Key Takeaway: New Great Lakes Center policy brief exploring the impact of class-size growth in California - the nation's largest state - makes the case for smaller class sizes in supporting educators and students alike.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI (MAY 2, 2025)
- Smaller class sizes are essential for our public school educators to do their jobs and provide every student with the individual attention they need to succeed. Yet the educator-to-student ratio continues to increase nationwide as educators are continually asked to do more with less.
In the Great Lake Center's new policy brief, "California Class Sizes Matter: A Review of Research and Educator Voices," the authors analyze classroom growth trends in California since 1963. Despite the best efforts of some through the decades, California today has the nation's fifth-largest educator-to-student ratio.
In a recent survey of California educators statewide, over 75% of those surveyed said overcrowded classrooms are a serious issue at their school. This is despite widespread support for smaller class sizes and more student supports from parents, educators, community members, and students themselves. Smaller class sizes and adequate student supports give educators and students a greater opportunity for the type of individual and smaller group attention needed for students to succeed, the authors conclude.
Research has found time and again that even small reductions in the number of students in a classroom can make a big difference in educators' ability to provide more individualized attention, facilitate more learning, and increase students' chances of success.
The policy brief includes the voices of the education experts themselves - our teachers - to provide a historical perspective on continued class-size concerns in the Golden State. Each educator included in the brief has an average of more than two decades of teaching experience and has taught in overcrowded classrooms. Importantly, the educators have also taught before and after California's 1996 Class Size Reduction Initiative and throughout the unparalleled classroom challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The policy brief makes a clear case that class size reductions are essential for student learning, social emotional support, and educator stability. Utilizing the best available research and the real-life experiences of California educators, the policy brief demonstrates how and why class sizes matter.
Find "California Class Sizes Matter: A Review of Research and Educator Voices" by the Great Lakes Center at https://www.greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/California-Class-Size-Matters.pdf.
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The mission of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice is to support and disseminate high-quality research and reviews of research for the purpose of informing education policy and to develop research-based resources for use by those who advocate for education reform. Visit the Great Lakes Center website at GreatLakesCenter.org.
