After 14 years of research involving 11,000 students, the massive STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio) project in Tennessee proved conclusively that putting students in small classes in their early years leads to higher achievement throughout their school careers--especially for poor, minority students.

This study placed children who were entering kindergarten in classes of 15 or 25 students. They remained in these classes for four years, but researchers tracked their progress until high school graduation. The results showed that students from the smaller classes were more likely to graduate, to be enrolled in honors classes, to be in the top 10% of their class, and to take the SAT or ACT exams. Furthermore, the black-white gap between students taking these college entrance exams was reduced by 56% for black students who began school in small classes. Regarding academic achievement - the small-class children were four months ahead of standard-size classes at the end of third grade and one year ahead by the end of eighth grade.

A three-year study of nearly 20,000 students in Wisconsin has concluded that first-, second-, and third-graders in 30 public schools with classes of no more than 15 students did significantly better on a standardized test than a group of their peers who were in classes that averaged 20 students. The two groups were from similar socio-economic backgrounds, and class size was the only major difference in their schooling. The effect of smaller classes was particularly pronounced among African American students. (Washington Post, 4-25-00)

How does it make sense to experiment with vouchers when that money could be used to ensure all students get the benefit of small classes early on? Small classes raise achievement, vouchers don't. A study of elementary school students in Milwaukee found that children in small classes made "substantially faster" progress in reading than voucher students. The $25 million Milwaukee spent on vouchers to send a few kids to private school could have lowered the class size for an additional 13,000 public school children. Put another way, Milwaukee's small class program is funded at the same level as the city's voucher program--but it serves 13 times more students and produces better results. [Sandra Feldman, AFT President, in Education Week]

Last year, Ohio taxpayers spent $8.7 million on vouchers, when they could have implemented a proven reading program in all 80 of Cleveland's public elementary schools for just $4 million. [Vouchers vs. Small Class Size, AFT, 1997]

The gains made by placing students in small classes are equal to or greater than those made by voucher programs. Logic dictates that we should use our tax collars to reduce class sizes in our schools, benefiting ALL students, rather than subsidizing private schools.