Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation $2 billion investment proves class size is not important, quality of teaching is

with story from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

I want to acknowledge and thank long-time PEI social advocate Bill Campbell for sending me this story.

Bill Gates retired from Microsoft and is dedicating his billions of dollars and time to improving social issues around the world, including health, education, and poverty. After spending $2 billion, an enormous amount of money, on education, Mr. Gates has concluded that class size is irrelevant in determining the quality of education of children. The real predictor of how well children are educated is the quality and innovation of the teachers.

In his January 26th, 2009 Annual Letter, Gates said,

One of the key things these schools have done is help their teachers be more effective in the classroom. It is amazing how big a difference a great teacher makes versus an ineffective one. Research shows that there is only half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher than to a great school.

This is very important on PEI since the Eastern School District is spreading the myth that larger schools are better educators of children. $2 billion dollars of research says that’s not true. Great teachers make great students. Islanders have known that intuitively for decades. Small schools can be as good or better places for children than large collector schools.

Bill Campbell writes,

NY Times op-ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof read the letter and says Mr. Gates goes out of his way to acknowledge setbacks. For example, the Gates Foundation made a major push for smaller schools in the United States, often helping to pay for the creation of small schools within larger buildings.

In the letter, Gates talks about how many of the small schools that he invested in did not improve students’ achievement in any significant way. He suggested that small schools succeeded when the principal was able to change teachers, curriculum and culture, but smaller size by itself proved disappointing. “In most cases,” said Gates, “we fell short.”

Kristof points out that Mr. Gates comes across as a strong education reformer, focusing on supporting charter schools and improving teacher quality. Gates suggested that when he has nailed down the evidence more firmly, he will wade into the education debates.

“It is amazing how big a difference a great teacher makes versus an ineffective one,” Mr. Gates writes in his letter. “Research shows that there is only half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher than to a great school.”

Mr. Gates told Kristof that he was optimistic that President Obama would make progress on this issue, notwithstanding the economic crisis, and he noted that the downturn had only added to the need for education spending.

Thanks Bill for providing that information which is timely right now on PEI.