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Little, if any, increase in pupil achievement can be expected from reducing class size if teachers continue to use the same instructional methods and procedures in the smaller classes that they have used in larger classes (Robinson, p. 82).

Teachers with small classes must not only be trained to be effective in such settings, but they must also be committed to try new skills and procedures.

Robinson, Glen E. “Synthesis of Research on the Effects of Class Size.” EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP (April 1990): 80-90.

The most recent comprehensive review of existing research was completed by Robinson (1990), and used a cluster analysis approach. Studies were “clustered” into categories considered important for class size decisions such as grade levels, subject areas, student characteristics, student achievement, student behavior, and teaching practices. The results of part of Robinson’s analysis appear below.

Effective schools research has extended its research agenda by focusing on an expanded number of variables that are presumed to be related to student achievement. Schools are now perceived as a cultural entity where the complex interplay of multiple variables affect the lives of all who learn and teach in those institutions. As the metaphor for American schools has shifted from an assembly line to that of a caring, learning community, the class size research agenda has also shifted to include such variables as instructional method, teacher morale and stress, teacher work load, student behavior and attitudes, content areas, student characteristics, and grade level. Bennett (1987), in a review of more recent research, found broad agreement among researchers on the following general conclusions:

from access to information toward access to other people.

What do we mean by “social learning”?

e that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning.5

Students in these groups can ask questions to clarify areas of uncertainty or confusion, can improve their grasp of the material by hearing the answers to questions from fellow students, and perhaps most powerfully, can take on the role of teacher to help other group members benefit from their understanding (one of the best ways to learn something is, after all, to teach it to others).

But viewing learning as the process of joining a community of practice reverses this pattern and allows new students to engage in “learning to be” even as they are mastering the content of a field.

apprenticeship