Self-study
Although Support smaller class sizes are popular with parents and teachers, Support the evidence shows that large scale reductions in class size lead to only slight improvements in student performance. ███████ ██████ ████████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ █ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████ █████████
Summary
The author concludes that public funds would be better spent on efforts to recruit and retain better teachers, rather than to shrink class sizes.
This is based on two premises: that reductions in class sizes lead to only small improvements, and that the cost-benefit analysis should be done by comparing it to other potential uses of the funds.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that recruiting and retaining teachers is a more productive use of funds than shrinking class sizes. Otherwise, the funds wouldn’t be better spent on efforts to recruit and retain teachers, no matter what cost-benefit analysis was used.
4.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Reducing class size ██ ██ █████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ████████
It’s not necessary to the argument that reducing class size be extremely expensive. It might help, but it isn’t necessary. The argument needs something that compares the costs and benefits of reducing class sizes versus recruiting and retaining teachers.
b
Dollar for dollar, ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ █████ ██████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████
This provides the basis to conclude that spending money on recruitment and retention is a comparatively better use of funds than reducing class sizes. The stimulus only talks about the benefits on an absolute basis — this answer choice compares the two options.
c
Because reducing class ████ ██ █ ███████ ███████ ██ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ███████████ █████████
It doesn’t matter how easy it is to get approval — it only matters whether it is the best use of funds given the available options.
d
Reducing class size ██ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ █████████
This answer choice doesn’t make sense in the context of the argument. The author argues that efforts to recruit and retain teachers are a better use of funds than reducing class size. But if one leads to the other, then we don’t need to choose between the two.
e
In practice, it ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ █████████ ████████
This doesn’t make sense in the context of the argument. The argument is about determining what use the funds should be spent on. If it is difficult to identify which would be most productive, this certainly doesn’t support the conclusion that one use is better than the other.