The Tennessee STAR study found that smaller classes helped disadvantaged students, many of whom were African-American, more than most. Black students in the larger first-grade classes scored 14 percent below whites on a key reading test, but the gap narrowed to 4 percent in the smaller classes. Finally, the class benefits of smaller class size, even in these groups, have no effect if those same children are given poor teachers or a substandard curriculum. But the study has been widely criticized for failing to reproduce the kinds of effects that one would expect in order to replicate the program nationwide. STAR fails to demonstrate long term effects.
Additional data suggest similar problems with class size proposals.
The 1999 Pennsylvania State University study done by Suetling Pong concluded that the effect of class size on achievement is very small. It compared ten industrialized nations other than the U.S. and found that students in Australia, Flemish Belgium and France did significantly better in larger math classes. Class size had no effect on students in Canada, Germany, Iceland, South Korea and Singapore. And students in Japan, who consistently outscore U.S. students in math and science, frequently attend math classes of 40 or more students. The Solution is in the Research Numerous studies have been conducted trying to assess the effectiveness of class size reduction.