I don't understand the research that says that class size does NOT make a difference. How is that possible? If there are 30+ kids in a class no way is the teacher going to have a chance to get around to everyone who needs one-on-one attention.
The district is using this research as an excuse to raise class sizes. Meanwhile the teachers are saying that it may be better to not accelerate DS and put him into a zoo like that. So obviously the teachers think small class sizes help. Why doesn't the research show it?
Class size reduction used to be a HOT topic in my district when my kids were in early elementary. What I understand about this research is that AVERAGE kids do just as well in a class of 20 or 30. It is the gifted/bright, the kids with LD's, the slow learners that lose out when we change class sizes. Basically if all your learners can work well enough at the same pace and are reasonably compliant class size makes little difference. But a teacher of 30 kids has less time to deal with kids that need differentiation.
