[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 29497]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                CLASS SIZE REDUCTION, WHEN LESS IS MORE

  (Mr. CUMMINGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, the American people know that when it 
comes to class size, less is more. More personal attention, more 
teacher instruction rather than discipline, and as the Tennessee Star 
and Wisconsin Sage and other studies have shown, increased academic 
achievement, with students actually moving from the 50th to the 60th 
percentile.
  To break this down in terms we can all understand, we know that no 
sports coach in his right mind would try to teach 150 players one hour 
per day and hope to win the championship game. No, a coach has several 
assistants and small, special teams. Yet, my Republican colleagues want 
to ask one teacher, all alone, to teach several overcrowded classes and 
then expect children to win the academic game of life.
  Parents and teachers want, and our children deserve more teachers, 
smaller classes, and academic coaching for our children to win this 
wonderful game of life.

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