School Reform in the 21st Century: A Look at the Effect of Class Size and School Vouchers on the Academic Achievement of Minority Students

Abstract

Many argue schools that serve inner-city and rural children are in “crisis.” This paper reviews the best available evidence on the effects of class size and school vouchers. Results from the Tennessee STAR experiment suggest smaller class sizes improve achievement, particularly for inner-city and minority children; results from the New York City voucher experiment and the Milwaukee Parental Choice program suggest there may be small achievement gains in mathematics for the African-American and Hispanic children who use vouchers. Although the reason of the achievement gains is unknown, one candidate is the smaller class sizes in the private schools.