This report presents a comprehensive preliminary analysis of how California's Class Size Reduction (CSR) initiative has impacted student achievement during the first 2 years of implementation. The analysis is based on complete student, classroom, and teacher records from 26,126 students in 1,174 classrooms from 83 schools in 8 Southern California…

Develops a political economy framework for mapping and interpreting the competing purposes of schooling by examining five paradoxes in national policy debates addressing class size in public elementary schools. The framework highlights answers to the question: What kind of an economic good is education? (education as a service industry, producer…

Competing explanations of class size reduction effects on student academic achievement were tested using student, teacher, and school data collected from nearly 700 classrooms in over 70 schools during the first 3 years of implementation of California's (K-3) Class Size Reduction Program. Five major hypotheses were tested: (1) overall impact of…

This paper examines the social, political, and economic factors that influenced the adoption and diffusion of early-elementary school class-size-reduction policies at the state level. It applies a neo-institutional framework to explain the rapid spread of class-size reduction policies throughout many state legislatures and boards of education. It…

This report reviews data generated during the first 3 years of California's Class Size Reduction (CSR) implementation. It focuses on a subpopulation of students who have had anywhere from zero to 3 years of reduced class-size experience, beginning in the first, second, or third grades, with some having returned to large classes in the fourth…

This report, by reviewing the contents of specific state statutes and regulations, extends the discussion of actions by state legislatures and education agencies to reduce class size. Data are drawn from primary sources and from email or telephone interviews with state department of education officials. Following the design used in the original…