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In general, I think the problem here is that the post looks at one out of dozens of inputs into the educational process and concluding that an improvement in th

In general, I think the problem here is that the post looks at one out of dozens of inputs into the educational process and concluding that an improvement in that one input is noteworthy and significant to the output. What's more disturbing is that this claim is made in light of evidence that the outputs in America are trending unfavorably to other countries and is still trotted out as a favorable sign.

rafaelc 16y ago
It’s simply a step in the right direction. I'd be the first to agree that there’s plenty to improve in education, but with so few “wins” it’s important to single out some of the positive stuff.
- CWuestefeld 16y ago
  On what grounds to you claim that this is a "win"? That is, what are your criteria, and what makes you believe that this factor is on the path toward that criteria?
  - rafaelc 16y ago
    It's based on data. The ratio of students to teachers has gone down significantly over the past 30 years and that is a small win to celebrate. Lower student to teacher ratios imply an improved environment for instruction in the classroom, more individualized attention, and more. Of course there’s much more to be done to improve education in the United States, but the ongoing lowering of student to teacher ratios is one of many small steps in the right direction.
    - CWuestefeld 16y ago
      It's based on data. ... Lower student to teacher ratios imply an improved environment for instruction That's a logical inference, but certainly not data. And sometimes what intuitively seems true winds up wrong. I challenge you to show empirical evidence that smaller class size improves educational outcomes. As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I've only ever found one such conclusive study, and that was only applicable to kids from lower-income families; in particular, no advantage was observed for average and above-average kids. And even for the slice of the population that might be helped (according to that study), we've got no evidence that these decreases in class size are occurring in schools having those students, as opposed to, say, more affluent schools that are presumably (there I go making an assumption) better able to afford more teachers.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]

rafaelc 16y ago

It’s simply a step in the right direction. I'd be the first to agree that there’s plenty to improve in education, but with so few “wins” it’s important to single out some of the positive stuff.

CWuestefeld 16y ago
On what grounds to you claim that this is a "win"? That is, what are your criteria, and what makes you believe that this factor is on the path toward that criteria?
- rafaelc 16y ago
  It's based on data. The ratio of students to teachers has gone down significantly over the past 30 years and that is a small win to celebrate. Lower student to teacher ratios imply an improved environment for instruction in the classroom, more individualized attention, and more. Of course there’s much more to be done to improve education in the United States, but the ongoing lowering of student to teacher ratios is one of many small steps in the right direction.
  - CWuestefeld 16y ago
    It's based on data. ... Lower student to teacher ratios imply an improved environment for instruction That's a logical inference, but certainly not data. And sometimes what intuitively seems true winds up wrong. I challenge you to show empirical evidence that smaller class size improves educational outcomes. As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I've only ever found one such conclusive study, and that was only applicable to kids from lower-income families; in particular, no advantage was observed for average and above-average kids. And even for the slice of the population that might be helped (according to that study), we've got no evidence that these decreases in class size are occurring in schools having those students, as opposed to, say, more affluent schools that are presumably (there I go making an assumption) better able to afford more teachers.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]