MELISSA BLOCK, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.
In schools around the country, the size of classes is growing. Half the districts responding to a recent poll say they're increasing class size because of budget pressures. Many schools fear this will hurt students.
As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, some education reformers say it doesn't have to.
LARRY ABRAMSON: Marguerite Roza analyzes school spending for the Gates Foundation. She has been watching districts deal with tight budgets through across-the-board cuts and other desperation moves. Roza believe schools don't have to view tight spending limits as a lose-lose proposition.
Dr. MARGUERITE ROZA (Senior Data and Economic Advisor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation): The idea that money has no flexibility, I think, prevents district leaders from making some choices earlier on that would help them in the long run.
ABRAMSON: Roza is pushing for adoption of a number of efficiency measures that would help schools, even when fatter budgets return. One suggestion is to create a rigorous teacher evaluation system so that schools will know which teachers are most effective. One big benefit, says Roza, is that would allow districts to increase the size of some classes.
Dr. ROZA: If there's a trade-off between higher teacher quality or smaller class sizes, then we are better off going with higher teacher quality.
ABRAMSON: Now, research on class size is complicated. There's evidence that smaller classes can help learning, but only if you bring the numbers down below, say, 17 students. That's a number most districts can only dream of. When you already have 25 or 30 kids in a class, there's reason to believe that small increases might not matter.
Michelle Rhee is former chancellor of schools for the District of Columbia, and she now heads the advocacy group Students First. She also says that with the right preparation, bigger classes can be an effective way to save money.
Ms. MICHELLE RHEE (Founder and CEO, StudentsFirst.org): The way that I think would make sense is to identify the most highly effective teachers in a particular district and think about assigning a few more students to each of their classrooms.
ABRAMSON: But representatives for teachers groups say this is all a smokescreen.
Ms. RANDI WEINGARTEN (President, American Federation of Teachers): If somebody says they want to raise class size, they're doing it to cut the budget, not because it's actually going to help children.
Randi Weingarten is head of the American Federation of Teachers. Many teachers say its common sense. Larger classes mean students get less one-on-one attention and teachers have more work. And, Weingarten says, plenty of parents agree.
Ms. WEINGARTEN: Teachers and parents will tell you that the reason they want smaller class sizes is so that they can differentiate instruction.
ABRAMSON: To deal with the fact that some kids need special help because of learning problems or language differences.
Some schools are experimenting with other ways to reduce personnel costs without necessarily raising class sizes.
Rocketship Education has three charter schools in California. Founder John Danner says his schools save money by putting even the youngest kids into a learning lab for one period a day. There, they get carefully guided computer-based instruction and are supervised by a teacher's aide.
Mr. JOHN DANNER (Co-Founder and CEO, Rocketship Education): You only need three kindergarten teachers instead of four, because the fourth one's in learning lab, so you don't need a teacher for them.
ABRAMSON: Danner says part of the savings goes into extensive career development for teachers so they can be more effective.
Bigger class sizes can be a hard sell to parents, but some education reformers say parents may embrace this idea as preferable to cutting art classes or raising fees.
Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.