Special Report
Federal Opinion

President Obama: Time for a Federal Small-Class Program

By Herbert J. Gans — April 27, 2009 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Although the education portions of President Barack Obama’s economic-stimulus package are aimed first at preventing layoffs in existing programs, eventually the time should be ripe for ambitious long-term projects. One, perhaps the first, ought to support the reduction of class size in every nursery school, kindergarten, and elementary school in the country. Enough evidence now exists to persuade political decisionmakers that small classes help improve teacher and student performance. Currently more important, reducing almost every class to 20 and eventually to 15 students would create many jobs for new teachers, as well as for classroom construction or reconstruction.

Hiring the new teachers and building the classrooms will be as expensive as they are labor-intensive. Both will take many years, and will have to progress in stages, the speed depending on both the availability of federal funds and the political and economic need to create new jobs.

But the program ought to begin in the poorest school districts with the largest classes, where class-size reduction is most needed and will be most effective. If and when the money is available, class size should then be reduced in the many middle-class communities that cannot afford to do so without federal help.

Perhaps small classes would even help raise school performance in middle and high schools, although so far the research on the subject remains ambiguous. Not all classes need to be small, but the more individualized attention possible in small classes must benefit older students as much as younger ones. If that attention can improve teaching and learning in the higher grades, smaller classes could be extremely helpful in readying the country’s economy for the heightened global competition to come.

Even if limited to lower-level schools, the small-class project would supply some necessary political rewards. It would send federal funds to all congressional districts, reducing the pressure on elected officials to pursue appropriations earmarks. Moreover, small classes would better equalize the schools than the Bush administration’s failed attempt to leave no child behind.

In addition, the program might go a long way toward ending some current educational conflicts that spill over into politics. When all public school classes are small, the present differences between traditional and progressive education will be less relevant. Rote learning and other shortcuts required by teaching to the test could be terminated, while charter schools and voucher schemes might lose much of their present political glamour.

Whatever reduced class sizes would do for students, the teaching profession might reap the greatest benefits.

First, small classes should increase the satisfaction from and the attractiveness of the profession, and thus also attract talented young people who now head for other careers. Indeed, they may be talented enough to put an end to the illusory search for superhuman teachers who can make educational miracles happen even in large classes. Such teachers exist mainly in the movies.

Second, the teaching jobs would replace some of the many manufacturing, investment-banking, and other jobs now being lost and unlikely to be needed in the economy of the future. Third, sensitive recruiting should attract more teachers from low- and moderate-income backgrounds, who may be better able to help children who lag behind their peers or act out in class.

Private schools may be unhappy about losing their virtual monopoly on small classes and extra attention, but they could still offer status and status symbols that are off-limits in public education. Instead, the public schools could try once more to pursue their founders’ objectives: encouraging more equality and advancing democracy.

A version of this article appeared in the April 29, 2009 edition of Education Week as President Obama:Time for a Federal Small-Class Program

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Well-Being Webinar
Attend to the Whole Child: Non-Academic Factors within MTSS
Learn strategies for proactively identifying and addressing non-academic barriers to student success within an MTSS framework.
Content provided by Renaissance
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum How to Teach Digital & Media Literacy in the Age of AI
Join this free event to dig into crucial questions about how to help students build a foundation of digital literacy.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Kamala Harris Rallies Teachers: 'God Knows We Don't Pay You Enough'
Harris called for student loan forgiveness and union member protections in her speech at the American Federation of Teachers' convention.
4 min read
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the American Federation of Teachers at their annual conference in Houston on July 25, 2024.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the American Federation of Teachers at their convention in Houston on July 25, 2024. Harris spoke to the nation's second largest teachers' union just days after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid and the vice president appeared to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.
Annie Mulligan for Education Week
Federal What Works Clearinghouse: Inside 20 Years of Education Evaluation
After two decades of the What Works Clearinghouse, research experts look to the future.
4 min read
Blue concept image of research - promo
iStock/Getty
Federal One of Kamala Harris' First Campaign Speeches Will Be to Teachers
Vice President Kamala Harris will speak to the nation's second-largest teachers' union at its convention in Houston.
1 min read
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns for President as the presumptive Democratic candidate during an event at West Allis Central High School, Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in West Allis, Wis.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns during an event at West Allis Central High School in West Allis, Wis., on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Harris will speak at the American Federation of Teachers convention on Thursday, July 25.
Kayla Wolf/AP
Federal AFT's Randi Weingarten on Kamala Harris: 'She Has a Record of Fighting for Us'
The union head's call to support Kamala Harris is one sign of Democratic support coalescing around the vice president.
5 min read
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks at the organization's annual conference in Houston on July 22, 2024.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks at the organization's biennial conference in Houston on July 22, 2024. She called on union members to support Vice President Kamala Harris the day after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign.
via AFT Livestream