US Students Need Better Schools, Not Smaller Classes
Class-size reduction mandates are popular with politicians and teachers’ unions, but they won’t help the students who need it most.
Still playing catch-up.
Photographer: Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group
As America’s students begin the new school year, they’re facing historic learning deficits. Elected officials have failed to confront the crisis and help students make up lost ground. Instead, many have been turning to a policy that will aid their re-election efforts without helping kids: mandating smaller classes.
Class-size mandates are a favorite policy of the teachers’ unions, not least because they often require districts to hire more unionized teachers. They also prevent layoffs at schools where enrollment is falling. Smaller classes would be worth the enormous new expenditures on staff and facilities if they produced the results that supporters tout — but, as experience and data show, they don’t.