The Class Size Debate: Is Small Better?

Based on a longitudinal study of children's academic progress over three years after entering into primary schools in England, this book examines whether pupil-adult ratios affect academic achievement and looks at related factors of class grouping practices, teaching, individual support for reading, pupil concentration, and peer relations. Blatchford (psychology and education, U. of London, UK) finds that class size does have an educational impact, but argues it is overly simplistic to talk about optimal class sizes. Distributed by Taylor & Francis. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)