Testimony in Support of Senate Bill 478
Education-Reporting Requirement—Class Size
| MSTA testimony, Senate Bill 478, February 28, 2007 |
| Diana Saquella, MSTA Government Relations |
| Cheryl Bost, President, Teachers Association of Baltimore County |
Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee
February 28, 2007 1:00 PM
Diana Saquella
Manager of Government Relations
The members of the Maryland State Teachers Association strongly support the provisions of Senate Bill 478, which gives a concrete definition to the term “class size.”
Public policy debates around class size reduction usually confuse two distinctly different concepts: class size and pupil–teacher ratio. The confusion is exacerbated when public information on class size does not accurately reflect “the number of students who regularly appear in a teacher's classroom and for whom she is primarily responsible and accountable” but rather the pupil–teacher ratio.
In his research, which focused on kindergarten through third grade, An Analysis of Pupil–Teacher Ratio and Class Size , Mark Sharp found that: “The difference between average class size in a school building and the pupil–teacher ratio in the same school building for kindergarten through third grade was 9 or 10 students.” He found that in an elementary school where the school-wide pupil–teacher ratio in grades K-3 was 16:1, the average class size in those grades was typically 25 to 26 students.
Teachers have been strong advocates for small classes. They know they can spend time and energy helping each child succeed if the classes are small enough. When qualified teachers teach smaller classes, students learn more. A recent report from the American Educational Research Association confirms that smaller classes can produce lasting gains, particularly for minority and low-income students, and that smaller classes provide the greatest benefit if started early—in kindergarten or first grade.
An evaluation and analysis of Tennessee 's Project STAR revealed the following:
- The benefits of small classes were substantially greater for minority students or students attending inner-city schools.
- The effect of small classes was the same for boys and girls.
- For African American students in small classes vs. African American students in regular-size classes, the benefits were two or three times as large as for white students.
- The effect of small classes extended to student behavior.
The difference between pupil–teacher ratio and class size was cited again when researchers looked at the longitudinal study on class size done in Tennessee . In the evaluation of Project STAR was the admonition not to confuse pupil–teacher ratio with class size. It states what we already know: “Pupil–teacher ratios are aggregate measures commonly determined by comparing the number of students in a school with the number of full-time professional staff at that school. This results in figures that do not represent average class size, which reflects the number of students in a teacher's room all day.”
The research on the benefits of smaller classes is conclusive, and the local school systems clearly understand that. Unfortunately, the way data is collected now does not allow us to see the progress toward reducing class size. We urge you to give a favorable report to Senate Bill 478.
