A decade ago, many education leaders dismissed student achievement data and systematic research as having only limited utility when it came to improving schools or school systems. That was the "old stupid." But now the pendulum has swung the other way. In the "new stupid," data-based decision making and research-based practice can stand in for…

Research shows that the basic right to equal school education has become a reality since 1956, but has not led to equal achievement. Some of the factors responsible for low achievement levels are low birth weight, frequent changing of schools and class size.

Although class size reductions are often proposed as a way to improve student learning, research does not indicate that smaller classes will necessarily produce improved student achievement. Class size effects on student learning vary by grade, pupil characteristics, subject area, teaching method, and other learning interventions. References…

Explains difference between class size and pupil-teacher ratio. States that terms should not be used interchangeably. Asserts that effective class-size-reduction efforts must include early intervention, duration, and intensity. Reports results of recent studies of the effects of Tennessee Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project on student…

In fall 1993, a Colorado high school scrapped its traditional semester calendar for a trimester schedule. The school year now has 3 12-week grading periods corresponding to the seasons; the school day has 5 class periods of 70 minutes each. The result: fewer and longer classes, impressively reduced class sizes, more flexibility, and improved…

Describes several prominent early grades small-class-size projects and their effects on student achievement: Indiana's Project Prime Time, Tennessee's Project STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio), Wisconsin's SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) Program, and the California class-size-reduction program. Lists several conclusions,…

Interviews Bob Slavin, a research director at Johns Hopkins Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools. Explains Success for All, an early intervention strategy to ensure that students reach third grade with adequate skills. Critical of Madeline Hunter's mastery learning model, Slavin urges practitioners to demand research-based trials…

Questions positive effects of small classes on student achievement. Describes study using 1998 NAEP reading data to determine whether students in small classes do better than students in large classes. Finds that after controlling for several factors such as gender, students in small classes did no better in reading than students in large classes.…

Public opinion surveys conducted by Public Agenda confirm that parents, students, and educators from diverse ethnic groups share the same fundamental aspirations for education and agree on the basic reforms needed in schools. The author, a senior advisor for Public Agenda, describes survey findings that suggest that all groups see education as the…

Currently 40 percent of those classified as poor are children. The social implications for the educational reform movement require that educators develop programs to confront poverty, health, and family problems. Within the next two decades the majority of students will be ethnically and linguistically diverse, poorer, and more handicapped. (MD)

Tennessee's Project STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio) randomly assigned 7,000 K-3 students to small classes (13-17 pupils), regular classes (22-26 pupils), and regular-with-aide classes. Small classes ameliorate large schools' effects, reduce grade retention and discipline problems, benefit minority students substantially, allow students…

Enormous funding increases for U.S. public schools have not yielded improvements in student performance. Econometric research shows that neither smaller classes nor graduate teacher training affects performance. Since schools use resources inefficiently, incentives should be linked to performance. Magnet and charter schools and private school…

Provides reasons why class size and school size are important school improvement ideas; highlights findings of selected research on class size and school size; relates personal teaching experience supporting benefits of both small classes and small schools; describes results of a study of an eight-teacher school-within-a-school in Chicago.…

The Improving America's School Act funds numerous small programs that dissipate its purpose and increase its vulnerability. Congress is debating extension of federal roles into areas such as social promotion, parental rights, reading programs, class-size reduction, and national voluntary tests. Changing budget rules pits education against military…

The Minneapolis Public Schools have found that certain improvement strategies make a difference: early intervention, near-perfect attendance, smaller classrooms, quality instruction, expectations of excellence, good health, consistency, increased instructional time, community support, multiple measures, aligned curricula, accountability,…