Smaller classes also give teachers more time to spend on students who need extra help, plan enrichment and remedial activities, or check work during class to provide immediate feedback. While the research evidence on the effects of class size suggests no real effects, the research does show dramatic differences in the performance of teachers. The research confirms some teachers are much better than others and differences in teacher effectiveness completely dwarf any possible differences due to class size variations. Given this, it seems much more productive to channel money toward attracting and retaining particularly effective teachers than toward continuing to pursue a failed policy. Reducing class size in the early gradesparticularly in urban schoolsis a small step, but a real step in this direction.
Small classes have a broad spectrum of benefits.
It would enable teachers to better monitor and assess individual student performance for the purpose of selecting appropriate teaching and learning strategies. Practically speaking, however, building the required additional classrooms and staffing those classrooms from a decreasing pool of certified teachers would make implementation of this degree of class reduction difficult. Class size must not be allowed to be the latest 'silver bullet' that takes up a disproportionate amount of the time and resources needed to improve achievement. Teacher professional development, parental involvement, equitable access to effective instructional technology programs, alternative placement and programs for disruptive students, and clearly defined standards are equally as, if not more, important initiatives to improve student achievement.