Estimating the Cost of National Class Size Reductions under Different Policy Alternatives

Small Classes in the Early Grades: One Policy, Multiple Outcomes

“…Alternatives included the degree of class size reduction (20, 18, or 15 students), the grades involved, and whether all students would be part of the program or just "targeted" students. Using data from several national databases, Brewer et al (1999) modeled possible CSR programs in grades 1-3 for school years 1998/1999 through 2007/2008. At the high end, they estimated the cost of reducing class size to 15 for all students in grades 1-3 in the U. S. would be $11 billion.…”

Estimating the Direct and Indirect Effects of Major Education Reforms

“…58 The state's cost expectations are available for the first few years only, and those values are on the low side since only a few grades were affected; for instance, the budgeted cost in the first year was $971 million. According to Brewer et al (1999), actual costs in 1997-98 were $1.5 billion, but those include one-time funding of $300 million for facilities. 59 Here we only focus on the permanent costs of the reform to the government, and not the temporary costs of helping schools make the transition to smaller classes.…”

The Compensatory Relationship between Technological Relatedness, Social Interaction, and Knowledge Flow between Firms

“…An abundance of research exists in the literature on student–teacher interaction within a classroom context (Brophy and Good, ; Brophy, ). The role of class size in student learning is one of the most studied issues, and it has substantial implications for public policy (Brewer et al ., ; Parrish and Brewer, ). Meta‐analyses of well‐designed large‐sample empirical studies have concluded that smaller class size generally leads to improved learning outcomes (Glass et al ., ).…”