Class-Size Reduction Initiatives Faltering

Cash-strapped school districts and states across the country are backing away from reductions in class size, a reform touted in recent years as a magic bullet for improving ailing public schools.

In many districts in California and elsewhere, class sizes are swelling--particularly in middle and high schools--and class-size reduction initiatives aimed at primary grades are being rolled back.

Experts say the shift is a result of severe budget cuts and mixed findings on whether smaller classes truly result in improved learning.

“[Class-size reduction] has got this silver-bullet kind of mythology surrounding it,” said Eugene Hickok, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education. “[But] as states confront tough choices on budgets ... what should guide the decision-making should be what works ... as opposed to just spending money on things that sound like they make a difference.”

The Bush administration has far less faith in the concept than that of President Clinton. Under the “No Child Left Behind” education plan, the administration recently eliminated a Clinton-initiated, $1.6-billion fund devoted exclusively to class-size reduction.

At the state level, Massachusetts is expected to kill its $18-million program to limit class size in kindergarten through third grades in low-income schools. Washington state recently slashed funding for smaller classes, primarily in kindergarten through fourth grades, by $24.5 million. Large districts in Oregon and Utah are boosting maximum class sizes across the board to save money.

Similarly, in Tennessee, where promising research on smaller classes first drew national attention, tight budgets are expected to push class sizes up in all grades. And in Florida, a proposed ballot initiative to constitutionally limit class sizes is running into fierce opposition from skeptical Republicans.

California Initiative Ambitious, Expensive

Even in California, where a class-size reduction program in primary grades was introduced with great fanfare by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson in 1996, several districts are cutting back and many are considering it. The state program, which to date has cost $8 billion, gave school districts money to hire enough teachers to reduce kindergarten through third-grade classes to a maximum of 20.

The initiative, fueled by an economic boom, was one of the most expensive and ambitious changes in education policies in the state’s history. It was closely watched by other states and proved enormously popular with parents, teachers and politicians. Lawmakers jumped on the idea after the state’s fourth-graders finished dead last on national reading tests.

But the haste with which it was implemented--it was approved by the Legislature only two months before the start of classes--may have undercut its success. Classrooms had to be found and teachers hired even as a nationwide teacher shortage was worsening. Many of the new hires lacked credentials.

“There seems to be a clear link between the speed with which this was done ... and the decline in the qualifications of teachers,” said Brian Stecher, a senior scientist at the Rand Corp. who has studied the issue.

As a result, he said, the state didn’t see the gains in test scores that were supposed to come about in smaller classes, especially among low-performing students.

Studies by the American Institutes for Research, as well as Rand, have found that smaller classes have not demonstrably improved academic performance among California’s schoolchildren. Similarly, the Heritage Foundation, which analyzed reading test scores of fourth-graders and eighth-graders in 39 states, found no evidence of gains for students in smaller classes.

“Show me the data. Where has it made the impact?” said Carl Wong, superintendent-elect of Sonoma County schools, which has 40 districts and 73,000 students. Wong, who personally believes smaller classes have advantages, said many of his districts are considering increasing enrollments.

Appeal Lessens With Downturn in Economy

With the downturn in the economy, class-size reduction now has less appeal to many Republican leaders nationwide, who argue it is expensive, hasn’t proved effective and erodes school districts’ control over local policy. Democrats, who often are more aligned with teachers unions, tend to be more supportive.

The state’s school districts, meanwhile, have found it increasingly difficult to support the nearly 30,000 new teachers they hired in such a hurry.

The effects are showing up in the classroom. In Riverside, two districts short on money and space have already cut back programs for their younger pupils. Riverside Unified School District trustees recently voted to increase the limit on class size in third grade by 10 students. The Val Verde Unified School District raised the limit in the first grade by an equal amount. Before this year, that district already had boosted the levels in the other primary grades.

“More students means less time for those who need the most help,” said Val Verde Elementary teacher Naomi Chism, who has 28 students this year and, with all their desks and backpacks, not much room to walk around. “It hinders all of them.

“When budget cuts call for things like this, the kids end up paying for it. Ultimately, society will end up paying the price.”

At the same school, Terry Makeig’s roughly 20 first-graders fit comfortably on a blue rug in the corner of the classroom as she read stories about caterpillars and penguins. But she’s worried about next year, when her class could balloon to 30 students.

“First-graders are still learning how to behave in school,” she said. “To maintain order I’ll have to become this strict, mean drill sergeant rather than a teacher. I won’t be myself anymore.”

For parent Denise Moore, part of the allure of Val Verde Elementary was its small classes. Now, the mother with one child in preschool and a fourth-grader at the school is angry.

“If there’s just too many kids, there’s no way the teacher can get to all of them,” she said. “ We’re fighting to preserve our smaller enrollment.”

Budget difficulties and class-size reductions focused on the primary grades also have added to crowding in upper grades--especially in middle and high school classes.

While preserving its kindergarten through third-grade class-size limits, the 737,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District recently voted to increase average class size in fourth through 12th grades by one or two students. That brings some high school classes to 40 or more.

Meanwhile, the Fontana Unified School District in the Inland Empire and the San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento voted to eliminate class-size reduction programs for some ninth-graders.

“It was just a function of logistics, really. Where could you do the least harm in making the cuts?” said Mike Bement, director of communications for Fontana Unified.

Older students feel the pinch. At Los Angeles Unified’s North Hollywood High School, 33 students--with five absent--packed into a biology class. Backpacks cluttered the 2-foot-wide walkway between desks. Students who couldn’t get good seats shared tables at the very back of the room, where they had to twist their chairs around to see the teacher.

“If there was ever an emergency, I mean, can you imagine all the students trying to get out of that very narrow opening?” said teacher Tim Brady.

Conducting classroom lab experiments is even more trying than finding a desk. There are only seven workstations, so half the class works on experiments one day, the other half the next. For Brady, it’s tough attending to every student who has a question.

“It’s just more work,” he said.

In some cases, parents have rallied to stave off cuts to class-size reduction programs.

In the Cabrillo Unified School District in Santa Cruz, parents raised $71,000 to keep the program alive. In the Irvine Unified School District, parents and educators raised $1.3 million. And after parents protested, the Livermore Unified School District backed down on its plans for cuts.

Momentum Grew After 1980s Study in Tennessee

“Parents don’t understand that if you continue to let a program like class-size reduction encroach on general funds, it affects funding for ... other programs,” said Donald Gatti, the district’s assistant superintendent for business services. “And there’s still no real evidence that class-size reduction works.”

The class-size reduction movement gained significant momentum with a 1980s study in Tennessee. It found that students learn best in classes of 13 to 17 students, particularly in primary grades. It also found that low-income and minority students reap the greatest gains. A study out of Wisconsin found similar results.

“The best evidence we have suggests that class-size reduction does work for those students who are at most risk,” said George Bohrnstedt, who co-wrote the recent Rand report on class-size reduction. “But in California, because of the way class-size reduction was implemented, we don’t know what might have been had we designed a program that was really aimed at helping those students.”

The Tennessee findings were narrow in scope. But California applied the concept broadly. The maximum class size was set at 20 instead of 17, and every elementary school in the state was eligible. Teachers were supposed to be trained in how to take advantage of smaller classes. But the state paid for only very limited training and did not specify what teachers should do differently.

In recent years, more than 20 states have launched class-size initiatives of their own. But some educators say its promise is destined to fade.

“People are disenchanted with it,” said Eric Hanushek, a Stanford University professor who believes the money has better uses and the research is not persuasive.

“Previous movements to reduce class size across the board without consideration for where it was done or for whom it was done was just wasteful.”

The Bush administration apparently agrees, favoring teacher training as a more pressing reform. Under its plan, states and local districts will be given the flexibility to use federal funding, once earmarked only for smaller classes, for such training or to hire more teachers. In return, states will be held accountable for improving the quality of teachers.

Still, some experts say the popularity of class-size reduction among voters and legislators will make it tough to root out.

“It is not going to go away quite as fast as some people would like because every teacher and every parent wants it,” said Jeremy Finn, a professor of education at the State University of New York in Buffalo. “You can’t just phase this out.... It has become institutionalized.”

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Times staff writers Richard Lee Colvin and Claire Luna contributed to this report.