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Conventional wisdom suggests that students perform better when they are enrolled in smaller classes. But new research and advoca

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问题     Conventional wisdom suggests that students perform better when they are enrolled in smaller classes. But new research and advocacy groups suggest that targeted resizing of classes—including increasing class sizes in certain subjects—can save districts money while minimally impacting student achievement.
    Education Resource Strategies(ERS)estimates that up to $6 billion could be saved nationally by increasing class sizes by just one student. A report released in May by the Brookings Institution states that the same move would reduce the number of teachers necessary by approximately 7 percent.
    Class-size legislation has remained an important political issue in many states. At least 24 states have enacted class-size laws that limit enrollment. Karen Miles, executive director of ERS, says these laws can hurt students in the long term. Important programs like teacher development classes and extracurricular activities have been cut in order to employ enough teachers to keep class sizes low, she says.
    Others, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have come around to her way of thinking. In a letter to governors weighing state budget cuts, he wrote that states should use federal money in a way that would have the "greatest positive impact on students. " Among his suggestions were "targeted adjustments in class size, and compensation models that reward the best, most effective work. "
    Research shows that drastic class size reduction can improve student performance. The most widely cited research, the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio study conducted in the late 1980s, showed that when class sizes were reduced from 22 students to 15 students, student a-chievement increased by about three months of additional schooling. Subsequent studies have shown that slight increases or decreases in class size enrollment have negligible effects on student achievement.
    The May Brookings report says, " It appears that very large class-size reductions, on the order of magnitude of 7-10 fewer students per class, can have significant long-term effects on student achievement. These effects seem to be largest when introduced in the earliest grades, and for students from less advantaged family backgrounds. "
    Miles stresses that schools and districts need a strategy when it comes to changing class enrollment. If class sizes are increased, the money saved should be spent training effective teachers. She says schools should experiment with hiring part-time experts to teach reading in small groups. If there are three third-grade classes in a school, for instance, those classes could be combined for part of the day in classes such as art.
    Enrollment reductions should be focused on underprivileged students and young students, she adds. Better teacher evaluation systems need to be developed and implemented so that ineffective teachers can be held accountable for student performance, and effective teachers can be rewarded.
Smaller class is believed to be good because it can
选项 A、serve to improve the numbers of the qualified teachers.
B、enrich students’ curricula in the long term.
C、help to improve students’ performance.
D、provide students with more colorful after-class activities.
答案C
解析 事实细节题。由题干关键词Smaller class定位到第一段第一句：人们普遍认为：班级招生人数越少，学生在校的表现就越好。可见，人们认为小班好是因为它可以提高学生的成绩，故[C]符合文意；第三段第三、四句提到从长远来看，限制班级人数对学生的发展不利，因为它意味着要雇用更多的老师，并没有提及可以增加合格教师的数目，故排除[A]；同时，第四句还提到限制班级人数会减少课外活动，并不是丰富了课外活动，故排除[D]；文中并未提及小班会对学生的课程安排产生影响，故排除[B]。
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