The New Reverse Class Struggle

In 1996, California Gov. Pete Wilson persuaded the state legislature to authorize a $650 bonus to schools for every student attending a kindergarten-to-third-grade class with no more than 20 students. This produced many more classes that required more teachers, many of whom, parents complained, were inexperienced and ineffective.

Manhattan Institute scholar Abigail Thernstrom said going the other way -- toward bigger classes and better teachers -- has merit. For example, she cited the work of one New York City fifth-grade teacher who had a high-achieving class of 45 students. "We're not going to get [such teachers] in significant numbers without higher pay."

Eric Hanushek, an economist who studies student achievement at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, said, "I would advocate letting class sizes creep up somewhat and using the released funds to go toward teacher salaries." But, he said, it would be "a long, long time" before this produced more achievement if ineffective teachers got the raise, too.

"There is an economic theorem," he said, "that bad teachers like more pay about as much as good teachers, so increased salaries do not have any effect on the retention of good teachers unless some other policies are also put in place." Higher salaries would lead to more applicants for openings, Hanushek said, but "there is not a lot of evidence that school districts tend to hire better teachers when they have a larger pool to choose from."

What kind of students would be in the larger classes would be important, experts said. Reiser's math class of 32 has only advanced students, with fewer behavior problems than found in a regular class. And small classes, research indicates, are particularly good for poorer students. "With students who are barely passing, or not passing, the bigger the class, the less individual attention they are going to get, even from wonderful teachers," said Tim Hacsi of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

But even teachers sometimes say other factors are more important than reducing class size in helping students. Abigail Smith, vice president of research and public policy at Teach for America, said young teachers surveyed in that program gave higher priority to raising teacher quality, principal quality and expectations for students.

Still, it is hard to find teachers who like Cooperman's idea of more pay in exchange for larger classes. National Education Association President Reg Weaver said "it creates a situation where public schools are forced to choose between a quality teacher and a quality learning environment for their students, a choice that should never have to be made."

Reiser, a teacher for 25 years, said she has developed a system of regular communication among herself, her students and their parents that motivates learning. "I call parents a lot, especially when I have good news," she said. Some parents and students have told her that they save her phone messages just for the joy of replaying them.

In an initial interview, she said she might think about accepting a class of 35 if she got a $20,000 raise. But she called back to say she had thought about it. The answer was no.

She doesn't have as many as 35 students yet, she said, but even with 32 she sometimes has to cut off questions because there is not enough time. "That is frustrating for me," she said. "I don't care if it is $50,000 more. I am not going to do this."