Outcomes of the Orchard Plan, an experiment designed to reorganize funding to support new models of instructional delivery, are described in this report. Basic elements of the program include an extended school calendar; a reorganization of categorical funding into intersession enrichment courses for at-risk students; a reduction in class size…

Containing 13 essays selected from teachers at many levels and from specialists in various branches of the English profession, this journal issue provides English teachers with the opportunity to answer the many charges currently being levelled at education. The opening article highlights the issues raised by the report of the National Commission…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of reducing the size of first grade classes on students' achievement. Four groups of first grade students who had participated in Indiana's Project PRIME TIME (average class size of l8 or fewer) for 1 year were compared to one class of first grade students who had received first grade…

Reducing class size is an important step in promoting effective learning, but reducing a class from 35 to 15 students alone will not produce the desired results if faculty do not alter their teaching styles. Students must be empowered through teaching techniques that utilize writing, recitation, reaction papers, case studies, peer group pressure,…

An evaluation of the Boston Workplace Education Collaborative (BWEC) was conducted during 1989. The BWEC is a partnership among Roxbury Community College, the Boston Private Industry Council, and the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) of Massachusetts to provide workplace literacy educational opportunities…

Reported are the findings of a legislatively mandated study on reducing certain class sizes of grades kindergarten through three to an optimum pupil-teacher ratio for Minnesota's schools. This report, after defining terms, briefly surveys variables affected by class size, such as teaching processes and classroom climate. Research is subsequently…

Staff of the Tennessee State University Class Size Project investigated effects of a 1:15 teacher/pupil ratio on first grade students' reading and mathematics achievement, behavior, attendance, and self concept. Participants were first grade pupils attending metropolitan Nashville public schools, who were assigned to an experimental group of seven…

A study of effective English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teaching in large classes is presented. The small body of literature on class size and student achievement is reviewed, the "large section" approach is described. The approach is evaluated with data on student performance in an ESL program offered at Montgomery College, (Maryland).…

The management of course registration by Wirral Education Authority in England is discussed, along with the relationship of course size and student retention. After providing background information on the control of course size, standards set by Wirral are specified. Data on initial registrations and attendance levels as measured three or four…

A study in 18 schools in the Alum Rock (California) Union Elementary School District investigated the educational effects of differential distribution of compensatory resources and services to educationally disadvantaged pupils. The study focused on the relative effects on reading skills of two methods for resource targeting: (1) concentration, or…

While the desirability of small classes seems an article of faith among educators, a review of the research indicates that class size in itself has rarely shown a substantial effect on educational achievement. The research itself has been flawed by the impossibility of determining or measuring all the variables that changes in class size can…

Under Alabama law, the State Department of Revenues maintains a trust fund from which all allocations to state educational institutions are made. In the event of a shortfall in the trust fund, the governor is required to prorate payments to educational institutions by the percentage of that shortfall. Since 1938, proration of the funds for public…

Using data collected in 1977-78, the Evaluation System has computed fall and spring mathematics scores on the Prescriptive Mathematics Test (PMT) for classes of students in grades one through six. In addition, relationships of performance on the PMT to class size, attendance, percent of males in the class, number of different test levels used in a…

To test the effects of altering situational variables in stressful examinations on high test anxious and low test anxious undergraduates, mid-terms and final examinations were administered in two environmental settings: large lecture halls and small language laboratories. Mean test scores for high test anxious students in the language labs were…

This paper defines concepts relating to institutional-productivity-models, lists components of a productivity-policy-model, and discusses several models. An institutional-productivitv-policy-model is a manipulative representation of the productivity of an institution or part of an institution. Components of an…