SAGE Report Links Smaller Classes to Higher Achievement

Smaller class sizes can lead to higher student achievement, according to the third annual official evaluation of Wisconsin's highly successful SAGE class-size reduction program.

The report by researchers at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee again found that students participating in the SAGE program scored higher than a comparison group of students in traditional larger classes. Similar results were recorded in the two previous official evaluations.

The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program provides state funding to help reduce class sizes from kindergarten through 3rd grade in schools with large concentrations of children from low-income families. SAGE classrooms have student-teacher ratios of 15 to 1. The program currently operates in about 80 schools. The governor and Legislature have allocated enough additional money to expand it to about 400 more schools next year.

The program is very successful in helping to narrow the achievement gap between black and white students, according to the new evaluation. Black SAGE students made significantly larger gains last year than their counterparts in non-SAGE comparison schools, researchers reported.

The researchers – Alex Molnar, Philip Smith and John Zahorik – examined test scores on the May 1999 Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. They compared scores from the 30 schools that have been participating in SAGE since its inception three years ago to a group of comparison schools.

Students in SAGE schools outperformed students in comparison schools in every subject in every grade level (1st through 3rd grade) even though SAGE students started out the school year behind their peers in comparison schools. Students were tested in reading, language arts and mathematics.

Composite scores for 1st graders were 566.88 for SAGE students and 562.34 for students in comparison schools. For 2nd graders, the composite scores were 597.72 and 586.78. For 3rd graders, they were 623.42 and 615.29.

The evaluation report notes that teachers said the SAGE program allows them to give each student more individualized attention. Teachers also said the smaller class sizes have reduced the amount of time they have to devote to classroom discipline.

Posted January 31, 2000