Friday, February 5, 2021

Mitt Romney, time to educate yourself on class size!


President Biden’s Covid relief program includes $60 billion to prevent teacher layoffs and close budget gaps, and $50 billion to implement smaller classes, exactly what kids will need after the various losses and deprivations they’ve suffered over the last year. 

Yet during the Senate hearings for Education Secretary designee Miguel Cardona, Mitt Romney took his allotted time to attack the entire goal of lowering class size.  As the Salt Lake Tribune noted, he “did not mention state he now represents. Utah has the largest average elementary school class sizes in the country & has for years. Some studies have shown a correlation between class size and learning, particularly among younger students.

In some Utah schools, in an ordinary year, class sizes can be as large as forty kids per class.

Nor did Romney mention the fact that he attended the elite Cranbrook Academy in Michigan , which has average class sizes of 14 , or that he sent his sons to Belmont Hill School in Massachusetts, with average class sizes of 12.

Instead, in his comments, he referred to a  McKinsey study from 2007  that pointed out that some high-performing nations like South Korea and Singapore have large classes.  But these sorts of studies, including those from the OECD, too often omit two key factors:

Families in these nations spend a huge amount  of their annual income on private tutoring programs. In 2010, South Korean families spent 10.7%  of average household income on private tutoring, and amount has risen since then. South Korean students spend so much time in these private evening programs that they take pillows to help them sleep at their desks.  Moreover, many of these nations like South Korea are making an effort to lower the class size in their schools.

There are several other Mckinsey reports that cite the value of smaller classes.   See this 2010 McKinsey report which points out that “Research suggests, for example, that poor children who enter school behind their more affluent counterparts benefit from smaller class sizes that help them catch up.”  

Or this 2012 report:  “Students often better understand and apply concepts in discussion with peer classmates. Traditional classroom environments often do not allow this, especially with large class sizes or when students live far from one another.”

In his comments, Romney claimed that there was no relationship between students’ class size and their Naep scores.  To the contrary, several peer-reviewed stuies show that smaller classes are correlated with higher NAEP scores after controlling for student background.  Here is a selection: 

 Many other studies demonstrate the benefits of smaller classes, particularly among disadvantaged students, showing their positive impact on state test scores, graduation rates, disciplinary issues,  the likelihood of attending college and even graduating with a STEM degree.  Nearly all these effects are twice as high for low-income students and students of color, showing how class size is a key driver of equity.

In 2012, Romney got in trouble for expressing the same erroneous views during his Presidential campaign. He should be praised for being one of the few Republican officials to call out  the lies of Donald Trump.  Isn’t it time that you stopped spreading misinformation and educate yourself on class size, Mitt?  

5 comments:

Beth said...

As a random aside concerning the contrast in COVID in-person and blended classrooms right now as compared to pre-COVID: spacious and spare classrooms of 8 or fewer students, quietly engaged in personal direct instruction online or with the teacher in front of them, followed by near silent periods of individual work... How will we ever return to those crowded masses of desks, scraping chairs, 28-32 children vying for attention or subverting the concentration of others? This is a massive sea-change, and despite the catastrophic collateral damage of the availability of conditions of remote learning to so many, how can we ever go back without addressing the inherent flaws of large class size?
(Based on subbing in a cross-section of affluent to Title 1 elementary schools in Manhattan, and purely anecdotal. But this is what I see.)

Anonymous said...

As a Utah teacher, who doesn't dare reveal herself, THANK YOU for this!!!!

Anonymous said...

Mitt is off on his class size discussion but he is following the science regarding returning the kids to in-person classes at open schools.

The science suggests properly run schools are not significant Covid-spread locations and further science suggests kids are better off in actual schools for a variety of intellectual, physical, and psychological reasons.

At some point there will be an accounting as to why precisely many schools shut down and why precisely certain schools reopened (in whole and in part) and others did not.

hollygmd said...

I've taught in Utah schools for many years and large class sizes are indeed a serious issue. Take into account as well that Utah has the lowest per pupil spending in the nation and you have a recipe for discouragement.
It is difficult to reach all students in your class with the kind of personalized instruction you'd like to give, but can't. Having to share a paraprofessional between three classes, shortened lunch periods, dissappearing "specialty" subjects, dwindling resources, and a pervasive cutural expectation that, "you can do more with less" make teaching in Utah a challenge enough. Large class sizes are just one more ingredient in the watery stew towards which public education is is sadly sliding.
In spite of all of this, I love and support public education as an absolute necessity and inalienable right of all Americans.

hollygmd said...

I've taught in Utah schools for many years and large class sizes are indeed a serious issue. Take into account as well that Utah has the lowest per pupil spending in the nation and you have a recipe for discouragement.
It is difficult to reach all students in your class with the kind of personalized instruction you'd like to give, but can't. Having to share a paraprofessional between three classes, shortened lunch periods, dissappearing "specialty" subjects, dwindling resources, and a pervasive cutural expectation that, "you can do more with less" make teaching in Utah a challenge enough. Large class sizes are just one more ingredient.