Does Size Matter?

Abstract

CANADIANS have reached consensus on two issues. Our weather should be better, and sizes should be smaller. Everyone takes comfort in restating obvious, it seems, and neither topic goes away for long. Class size isn't exactly a new-millennium issue. 1960 Chant Royal Commission on Education in British Columbia reported that the size of public school classes and pupil/teacher ratios were referred to in a number of briefs [that] invariably supported view that sizes should be However, in absence of absolute criteria upon which to judge an ideal ... ratio, a skeptical commission merely urged additional research into effects of size on student achievement. The Commission has no reason to assume that money is better spent for smaller classes than for better teachers. In fact, it would support opposite policy. (1) In 1960, it seems, it was still possible for commissions and politicians to ignore public opinion and pressures of so-called special interest groups. Perhaps commissioners were precocious advocates of evidence-based decision-making, although they probably called it sticking to facts. Fast-forward 40-odd years. Despite gradual declines in sizes stretching over at least two decades, smaller classes are still seen as solution to many problems, from declining graduation rates and teacher burnout to poor academic performance. In five consecutive public opinion polls conducted for Canadian Teachers' Federation between 1997 and 2004, class size reduction topped list of public's priorities. In 2004, more than 76% of those surveyed believed that sizes were too large. (2) Teachers couldn't agree more. A 2005 survey conducted for Ontario College of Teachers found that nine of 10 teachers and administrators believe that reducing sizes would have greatest impact on improving student achievement. (3) Thirty-two percent of profession identified large size as greatest problem confronting Ontario's schools, although some details are worth noting. Teachers 34 years of age or younger were more likely (at 43%) than teachers with 30 or more years of experience (at 17%) to identify large size as their greatest concern. Still, teachers registered more concern than principals, of whom only 13% named size as greatest problem facing Ontario schools. Teachers' organizations in every province have been lobbying intensely for reduced sizes, often expanding concept to include class composition, a phrase that recognizes that number of students in classroom isn't only variable in play. In British Columbia, where right to bargain sizes based in part on composition was stripped from teachers in 1999, lack of a government commitment to reduce size remains a stumbling block that may yet lead to a strike vote. (4) In May 2005, 30,000 Quebec teachers marched on legislature and threatened to strike unless sizes in both elementary and secondary schools were reduced. Alberta teachers would appear to be in best position to make a case for smaller sizes, since they work in province distinguished both by overflowing budget surpluses and overflowing classrooms. While Alberta government boasts that sizes are close to or below provincial targets, Alberta Teachers' Association counters that reporting only average hides fact that in 2003-04, 81% of K-3 classes exceeded provincial target of 17 students, and 62% of classes in grades 4 to 6 exceeded target of 23 students. In same year, there were 37 senior high school classes that enrolled more than 40 students. (5) A poll in which 90% of Albertans agreed that class size makes a big difference in quality of education helped push province to promise to hire 2,200 new teachers. …