When we talk about cost-effectiveness of class size, what are we talking about?  Dylan Wil.i.am, who does research on British school children, says that reducing class size is expensive. But what are the positive outcomes we would expect from reduced class size?
   
  I keep thinking about a big study that Public/Private Ventures did with youth. They found that youth who met with mentors once a week for a year did not improve academically. However, "eighteen months later, [the youth]... had reduced first-time drug use by almost half and first-time alcohol use by a third, had cut school absenteeism by half, improved parental and peer relationships, and gave the youth confidence in doing their school work."
   
  I know that chidlren are different from adults, but I think there is something to be learned from that research. 
   
  If we were to evaluate the impact of class size on adult literacy students, we would want to look at basic skills improvement, of course. But I wonder if students in smaller classes or students who get some small group or one-on-one attention benefit in other ways. Do they stay enrolled longer? Have better attendance rates? Access other services such as counseling more frequently? Change their attitudes about educational institutions? Get more involved in their communities? Etc.... 
   
  From Bruce Carmel
   
  Quote retrieved from PPV web site February 26, 2008:
  http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/publications_description.asp?search_id=7&publication_id=111




       
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