

The report comes on the heels of recent moves by some provincial governments
to reduce class numbers, among them Ontario's infusion of money to hire more
teachers.

The province spent $90-million in 2004/05, will increase funding to
$126-million this year and anticipates a boost of $450-million by 2007/08 in an
effort to cap class sizes.

The report criticizes this strategy on the basis of studies that it says
showed "no solid base of empirical evidence to show that smaller classes improve
student achievement."

The report reviews a Canadian study from the 1970s that focused on four
classes ranging in size from 16 students to 37 students, and found that "there
were no significant differences attributable to class size for achievement in
art, composition, vocabulary, reading and mathematics problem solving" between
the class with 16 students and that with 37.

The report also cites U.S. studies it says showed a decline in
student-teacher ratios without a corresponding increase in student achievement.
An international study showed countries like South Korea, with larger class
sizes, outperformed richer countries like the United States and Canada, where
class sizes were smaller, in math.

The report suggests student performance does not improve when class size
drops because the teachers hired to lower the numbers are weaker. "Reducing
class size invariably means increasing the number of teachers, and it may be
that hiring more teachers forces a school, board or jurisdiction to dip into the
pool of less able teachers," it says.

Yvan Guillemette, an institute policy analyst, said
class-size reduction may be useful in some cases, but it should not be used as a
"blanket strategy" to improve education. "It's so expensive ... I think it just
helps teachers more than students," he said. "And it's not really surprising
that politicians are responsive to what teachers want."

The report drew some sharp response from the teaching profession. Winston
Carter, president-designate of the Canadian Federation of Teachers, reacted
angrily to the C.D. Howe contention
that pressure for smaller classes comes primarily from unions representing
teachers who want to reduce their workload. He said other U.S. reports have
confirmed ''without a doubt'' that smaller classes create a richer learning
environment for children and a better teaching environment for instructors.

Donna Marie Kennedy, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers'
Association, said the report's bottom-line analysis doesn't look at the reality
of classroom education.

"These guys need to use some common sense when they're looking at education,"
she said. "We're not talking about widgets here, we're talking about kids. We're
not on the factory line, we're working with parents to make [the children] good
citizens."

Francoise Stake, president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers,
said the time a teacher can spend with a child to nourish him or her is linked
to class size.

"Smaller class sizes, the more time you have for more kids. If you have 32
one year, and 26 another, it automatically frees up more time," she said. "If I
had more time to devote to a child who's experiencing difficulty or even a
gifted child who I can give more work to, it will have an impact on them."

Edition: All but Toronto
Story Type: Business

Note: [email-masked]
Length: 619 words