20世纪70年代以来,小班化教育就成为了美国政府和民众青睐的教育改革新措施之一。大家都认为,既然小班化改革减小了班级的规模,增加了师生比,教师就能够对每个学生倾注更多的心力,这看起来似乎合乎逻辑。然而,最近美国关于学生学业成就的一系列报告指出,30多年的小班化改革并没有达到人们预期的效果。因此,有些美国学者转向思考学校规模的问题,形成了小型学校运动。那么,到底减小班级规模对提高学生学业成就的作用大还是减小学校规模的作用大呢?美国的教育界掀起了一场小班化与小学校化教育改革的论争。 Since the 1970s, small-class education has become one of the new educational reforms favored by the U.S. government and the general public. It seems logical that everyone thinks that since small-scale reforms have reduced the size of classes and increased teacher-student ratios, teachers can devote more energy to each student. However, a series of recent U.S. reports on student achievement have pointed out that the 30-year-old small-class reform did not achieve the desired results. As a result, some American scholars have turned to the question of school size, forming a small school movement. So, in the end to reduce the size of the class to enhance the academic achievements of students or reduce the size of the role of large schools? The education sector in the United States set off a small class and primary school education reform debate.