Class Size Reduction: Lessons Learned from Experience

By: Joan McRobbie, Jeremy D. Finn, Patrick Harman

This Policy Brief starts from the position that class size reduction is not a silver bullet, but rather one approach that has been shown to improve learning, especially in the early grades. It points out that a critical question is not whether class size can make a difference, but how and under what circumstances it does. Success depends on getting the numbers down and on schools' ability to take advantage of the opportunities class size reduction presents.