Important read.

Johnson suggested that earlier efforts to find a a connection between school spending and results were simply confounded by the range of factors that affect the kinds of adults that kids become. Lawmakers send additional money to poor districts, but just because their students don't do as well as those in affluent districts doesn't mean that the money was wasted.

...and in fact, this money can be lifesaving.  I take all of this to mean that equitable school funding does indeed matter. 
 
-Angela

When public schools get more money, students do better

By Max Ehrenfreund January 20

Students listen to a substitute teacher, Deborah Pattin, in a temporary classroom in Olympia, Wash. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

Beginning 40 years ago, a series of court rulings forced states to reallocate money for education, giving more to schools in poor neighborhoods with less in the way of local resources. Critics such as Eric Hanushek, an economist at the Hoover Institution, argued these decisions were simply "throwing money at schools."  His research found that there was little correlation between how much schools spent and how well their students performed on tests.
It's a view still held by many politicians today, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.). "We spend more than any other state in the country," he said a year ago. "It ain't about the money. It's about how you spend it — and the results."
More recent research, however, has found that when schools have more money, they are able to give their students a better education. A new study on those who went to school during the school-finance cases a few decades ago found that those who attended districts that were affected by the rulings were more likely to stay in school through high school and college and are making more money today.
The authors, Kirabo Jackson and Claudia Persico of Northwestern University and Rucker Johnson of the University of California, Berkeley, released a revised draft of their as-yet-unpublished paper this week. The benefits were most obvious for students from poor families. They found that a 10 percent increase in the money available for each low-income student resulted in a 9.5 percent increase in students' earnings as adults. A public investment in schools, they wrote, returned 8.9 percent annually for a typical pupil who started kindergarten in 1980.
The findings are evidence that public schooling can be a way for children who grow up in poverty to overcome their circumstances, Johnson argued.
"Those increases in instructional expenditures proved to have large dividends, significant economic returns, in the lives of these children," he said. "We're always searching for what can break that cycle of poverty from one generation to the next."
The study used data on incomes for 15,353 people. The oldest subjects will turn 60 this year.
"What I like about this study is that the authors didn't shy away from proving what many of us consider the obvious," wrote Bruce Baker, a professor at Rutgers University and an expert on school funding, in an email. "If you have it, you can spend it, and if you don't you can't."
As for why his group came to a different conclusion than the one reached by Hanushek and other skeptics, Johnson suggested that earlier efforts to find a a connection between school spending and results were simply confounded by the range of factors that affect the kinds of adults that kids become. Lawmakers send additional money to poor districts, but just because their students don't do as well as those in affluent districts doesn't mean that the money was wasted.
The group used the series court rulings to compare students from otherwise similar circumstances in different places around the country, some of whom attended schools where funding was increased, and others who did not.
Another explanation could be that the benefits of a better education might not become apparent for decades. Johnson said that the difference in earnings was more pronounced for adults in their prime, not for younger adults.
Still, the authors don't advocate simply throwing money at the problem of education, either. "Money matters, but it matters how it's spent," said Jackson of Northwestern.
The group found that the increased funding had the greatest effect if it was used to raise teachers' salaries, reduce class sizes or lengthen the school year. That conclusion accords with other research finding that better teachers can have profound effects on how much students learn, since the schools with the smallest classes and the highest salaries can attract the most talented instructors.

Max Ehrenfreund is a blogger on the Financial desk and writes for Know More and Wonkblog.

Districts struggle this year with class sizes

Real talk on what it means when the state doesn't consider growth in its funding of education.

-Patricia

By Laura Heinauer | AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011

For many students, the start of the school year has meant sharing tight quarters. For others, it has meant getting used to one new teacher and then another .

Budget-tightening moves, coupled with a promise by the Texas Education Agency to be more lenient in granting waivers on state rules capping class sizes, have made for, at times, a chaotic start of the school year for many families.

Two months after school began, some students are still being shuffled around as districts try to get below the cap — 22 students per class in kindergarten to fourth grade.

State lawmakers debated, but didn't approve, changing the cap in this year's legislative session.

"It has been really tough on all of us," said Dora Trevino, a teacher at Harris Elementary School in East Austin.

She started the year with 28 students, then 24 and had as many as 30 at one point. The district just hired a new teacher, and now Trevino has 21 children in her fourth-grade class.

"I thought I had it under control" at 28, she said. "But when it got up to 30, it came with behavior problems and low academics. ... It was a lot of stress and work at home and overwhelming, but I just said, 'It's going to be OK. We're going to see this year through .'"

The Leander school district, which increased its student-teacher ratios to cut costs, went from asking for waivers for eight classes in 2010-11 to 95 so far this year.

Karie Lynn McSpadden , the district's assistant superintendent for human resources, said the reason there are so many more waivers this year, compared with some districts, is that Leander set its caps a little higher — 23 for second grade and 24 for third and fourth grades — expecting that it would not exceed those numbers and use contingency funds to hire more teachers if needed.

"I think at the end of the year, we will end up with lower class sizes than the districts around us," McSpadden said.

To reduce Austin's need for waivers, Michael Houser, the district's chief resources officer, said the district aggressively moved staff members and hired 90 more teachers this fall. He said the new hires cost about $750,000, which came out of the anticipated savings from the layoffs that the board approved earlier in the year.

"This year, it became more of a problem in that we did staff at 24 to 1," he said, explaining how the district had thought the law would change. "We were pretty much assured that would happen, and when it didn't in June, we decided that we would go back and spend some money and back fill these positions as needed."

Austin officials said the district has applied for 18 waivers this year, compared with two at this time in 2010-11.

That's much fewer than some districts, particularly some urban ones. State officials said they expect the Houston school district to apply for more than 1,000 waivers.

Meanwhile, the Round Rock school district has managed to decrease the number of overcrowded classes. Spokeswoman JoyLynn Occhiuzzi said the district slightly increased its staffing ratios and transferred teachers to other schools and grades when necessary.

"At the end of the day, we had to hire 217 teachers due to attrition and growth, which is pretty much what our norm would be," she said.

Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said that, this year, the agency is granting waivers based on financial hardship. The agency anticipates more than 6,500 classes across Texas will exceed the cap this fall — almost triple the 2,238 classes in the 2010-11 school year, she said.

"We're going to be looking closely before granting them at schools that were rated unacceptable," Ratcliffe said, referring to the lowest mark a school can get in the state's academic accountability system. "It was too late to do it this year. But next year, we're probably going to ask for additional details."

Many Central Texas classrooms that received waivers this year exceed class size limits by just one or two students, according to information provided by area districts.

Research on the impact of smaller classes on student learning is mixed, though generally, teachers and parents prefer the smaller class sizes.

"Any parent who's had kids that age can appreciate what adding two 5-year-olds to a class could do to that dynamic," said state Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, adding that he is concerned about student learning and teacher morale.

Rae Nwosu, president of Education Austin, a labor group that represents about 4,000 Austin school district employees, said morale has suffered in Austin.

"It's not about having the extra students — though space does become an issue when you try to crowd so many students in a classroom that wasn't built to handle that," Nwosu said. "The biggest problem is the extra work ... on top of already having the additional students.

"Morale is low, and I don't understand why our trustees don't see this and why they haven't said something to the superintendent."

For her part, Trevino seems to be taking things in stride .

"I'm hoping (class enrollment) will stay at 21, but if it increases, I am still going to teach," Trevino said. "I'm still going to be positive, and I am still going to do everything I can for these kids, because this is what I love to do."

Texas teachers urge Senate to keep class-size limit

By TERRENCE STUTZ | Austin Bureau
08 March 2011

AUSTIN — Teacher groups urged a Senate committee Tuesday to reject a bill that would ease class-size limits in elementary grades to help districts respond to massive cuts in state aid.

But school chiefs from across the state, including Dallas Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, told the Senate Education Committee that a change is needed in the longtime class-size standard.

“I am not a fan of testifying for this, but we have no other choice. We need some flexibility,” Hinojosa said.

He estimated the proposal would save his district $28 million a year because fewer teachers would be needed.

He also said Dallas could shift some resources to high schools — which might have larger classes if no change is made in the current 22-pupil limit in kindergarten through fourth grade.

His testimony came on the proposal by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, to replace the strict 22-student cap with an “average” class requirement of 21 students in those grades.

In an effort to pick up support for the bill, Patrick said he will add a provision that allows no more than 24 students per class in any of the affected grades. He also indicated he will seek an end to state waivers that allow districts to avoid the class-size limit in certain cases.

Patrick said his bill would allow districts to save teacher jobs, particularly in the upper-grade levels in which class sizes are less regulated.

School districts are facing state funding cuts of as much as $5 billion a year.

“I believe the flexibility in this bill will enable school districts to retain more teachers. We want to do what is best for students and protect the jobs of as many teachers as possible,” Patrick said.

But state teacher groups disagreed, saying the real intent of the bill is to save money by slashing teacher jobs.

“Make no mistake. There will be more kids in classrooms,” said Patti Quinzi of the Texas AFT.

She called the 22-pupil limit one of the most effective reforms ever enacted in Texas. Because of it, the average class size in the five grade levels is 19.3 students.

Damage from easing the standard “will be substantial and long-lasting if the Legislature goes down this road,” she said.

Jennifer Canaday of the Association of Texas Professional Educators cited a “wealth of research” on the benefits of smaller classes for elementary students.

She also dismissed claims by the bill’s backers that it will save jobs. “The only way to get savings under this is to lay off teachers in elementary grades,” she said. “This is not the way to go.”

The class size restriction has been on the books since 1984 when Dallas businessman Ross Perot spearheaded a school reform movement that resulted in major legislation that year.

Senators also heard testimony on a measure by Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, to ease some state requirements and give districts more flexibility to handle funding cuts over the next two years.

One of those changes would allow teacher furloughs of up to seven days to save money. None of the furlough days could be regular instructional days.

The committee took no action on the bills Tuesday.

Senators Debate Productivity Center, Class Size

I've already gone on about the 22:1 issues on this blog so I'll spare you all.

Regarding the 10:1 ratio for remedial courses, this is simply a matter of not wanting to fund something that was voted in favor for last session when there was so much hype around needing to restructure the accelerated instruction plans (AIP) so that it did not focus on test preparation, was composed of small settings where students can receive more direct instruction, among other things.

Everyone wants to be the champion of creating legislation that is mindful of student needs until the bill arrives and all of a sudden the idea doesn't sounds so good.

Look out for a fight if/when SB 872 either moves through the process as a stand-alone bill or mysteriously gets tacked on to something in the 11th hour.

Today's hearing is definitely worth watching.

-Patricia

by Morgan Smith | Texas Tribune
March 8, 2011

During Tuesday's Senate Education Committee meeting, senators considered legislation that could dramatically change the way school districts operate — including two bills that target the dreaded "unfunded mandates."

State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, who chairs the committee, and state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, its vice chairman, laid out a pair of bills — SB 3 and SB 443, respectively — intended to target the burden of unfunded mandates on districts. Shapiro said her bill, which includes provisions that would allow districts to furlough teachers for up to seven non-instructional days and changes the notification requirements for contract nonrenewals, offered "much needed breathing room" for schools.

Patrick's bill would change the state's existing 22-to-1 class size cap to a 21-to-1 district-wide average. It would also prohibit districts from having any class sizes higher than 24 — with no waiver. Special education classes, English language learning classes and others that necessarily have small class sizes would not be included in the average. Patrick's bill also removes the 10-to-1 ratio requirement for remedial classes.

"It gives schools flexibility when they need it, and it's going to save jobs," said Patrick, arguing that his bill actually reduces class sizes because it would remove districts' current ability to obtain a waiver from complying.

Democrats on the committee weren't sold on the idea. State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, said she was wary of "using a budget crisis for the purposes of changing policies" that were established because of need and on long-standing research. She also questioned whether changing 22-to-1 would provide savings to districts — especially since districts could already obtain waivers if they can't afford to comply with the requirement. State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, repeatedly asked for data that explained why the current system was not working for districts and that detailed the potential cost savings.

"I am uncomfortable with just moving carte blanche to a new system that is permanent and forever" because of a financial crisis, Davis said.

Pressed for time, senators left both bills pending in committee.

Shapiro also laid out SB 872, which creates an independent policy center that evaluates the productivity and effectiveness of Texas school districts. A board consisting of experts in the field — tasked with studying best practices from across the state and nationally — would helm the center.

"Would districts have say in [the inputs that are measured] would be from the outset?" asked Davis.

"I think this is such a good idea because it is separate and apart from the districts," said Shapiro, adding that the center would provide "an unbundling of information that we have that would give us full transparency."

"This has the potential to be a game-changer in public education," said former UT regents chairman Charles Miller as he testified in favor of the bill, which was left pending in committee because of a fiscal note.

Teachers groups and the Texas Association of School Administrators oppose the center. In his testimony, David Anthony, the outgoing superintendent of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, took issue with the fact that representatives from districts are excluded from the board and questioned whether the state needed "one more level of potential oversight to public education."

Toward the end, the meeting took an unexpected turn when state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Galena Park, scolded Houston ISD superintendent Terry Grier for his behavior during a recent town hall meeting. "You should at least have the respect to turn that computer off" when hearing the concerns of angry parents, he said.

Tight Budgets Mean Squeeze in Classrooms

We need to break apart the "lifting unnecessary mandates" framing that's driving the political debate on this issue.

Notable lines from this article:

Over the past two years, California, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin have loosened legal restrictions on class size. And Idaho and Texas are debating whether to fit more students in classrooms.

AFT survey shows that parents cared more about small classes than anything except school safety.

-Patricia

By SAM DILLON | NY Times
March 6, 2011

Millions of public school students across the nation are seeing their class sizes swell because of budget cuts and teacher layoffs, undermining a decades-long push by parents, administrators and policy makers to shrink class sizes.

Over the past two years, California, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin have loosened legal restrictions on class size. And Idaho and Texas are debating whether to fit more students in classrooms.

Los Angeles has increased the average size of its ninth-grade English and math classes to 34 from 20. Eleventh- and 12th-grade classes in those two subjects have risen, on average, to 43 students.

“Because many states are facing serious budget gaps, we’ll see more increases this fall,” said Marguerite Roza, a University of Washington professor who has studied the recession’s impact on schools.

The increases are reversing a trend toward smaller classes that stretches back decades. Since the 1980s, teachers and many other educators have embraced research finding that smaller classes foster higher achievement.

Rachael Maher, a math teacher in Charlotte, N.C., said she had experienced the difference between smaller and larger classes. She has watched her seventh-grade classes grow since her school system ran into budget trouble three years ago. Before, her classes averaged 25 students; this year they average 31.

“They say it doesn’t affect whether kids get what they need, but I completely disagree,” Ms. Maher said. “If you’ve gained five kids, that’s five more papers to grade, five more kids who need makeup work if they’re absent, five more parents to contact, five more e-mails to answer. It gets overwhelming.”

In Detroit, the authorities are so overwhelmed by financial troubles that they are debating a deficit-reduction proposal that would increase high school class sizes to 60 students. Michigan’s state superintendent of public instruction, Michael P. Flanagan, said that the plan was unlikely to be put into effect, but that “class sizes will be higher than you and I would like.”

In New York City, average elementary class sizes have grown to 23.7 students from 21.8 since 2008, according to official data.

In Utah, one of the few states that collect class size data each year, median class size has increased by several students in many grade levels since 2008. It now ranges from 22 students in kindergarten to 31 students in high school chemistry classes.

“All the budget cuts have started our class sizes on that climb upward,” said Judy W. Park, associate superintendent of the State Office of Education in Utah. “During the last two years, our schools have really seen it.”

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said a number of surveys had shown that parents cared more about small classes than anything except school safety.

But budget cuts are forcing schools to raise class sizes, putting those who advocate shrinking them on the defensive.

Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, a group that presses for smaller classes in New York and nationally, said many states enacted policies limiting student numbers during the late 1980s and 1990s.

“But now, in the majority of states, you’re seeing definite increases in class sizes because of the recession and budget cuts,” Ms. Haimson said. “Unfortunately we’ve also seen the rise of a narrative that’s become dominant in education reform that insists that class size doesn’t matter.”

Research that convinced many policy makers of the benefits of small classes was conducted in Tennessee.

Helen Bain, who served as the president of the nation’s largest teachers union in the 1970s, became a strong advocate for the idea. When she was a seventh-grade teacher early in her career, Ms. Bain recalled, her students learned quickly in classes of 15 or 20 students, but less effectively as class sizes grew.

“When it got to 35, I told the principal, ‘I can’t teach this many children,’ ” she said.

In the 1980s, Ms. Bain persuaded Tennessee lawmakers to finance a study comparing classes of 13 to 17 students in kindergarten through third grade with classes of 22 to 25 students. The smaller classes significantly outscored the larger classes on achievement tests.

In the decades since, researchers, including the Princeton economist Alan Krueger, have conducted studies that they say confirm and strengthen the validity of the Tennessee findings.

Others, including Eric Hanushek, a Stanford economist, have argued that the impact of small classes on achievement has been exaggerated and that giving students a skillful teacher is more cost-effective.

Those who support that notion include Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who last Sunday told governors gathered in Washington to consider paying bonuses to the best teachers to take on extra students.

Mr. Duncan said he would prefer to put his own school-age children in a classroom with 28 students led by a “fantastic teacher” than in one with 23 and a “mediocre” teacher.

Bill Gates made a similar argument to the governors, portraying the movement to reduce class sizes as one of the most expensive and fruitless efforts in American education.

The federal Department of Education collects nationwide class size data every few years, and the average has declined steadily for half a century. In 1961, the average elementary school class had 29 students, and the average high school class had 28. In 2007-8, the most recent year with data, the elementary school average was 20, and the high school average was 23.4.

Dr. Roza, who is an adviser to Mr. Gates, said she had measured a recent decline of half a percent in the total number of employees in American public education. “That’s meant some growth,” she said, but average class sizes have not ballooned.

“Maybe the national average went up one kid,” Dr. Roza said. “But I don’t think we’ve jumped to 30 kids per class.”

The nationwide movement to shrink classes dates to the early 1980s, when Texas passed a law limiting class sizes, to 22 students in elementary grades. Tennessee followed with class-size reduction measures for the early grades.

In 1996, California lawmakers approved a measure to reduce class sizes to 20 for kindergarten through third grade. Today, more than 30 states have some form of programs to reduce class sizes.

But many have been challenged since the recession.

In Texas, the state comptroller in December proposed loosening the class size limit, saying it could save $558 million in teacher salaries. That proposal has found backers in a Legislature that is weighing $10 billion in cuts from public education over two years, but teachers and parent groups are outraged.

In California, which has spent about $20 billion on a class-size reduction program, state officials deferred financing for it in 2009 and reduced penalties to districts that allowed average classes to grow above the limits.

In Florida, where voters in 2002 approved a ballot initiative amending the State Constitution to cap elementary classes at 18 students and high schools at 25, the authorities are struggling with those limits.

“If an elementary gets a 19th student during the year, they have to hire a teacher and split the class, and that makes no sense,” said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.

In November, a ballot initiative that asked voters to repeal class-size limits won a majority, but it fell short of the 60 percent required to overturn a constitutional amendment.

As of late last year, Florida school districts had accumulated $41 million in penalties for exceeding the caps. Palm Beach County’s penalty alone totaled $16.6 million.

This year districts have been appealing the penalties, and state officials have reduced many. Florida lawmakers are debating ways of giving school systems more flexibility without violating the law.

Young: Lost in legislators' budget-cutting frenzy is the idea that class size matters

This is a really thoughtful piece by John Young. I want to highlight the line,

those who trivialize class size aren't as interested in student success as their dime-store slogans say

Something that comes to mind is how university faculty and doctoral students would cringe at the idea of graduate-level courses having the class sizes that we are unapologetically proposing to impose on children.

I hope the masses come out to voice their opinions on this issue.

-Patricia

John Young | Austin American-Statesman, Regular Contributor
Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011

With budget savings in view, the full-court press is on in state legislatures to deny that smaller class sizes help students do better.

Tight state budgets are forcing the "science," the rationalizing of larger class sizes. In reality, we are talking about the whims of policy makers who can only guess what it actually takes to "leave no child behind."

As a parent, it always was simple intuition to me that a smaller class made a difference. Then one day I saw it in reality — as a teacher.

My intuition now tells me that those who trivialize class size aren't as interested in student success as their dime-store slogans say.

In Texas, state Comptroller Susan Combs has advocated removing a long-mandated 22-1 student-teacher ratio in grades K-4. Her plan would eliminate 11,900 teaching positions statewide.

Combs' report states that classes with a 25-1 ratio "could operate without any loss of instructional effectiveness."

Well, it depends. What kind of class are we talking about? If the issue is the basic skills that second-graders need to compete with Taiwanese second-graders, Combs' claim is specious at best.

How do I know? Because I saw how a smaller class benefited one particular student on a basic skill in a rare snow day in the Sun Belt.

That February day, a dusting left Central Texas streets slippery. About half the students in my 8 a.m. developmental writing class at the community college stayed home.

Remarkably, among those who showed up was one I least expected. Call him Tony. Tony ultimately would not pass the course, for he would find just about any atmospheric event as grounds not to attend. And when he was there, he made himself invisible.

On this snow day, Tony could not hide. And I had to teach something to someone.

To my surprise, when it was him and me, Tony and I were connecting, and he was learning. I felt a great buzz. I knew Tony could succeed in my class. I felt he believed the same.

It didn't happen, partly because of his poor attendance and partly because with a typically large class, in no way could I address his needs to make the requisite difference in his instruction. But the snow-day experience pointed out the absurdity of the claim made by people who say class size doesn't matter.

Of course it does, particularly when the emphasis is on the basic skills on which schools are hammered by state policy makers — math, writing, reading. These are endeavors in which the teacher needs to go around the room and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Class size matters. Anyone who believes otherwise ought to try saddling up 25 mounts from differing starting points and riding them to one destination.

Legislative fight looms on class-size limit in elementary schools

An important fact highlighted in this article:

"The law allows school districts to get a state waiver if they can't find enough teachers or have insufficient classroom space. The state rarely turns down waivers, and last year 145 districts received waivers that allowed larger classes at 548 elementary schools. The Dallas school district had waivers at 31 campuses."

I monitored the Senate bill last session and much of what's mentioned in this article was discussed during the hearing.  I am interested to see how this plays out this session and if the budget pressures cause opinions to change at all.


-Patricia

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
December 29, 2010

AUSTIN – A quarter-century-old law that has held most elementary school classes in Texas to no more than 22 students is on the endangered list as the Legislature looks for solutions to the state's massive budget deficit.

Legislative leaders and Comptroller Susan Combs are moving to ease the requirement, arguing that it will save hundreds of millions of dollars while giving school districts more flexibility in educating their students.

Teacher groups – backed by Democrats in the House and Senate – vow to fight to any change, contending it will reverse academic gains in elementary schools and force the elimination of up to 12,000 teaching jobs in Texas.

The issue promises to be one of the most volatile of the session that begins next month, largely because the requirement has been on the books since 1984, when Dallas businessman Ross Perot spearheaded a school-reform movement in Texas.

Combs, a Republican, renewed attention on the issue recently after recommending that lawmakers scrap the 22-student limit in kindergarten through fourth grade and switch to an average class-size standard of 22.

In practical terms, that means an extra three students per class on average in those five grades. The current average with the 22-pupil limit is 19.3 students per class, according to figures gathered by the comptroller's office.

Combs, noting that many school superintendents support the idea, said the change would save an estimated $558 million a year – primarily through elimination of thousands of teaching jobs.

'This will not hurt'

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a leading advocate of revising the class-size limit, said it is costing school districts and the state "millions and millions of dollars" annually without any evidence that it is boosting achievement.

"The 22-student limit was just a number pulled out of thin air. What we want to do is simply give flexibility and freedom to teachers, principals and superintendents to do what is best for students in their district," said Patrick, who tried to put an "average" class-size standard into state law two years ago.

"This will not hurt the education of our students," he insisted, noting there are no class-size caps in upper grade levels in Texas.

But Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, contended that the class-size limit has been a big factor in the academic successes that Texas has seen in the early elementary grades.

"When we put 22-to-1 in the law, there was a reason for doing it. There were a lot of studies showing that smaller classes were important for student achievement, especially in the elementary grades," he said.

"I understand we will be dealing with a budget shortfall, but we can't afford to do things that will reverse the progress we've made in our schools. Someone will have to show me research-based studies that demonstrate it [removing the cap] won't have a negative impact on student achievement."

Past reports

While some national studies have been focused on the advantages of smaller classes, there is no recent research on how effective Texas' 22-student limit is in promoting academic success.

In 2000, a study by the Rand Corp. praised Texas for its progress with elementary school children, citing smaller classes as a key factor in improved scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

"States at the top of the heap generally have lower pupil-teacher ratios in lower grades," said the study, noting that Texas children outscored their counterparts in California largely because of smaller classes.

In addition, a 1999 report from the Texas Education Agency said that research across the country indicated that class-size restrictions have the greatest impact on student achievement when classes are less than 20 students, especially for economically disadvantaged and minority students.

The class-size standard has been in place since the Legislature approved a landmark school reform law in 1984. Among the highlights and other results:

•The law included the no-pass, no-play rule, pre-kindergarten for low-income children, and the state's high school graduation test. It was passed under the leadership of Perot and former Democratic Gov. Mark White.

•There is no doubt the 22-pupil limit is costly because every time a class in the five affected grade levels hits 23 or more students, a new class must be created with an additional teacher and classroom. One superintendent from the Houston area said each new class costs his district $100,000 to $150,000.

•The law allows school districts to get a state waiver if they can't find enough teachers or have insufficient classroom space. The state rarely turns down waivers, and last year 145 districts received waivers that allowed larger classes at 548 elementary schools. The Dallas school district had waivers at 31 campuses.

'Local control'

Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said superintendents across the state "have asked that we relieve them of state mandates that are very expensive," knowing that lawmakers will be looking for places to save money next year.

For now, Shapiro said she agrees with Combs' recommendation to shift to a class-size average in the elementary grades rather than have a strict limit on the number of students per class.

"It would give flexibility to superintendents. It strengthens local control and gives them the opportunity to save some dollars," she said, noting that school officials could decide to keep some classes at 15 students and others at 22 or 25.

Both Shapiro and House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said that the quality of the teacher is more important than the number of students in the classroom.

"Effective teachers are more important than class size," Eissler said. "We need to find more efficient ways to run our schools, pay our best teachers better and give more of our kids exposure to our best teachers."

Teacher leaders countered that the 22-pupil limit has been critical to achievement gains for elementary school students over the last two decades and now is not the time to weaken or water down the standard.

Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association said the class-size cap has been one of the most popular requirements in the schools for years.

Adopting the comptroller's recommendation to eliminate the cap "will put a lot of teachers out of work and put a lot of kids in bigger classes," he said. "Is that what Texas parents really want?"

Linda Bridges, president of the Texas chapter of American Federation of Teachers, said the proposed change in the law represents "a giant leap backwards" in efforts to improve student achievement.

She also called "absurd" Combs' assertion that 25 students in a class won't have any adverse effect on learning.

"The comptroller has managed to ignore decades of scholarly research and what parents and teachers know intuitively – that smaller classes are better for children, especially in the early grades."

Class size limits, charter school caps may change as Texas looks to trim costs

This was an issue last session as well. A major counter argument to amending state code was that currently there are no instances where a few students over the maximum class size limit were forcing schools to create an entirely new class. Currently there is a safety net that allows schools in those situations to apply for a waiver. According to TEA, there are no records of any waivers ever being denied. SO school leaders that argue that the current class size limit policy is hurting schools needs to be probed deeper.

There is no data that shows that the current waiver/ school safety net is not enough. There's more going on here that isn't being aired out.

-Patricia


By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
Wednesday, December 8, 2010

AUSTIN – The Senate Education Committee wants the Legislature to consider easing class size limits in elementary schools to save money and eliminating the cap on independent charter schools in Texas.

Several of the panel's recommendations for lawmakers' 2011 session would have far-reaching effects on public schools, such as a change in the strict class size limit of 22 pupils in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Teacher groups are gearing up to fight any tampering with the requirement, but those seeking change question whether the standard is as beneficial as when it was first enacted 25 years ago.

The class size standard is costly because every time a class in the five affected grade levels hits 23 or more students, a new class must be created with an additional teacher and classroom. So any statewide change could potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars.

Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said recently that the No. 1 money-saving request from school superintendents is for revision of the standard. The change is being considered as lawmakers prepare to deal with a state revenue shortfall that could total as much as $24 billion over the next two years.

"They feel if we don't have any new money next year – which we probably won't – then, what can the Legislature do to eliminate some of the mandates that are the most cumbersome and costly. And 22-to-1 is at the top of the list," the senator said.

Teacher leaders insisted the 22-pupil limit has been critical to achievement gains for elementary students over the last two decades and vowed to oppose any effort to weaken or water down the standard.

The recommendation on charter schools would remove the cap of 215 charter school operators – a limit that has been in effect for several years. Republican lawmakers have generally favored the allowance of more charter schools, while Democrats have called for stronger state oversight of existing charter campuses.

Committee members also recommended that the state's Permanent School Fund be used to guarantee construction bonds for charter schools and that their state funding be increased to match what regular public schools receive.

The four Democrats on the committee voiced objections to some of the charter school recommendations, saying the state cannot commit more funding to charter schools at a time when regular public schools are facing possible cutbacks.

Class Sizes Show Signs of Growing

By Sarah D. Sparks | Ed Week
December 1, 2010

After dropping for decades, average class sizes in American schools may be growing again as schools cope with budget shortfalls.

Although some educators see the rising numbers as a worrisome trend, others see an opportunity for innovation.

“Yes, small class sizes do help, but it’s not the only way. What we need to focus on is how schools are becoming more flexible to meet the different needs of kids,” said Thomas Starratt, the principal of Boynton Middle School in New Ipswich, N.H., where the average class size at the school has crept up from 18 to 22 since the recent economic recession took its toll.

The national ratio of students to their teachers fell between 1980 and 2008, from 17.6 to 15.8 students per public school teacher, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Because the statistics count special education and other specialized teachers who normally have much smaller classes than regular teachers do, the U.S. Department of Education estimates the current average class size at more like 25 students. That number is likely to rise, given states’ and districts’ financial constraints, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said last month at a Washington forum.

Nearly all the states that have changed their class-size laws since 2008 have relaxed restrictions, in many cases specifically to ease districts’ budget burdens, according to the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.

“I anticipate that a number of districts may be asked next year to weigh targeted class-size increases against the loss of music, arts, and after-school programming,” Mr. Duncan said at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute meeting. “It’s difficult to talk about class size, … but we owe it to the country’s children to have those conversations. … We support shifting away from class-size-based reduction that is not evidence-based.”

Read on...

Two Articles by Tomas Toch in the Washington Monthly

Standards Issue
President Obama wants to lower the dropout rate. He also
wants to raise academic standards. But does one come at the
expense of the other?


and

Small is Still Beautiful

Bid for flexibility in use of class-size reduction funds criticized

Unions and activists say Schwarzenegger's proposal would mean bigger classes in poor and minority schools. Administrators say adding a few more pupils per class could save the program.
By Seema Mehta
January 31, 2009
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal to allow school districts to use state class-size reduction funding any way they choose is alarming teachers unions and community activists, who say it will inevitably lead to ballooning classrooms in the state's neediest communities.

"What's most offensive is that eliminating class-size reduction won't save the state one dime," said David A. Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Assn., which is launching a television ad blitz this weekend urging Californians to call Schwarzenegger and their legislators to oppose the proposal. "Districts will continue to receive that funding from the state, but won't have to spend that money on class-size reduction, or frankly, even in the classroom."

Activists say the proposal will take the greatest toll on minority and poor districts.

"I can assure you that the districts in poorer neighborhoods will be the first to increase classroom sizes, [which] means the achievement gap will widen," said Alicia Gaddis, board chairwoman of the Sacramento branch of the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now. "That is a tragedy."

The proposal is among many aimed at dealing with California's deep financial crisis. The state is facing a projected deficit of nearly $42 billion by the middle of next year. The 2009-10 budget is far from finalized, and it is unknown whether the class-size reduction proposal will survive negotiations in Sacramento. But education will probably face major cuts, because it makes up about 40% of the state budget.

A Schwarzenegger spokesman called the CTA's claims "misleading."

"If a school district believes class-size reduction is one of the highest priorities, nothing in the governor's proposal will prevent them from being able to carry it on," said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance.

He said the suggestion for greater flexibility in how districts can spend nearly $15.7 billion next year in so-called categorical funds, including $1.3 billion for kindergarten through third grade class-size reduction, came last fall from district superintendents as a way to address the impending state-funding cuts.

"The governor is proposing basically to tear down the fences that restrict how these dollars can be spent in order to give local school districts the greatest flexibility possible to allocate these dollars where they are needed the most," Palmer said.

Class-size reduction, which became law in 1996, pays districts $1,071 yearly per student in kindergarten through third-grade classes with an average of 20 students or fewer per teacher. Several studies have shown that smaller class sizes lead to academic gains.

But several California district officials said that without greater flexibility, class-size reduction, which is subsidized with other district funds, will be on the chopping block as districts make tough decisions.

"Flexibility is always a good thing for a school district because we have a better and more intimate understanding of what our own district needs are," said Leslie Crunelle, assistant superintendent of educational services in the San Gabriel Unified School District.

Alice Petrossian, chief academic officer in the Pasadena Unified School District, said cutting class-size reduction could save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars, but allowing the district to add a couple of students to each class would help keep smaller classes intact.

"The flexibility in class-size reduction is crucial to saving class-size reduction," Petrossian said. "Here's what the option is: If we don't get some level of flexibility to move up to 22 or 23 [students], the next option for districts who are cutting it will be [class sizes of] 30 or 31."

She said school boards that try to summarily eliminate class-size reduction and spend the money on other costs, particularly if they are not in the classroom, will face parental revolt.

The governor's proposal could also ease a move being considered for next year by Los Angeles Unified to increase class sizes in kindergarten through third grade and decrease sizes in fourth- and fifth-grade classes to meet a ratio of 25 students per teacher across those grades.

But other educators, such as state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who wrote the class-size reduction legislation in 1996 while a member of the state Senate, say the governor's proposal will lead to a dismantling of class-size reduction and an increase in the achievement gap.

"It's a sad day for all of California," he said. "This would be a major step backward. We know class-size reduction works. To address the dropout rate, we need more class-size reduction at more grade levels."

Smaller Classes Don't Close Learning Gap, Study Finds

This is interesting in light of the earlier post on increasing teacher quality and salary. My bet is that this will set off renewed debate on the effects of class sizes. -Angela

By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008; Page B02

For 20 years, a large study of class size in Tennessee, known as Project STAR, has raised hopes that reducing the number of children in inner-city classrooms to 17 or fewer would yield significant increases in achievement. It was by far the most authoritative finding in favor of reducing class size and was generally considered one of the most important educational studies of its time.

But a Northwestern University researcher, looking closely at the same data on thousands of students from kindergarten through third grade in 79 schools, has concluded that high achievers benefited more from the small classes than low achievers. Since low-income students in urban neighborhoods have lower achievement, on average, than students from more affluent families, the finding in the March issue of Elementary School Journal contradicts assumptions that class size reduction might have a significant effect on the gap between rich and poor students.

"While decreasing class size may increase achievement on average for all types of students, it does not appear to reduce the achievement gap within a class," Spyros Konstantopoulos, assistant professor at Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy, said in a statement released by the university.

The $3 million Project STAR study was launched in 1985. It was unusual for the large size of the sample of students, for the long, four-year period in which their progress was recorded and for the random assignment of students to three kinds of classes -- small (13 to 17 students per teacher), regular (22 to 25 per teacher) and regular with aide (22 to 25 students with teacher and full-time aide). Classroom teachers were also randomly assigned, giving the study a scientific validity rarely found in educational research.

Several researchers concluded that the results left no doubt that small classes had an advantage over larger classes in primary-grade reading and math. "Given that class size reduction is an intervention that benefits all students, it's tempting to expect that it also will reduce the achievement gap," Konstantopoulos said. Previous reviews of the data, however, provided weak or no evidence that lower-achieving students benefited more than others, and his study, he said, buttressed those findings.