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true or false: Smaller classes improve student achievement.Most independent school administrators, teachers, parents, and even students probably would choose “true,” but for Kristin Klopfenstein, executive director of the Education Innovation Institute (EII) at the University of Northern Colorado, the correct response is more nuanced.

“The answer,” she says, “is that class size matters sometimes and under specific conditions and for specific teachers and students.”

Independent schools have traditionally embraced small class sizes as part of their mission, philosophy, and culture, but to Klopfenstein—an economist as well as an educator—new economic realities require looking at the issue from a cost-benefit perspective. “Decreasing class

Do SMALL CLASSES, a long-standing t!adition at independent schools, deliver on their promise?

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TOFAIL?

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by Donna DavisILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRY CAMPBELL

NET ASSETS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 201216

size is one of the most expensive interventions that there is in education.”

The recession of 2008 and the housing bubble collapse, followed by a weak economic recovery, have combined with a half-century of tuition increases that have outstripped CPI, and four years of falling median incomes to spark a new—and sometimes shrill—conversation about the real or perceived advantages of small class sizes. Now, some independent schools are looking at alternatives that promote both student success and financial sustainability.

On one side, the small-class size proponents argue that fewer students means more indi-vidualized attention from the teacher, who can spend more time building relationships with students because of the relatively lighter workload. Those advantages translate to higher grades and achievement. Smaller class sizes also offer a powerful marketing tool, one that dates back to the 1950s and 1960s when public and parochial school classes of 30 or more students weren’t uncommon. (Some early 20th-century educators investigated the impact of class size on student success, but as the birth rate declined in the ‘20s and ‘30s, interest fell as well. Class size research revived, however, as the first Baby Boomers reached school age and public school districts struggled financially to accommodate them, according to Jonah Rockoff, Columbia Business School Associate Professor of Business and Economics.)

On the other side of the debate stand the researchers and educators who say that small class sizes are fine for schools that can afford them, but for most schools they are funded by higher-than-inflation tuitions increases—a model that will eventually put the price of an independent school education out of the reach of all but the wealthiest families.

Smaller class sizes also limit teacher pay and drive poten-tially excellent teachers into careers that are more lucrative, supporters of larger classes say. They point to research that shows excellent teachers trump smaller class sizes, no matter the student’s grade or socioeconomic situation—plus, the additional revenue can translate into higher salaries needed to attract and keep great teachers.

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) says independent schools need to look at a model in which the ideal class size is 20 to 22 students, taught by one teacher. Many successful schools already follow that model, accord-ing to NAIS’ own research. And, NAIS notes, independent schools still have a marketing edge, since budget cuts have edged public school class sizes toward an average of 25 students, compared with the current 15 to 22 range for

independent schools. An NBOA survey on class size found that the 54 schools responding had an average of 17 students per class, within a range of nine to 26.

Backers of larger class sizes also include U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In an interview with MSNBC last year, Duncan called on public school districts to rethink class size. “We spent billions of dollars to reduce class size,” he said. “As a parent, we all love small class size. But the best thing you can do is get children in front of an extraordinary teacher. Other countries have higher class sizes but extraordinary talent in those rooms.” He includes Japan, with an average of 33 students per class, and South Korea, with an average of 36 students, among those higher achievers.

The ResearchTo date, there has been no significant study that looks exclu-sively at private schools and class size. The most important research has been done in the public sphere.

“Decreasing class size is one of the most expensive interventions in education.”

NET ASSETS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 201218

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Small-class proponents often cite two key studies, beginning with the 1985-89 class-size experiment known as Project STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio). STAR researchers looked at nearly 7,000 students in 79 public schools and found that reducing class sizes in grades K-3 increased student achievement, with “small” defined as 13 to 16 pupils and “regular” as 22 to 26 students, with and without a teacher aide. Follow-up studies showed that the improved achievement carried over into later grades, with minority students showing the greatest gains.

In 1996, Wisconsin’s SAGE (Student Achievement Guar-antee in Education) project began. The statewide initiative targeted about 5,000 students in 30 low-income or poverty-level public schools, reducing class sizes to a maximum of 15. The project also included a uniform, rigorous curriculum and professional development for teachers. Low-income and poverty-level students who attended smaller classes in grades K-3 benefited most, and like STAR, so did minority students. As in the STAR study, teachers also reported spending more time one-on-one with students and providing more differentiated instruction.

Other public schools followed with their own projects—the largest beginning in the mid-1990s in California with the Class Size Reduction Program (CSRP). In 2002, an outside group formed to analyze the $1 billion-a-year-plus program reported that the “relationship of CSR (class size reduction) to student achievement was inconclusive.”

Other education researchers—as researchers are wont to do—set out to challenge the findings on class size, looking at both pedagogy and economics. In one oft-cited paper (‘Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement,” 2005), researchers Steven G. Rivkin, Eric Hanushek, and John Kain looked at academic data for 500,000-plus public school students and reported that “teachers have powerful effects on reading and mathematics achievement.” In fact, “the effects of a costly ten-student reduction in class size are smaller than the benefit of moving one standard deviation up the teacher quality distribution.”

In a 2011 study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard researchers Will Dobbie and Roland Freyer looked at 35 New York City charter schools and discovered that traditional factors such as class size had little impact

on student success. Instead, they found frequent teacher feedback, high-dosage tutoring, increased time in class, high expectations, and using data such as interim student assessment to inform accounted for about 50 percent of the variation in school effectiveness.

Other public-school studies done on statewide CSR in Connecticut (Caroline Hoxby, 2000) and Florida achievement (Russ Whitehurst and Matthew Chingos, 2011) found no evidence that smaller class sizes led to higher student achievement.

One problem, says Dan Goldhaber, Director of the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington Bothell, occurs when educators try to translate a small-scale experiment like STAR to a larger pool of students. The CSRP’s “marginal results” are an example of huge expense for little gain, he says.

“All things being equal, small classes are probably better, especially for younger, disadvantaged, or lower achieving students,” says Goldhaber. Studies like the seminal STAR report may have been one of the first to show the benefits of reducing class sizes, but Goldhaber, like Klopfenstein, notes that those benefits affected only certain groups, and occurred only when class sizes were reduced drastically (from 24 to 16). Moreover, some of the positive effects diminished over time.

Larger classes let students “cluster” into smaller groups, creating more intimacy.

NET ASSETS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 201220

Variables such as teacher effectiveness and cost also tilt the balance, Goldhaber says.

“The impact of smaller class sizes is swamped by the quality of instruction,” says Goldhaber. “If schools are thinking about ways to make an investment in the classroom and how to go about spending money, higher quality teaching will bring you bigger bang for the buck.” He notes that the one standard deviation change (or a move from the 32nd to the 68th percentile in teacher quality measured in terms of student achievement) reported in the Rivkin study is equivalent to lowering class size to between 11 and 13 students.

Online PerspectiveOnline education experts have concluded that class size does matter, but the size of the class may be a different matter.

For his recently completed doctoral dissertation, education consultant Jeff Borden studied 9,855 community college students taking online classes. Borden, Chief Academ-ic Officer at Pearson eCollege, found that students in classes of 26 to 35 were the most successful in terms of completing the course and passing with at least a C or 70 percent. Students in the smallest online courses, 15 or fewer students, fared the worst—with a completion rate of 83 percent and passing rate of 81 percent, compared to 85 percent for both in the larger class.

“If schools are thinking about ways to make an think beyond class size. Higher quality teaching

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Borden speculates that the larger group allowed students to “cluster” into smaller groups of seven to eight students who supported one another.

Now he notices the same effect in the online communica-tions classes he teaches at Chaminade University, which typically enroll 27 to 30 students. “If you had asked me before the study, I would have said the exact opposite, as most teachers do, that yes, smaller class sizes get better results. It’s a gut response.”

At Global Online Academy (GOA), a consortium of 28 independent high schools, the ideal class size is 18 with a single teacher—one student more than the NBOA survey average. Director Michael Nachbar says that size works because “it creates the opportunity for individually directed

learning and more contact with the teacher. It can even motivate students to try their best when they know the teacher is listening and interested in what they are saying.” Knowing the teacher and having the teacher know the student is a “critical component of a successful classroom, whether online or in person.”

Staying the CourseAt Oakhill Day School in Gladstone, Missouri, increasing class size isn’t up for discussion. “We lose the validity of our mission and who we are and want to be,” says Head of School Suzanne McCanles. “Increased numbers per class cause more management and less potential relationship.”

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Twelve to 16 students provide the ideal classroom environment for collaboration, varied teaching styles, and appreciation for differences. For that reason, more than 18 students and fewer than nine would be outside the scope of Oakhill’s mission.

McCanles says her college thesis showed that high-quality teachers can teach larger classes with success and save the school money, but she notes that she is also a teacher. “I know there is a huge difference in how I can teach 12, 18, or 30 children. Great teachers find a way to succeed (according to test scores), but there is so much more to education, which a small class size contributes to.”

Headmaster Tony Jeffrey of Providence Christian School of Texas values small classes for increasing student participa-tion, intellectual curiosity, self-confidence. He adds that small classes allow teachers more opportunity to mentor parents. They have more time to “provide feedback and instruction in character and habit development critical to their children’s full academic development. It’s a luxury, but it creates a group of very engaged students and much better informed parents.”

Carol Lerner’s school is getting bigger, but the class sizes are staying the same by design.

“We have been tailoring our classrooms and our teaching for the school size model,” says Lerner, Business Manager at The Philadelphia School.

The school added 12 kindergarten students in 2009, growing from 380 to 450 in five years. The goal is to keep the ratio at 12:1 overall. “The school’s strategic plan determined the ideal size for the school and for what we wanted to teach, preschool through eighth, and the administrative size to accommodate the high demand in the area,” Lerner says.

The “bubble years” of enduring until school reaches capaci-ty have strained the budget. In addition to land purchases and new buildings, the school has also hired a facilities manager and human resources manager and upgraded technology. Tuition also increased four percent, and some expense paring, along with purchasing advice from PAISBOA and a mild winter, helped keep costs in line.

“When we get to 450 the budget will be in a better place,” Lerner says.

McCanles and Jeffrey also say judicious budgeting and strategic planning around tuition increases, hiring, and purchasing have allowed them to keep class sizes small. Keeping that model financially sustainable involves looking at varied budget scenarios and financial models that account for capacity, projected class size, salaries, and other factors, McCanles says.

Providence Christian stays “financially sound by being out of debt and not spending more than we take in. Our commitment to salaries and small classes is at the top of our list and we cut other line items to maintain the level of quality,” Jeffrey says.

Getting BiggerTwo NBOA schools have already made the transition to larger classes. Adda Clevenger Junior Preparatory and Theater School for Children decided three years ago to begin growing its classes from 15 to 20, with 24 students set as the maximum class size. In the San Francisco K-8 school’s case, “financial sustainability was the very practical driver. We were at the point that if we wanted to keep having tiny classes, we needed to double tuition and add another building,” says Director Benjamin Harrison.

The recession forced the school to look for ways to become more efficient. “The only practical alternative was to find a way to teach the students we have with the teachers we can afford in the building that we occupy.”

But Harrison also points out that the school made the change for educational reasons as well. “If there was a slam-dunk case showing a direct causal—not correlative—association between class size and student achievement, there would be no discussion, but that evidence isn’t there. Anytime anyone does a study, it’s usually looking at public schools, urban areas and certain ages.”

For Harrison, the main “practical advantage” of smaller classes is a lighter workload for teachers, but at Adda Clevenger School, teachers have made the adjustment. The key, he says, is changing the attitude that views the teacher as surrogate parents, “since no one can effectively parent 20 or 30 children,” to one that sees the teacher as a guide. “That idea is as old as Socrates, and there is no necessary connection to class size.”

But he also looks at the other side of class size. “We can do amazing things when we have 20 students that we can’t do with three or five—things like group projects, leveraging students’ competitive spirits, and mentoring.”

Buckingham Brown & Nichols, a preK-12 day school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, implemented larger classes starting in the 2007-8 school year as part of the school’s financially sustainable model.

Administrators looked at the factors that were driving down the school’s bottom line. “The one that popped out quite quickly was student-teacher ratios,” says Assistant Head

“Financial sustainability was the ve!" p!actical driver. We were at the point that if we

wanted to keep having tiny classes,

we needed to double tuition and add

another building.”

NET ASSETS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 201224

The University of Oregon’s Teaching E!ectiveness Program (TEP), the Science

Education Resource Center at Carleton College, and other higher education teaching centers o!er tips for making large class environ-ments more intimate. While no independent school teacher will face a lecture class of 400 students, these ideas can still apply:

* Use students’ names often.

* Make frequent eye contact with students. Move around the room. Use props or other “live” methods to illustrate concepts. (One profes-sor has students “dance” to demon-strate longitudinal wave motion.)

* Use technology and group work creatively. Intersperse explanation with activities such as a quick online quiz or research activity.

* Make a connection with personal stories related to the subject. (“When I visited Gettysburg as a child, the thing that most impressed me was…”)

* Establish an open-door policy. Post o"ce hours and be there when they come by. Invite students to email their questions or ideas.

* Engage students. Don’t end

a class with the standard “Any questions?” Instead, ask Manny in the back row to come up with a question for you.

Two online teaching experts also have some ideas for creating intimacy and immediacy that they have incorporated into their classes. These can transfer to the bricks-and-mortar classroom as well.

Je! Borden, Chief Academic O"cer at Pearson eCollege, educa-tion consultant, and Professor of Communications at Chaminade University, counts facilitating immediacy in the online classroom as a major part of his “day job.”

He encourages online teachers to use technology to build connec-tions, a strategy that can work for teachers who use websites, online lectures, or other technology in their traditional classrooms.

“Teachers roll their eyes when I tell them to post photos of themselves, but it allows students to know what their instructor looks like,” he says. Teachers can go a step further and post videos or photos of their work or projects. “That establishes context and non-verbal closeness.”

Verbal immediacy comes from personal narrative. Borden often tells his students about his dog. “It’s an arbitrary connection, but we tend to learn best from people we are like.”

Michael Nachbar, Director of Global Online Academy, says independent school teachers are ahead on understanding the need for immediacy in the classroom.

“One thing that makes them stand out is they know all their students and they want to know more about them,” he says. In post-class surveys, 93 percent of Global Online Academy students have said they felt their teachers knew them and that they knew their teachers. “Those are critical components, online or in person,” Nachbar says.

Now, those Global Online Academy teachers continue foster-ing relationships using some of the techniques they have learning from online teaching.

“Their online teaching has them rethinking their role in their on- the-ground classes,” Nachbar says.

One change includes changing the types of assignments students receive to work that requires collaboration in and out of the classroom. “They say it has improved their teaching.”

That transition can require technology, but not necessarily. “These aren’t teachers who are looking for technology, but they are teaching this way online and they infuse some of that into their regular classroom.”

CREATING INTIMACY

Schools that increase class sizes don’t need to sacrifice intimacy and immediacy. Experts say schools can retain the individualized attention and close teacher-student relationships that make smaller classes so popular by incorporating a few communications strategies.

NET ASSETS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 201226

of School for Operations/CFO Thom Greenlaw. A trustee-led task force examined the research and NAIS

statistics and concluded that the school could increase class size without sacrificing educational quality. “We felt that gave us license to explore larger class sizes, and we were astounded by the positive effect on the bottom line.” Raising the student teacher ratio from 7:1 to 8:1 would save 10 percent a year.

“You can’t go from 10 to 20, but you can go from 10 to 12 or 13, and the evidence supports that the results may be even better,” Greenlaw says.

Having the Conversation Check any independent school website’s “About Us,” “Why Choose Us,” or “Our Difference” tabs, and one of the first bul-let points likely touts “Small class sizes.” In the NBOA survey, two-thirds of the 54 schools responding said small class sizes are an important part of their mission and teaching philosophy.

“We’re now the victims of our very effective marketing of small classes, because parents believe that small classes mean more individual attention for their child, when, in fact, there’s little evidence that it does, because most teachers teach the

say way if they have ten students or 25 in their classrooms,” NAIS President Patrick F. Bassett says.

Changing that attitude means schools must market outcomes, potentially surveying alumni and getting parent-student permission to evaluate transcripts to do so. These outcomes can then be analyzed through the lens of class size. “Did students in your smaller classes do better than those in your larger classes, or not?” asks Bassett.

Another issue is finding the great teachers who can succeed in a larger class. Investing in recruitment and selection tools can help—better starting salaries to attract more applicants, improved pre-hiring evaluation such as requiring potential hires to teach a sample lesson, and increased human resources staffing to follow up letters of recommendation and evaluate teacher performance, Goldhaber says. Hanushek, in a 2009 study, promotes teacher “deselection”: firing ineffective teachers who are hindering student progress.

“It’s really the cost-benefit tradeoff that’s driving the conversation,” says Klopfenstein. “You can get just as big an effect or a bigger effect doing other things as from reducing class size. Klopfenstein thinks there will be a breaking point and it’s coming soon. “School budgets are getting cut and class sizes are increasing whether people like it or not.”

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WWW.NBOA.NET 27

Co!ns Education Ctr., “How Smaller Class Sizes A"ect Student Achievement”: www.co!nseducationcenter.com

Will Dobbie and Roland Fryer, “Getting Beneath the Veil of E"ective Schools”: nber.org

Class Size Research Consortium: www.classize.org

Eric Hanushek, “Creating a New Teaching Profession”: hanushek.stanford.edu

“Extending the Reach of Excellent Teachers”: opportunityculture.org

Alan Krueger, “Economic Considerations and Class Size”: www.classsizematters.org

Jonah Rocko", “Field Experiments in Class Size from the Early 20th Cent.”: www.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jrocko"

Class Size Matters: www.classsizematters.org

Caroline Hoxby, “The E"ects of Class Size on Student Achievement”: http://qje.oxfordjournals.org

Russ Whitehurst and Matthew Chingos, “Class Size: What Research Says and What it Means for State Policy”: www.brookings.edu

SAGE report, National Education Policy Center: nepc.colorado.edu

STAR report: www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications

for full links, email netassets@nboa.net

FURTHER READING

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