Feingold Announces National SAGE Initiative

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold has announced he will introduce a national class size reduction initiative modeled after Wisconsin's highly successful SAGE program.

"The National SAGE Act will support innovative educational projects like Wisconsin's SAGE program" Feingold said. "SAGE has been under way since 1996 and the results are in. Reducing class size in the earliest grades allows teachers to have more time with individual students. This improves student behavior, boosts morale and strengthens achievement."

SAGE stands for Student Achievement Guarantee in Education.

The SAGE program lowers class size to 15 in the early primary grades. It focuses on schools with large concentrations of students from low-income families. Kindergartners and first grade students in 30 schools in 21 school districts participated in SAGE last year. The program was expanded to 2nd grade this year and will include 3rd grade next year.

An evaluation of the first year of the SAGE program conducted for the Department of Public Instruction found participating first-grade students had higher reading, language arts and mathematics test scores than students in comparison classrooms.

Feingold's National SAGE Act would provide $75 million over five years to state education agencies to fund class size demonstration programs for 1999 through 2004. The funding would be fully offset by cuts in other federal programs.

Under the program, the secretary of education would choose states that receive funding based on several criteria, including the state's need to reduce class size, the ability of a state education agency to furnish 50% of the funds, and the degree to which parents, teachers, school administrators and local teacher organizations are consulted in designing the program.

"Other states can learn from Wisconsin's experience with the SAGE program, which showed that reduced class size can significantly boost academic performance," Feingold said. "While teacher quality and parental involvement are important, small class size, particularly in early grades, can make a real difference."

Feingold has made reduced class size a priority. In March, he introduced a Sense of the Senate Resolution to put the Senate on record recognizing class size as a national educational priority. In January, he urged President Clinton to make smaller class sizes a priority in the education budget and invited Education Secretary Richard Riley to Wisconsin to see the success of Wisconsin's SAGE program. Last year, Feingold offered an amendment that requires DOE to study the costs and benefits of reducing class size. That report is due this summer.

Posted May 18, 1998