VERVIEW In the summer of 1996, the California Legislature and then-Governor Pete Wilson adopted a sweeping reform to revive academic performance by lowering class size in the early grades from a maximum of 33 to no more than 20 students per teacher. With virtually no planning time, school districts managed to put hundreds of thousands of students in small classes by the time school started, just six weeks after the legislation (SB 1777) passed. By 1999-00, the fourth year of the program, virtually all 1 st and 2 nd graders will be part of the program, plus an estimated 95% of kindergartners and 90% of 3 rd graders. California's class size reduction (CSR) initiative is thought to be the largest state education reform in history, now costing over $1.5 billion per year. Given that price tag, the stakes and expectations for the program are high. What has been found so far? Class Size Reduction in California: Early Evaluation Findings, 1996-1998, the first report of a four-year, legislatively-mandated evaluation shows evidence of successes. But it also points to unintended consequences that are cause for concern. On the positive side, the evaluation of CSR in its second year (1997-98) finds: s Relative to students in larger classes, 3 rd grade students in smaller classes showed, on average, a small positive achievement gain.The level of gain was similar for all groups of students, regardless of ethnicity, income status, or English language ability. s Districts rose to the challenge of implementing CSR quickly, finding 23,500 additional teachers in two years.The result: over 1.6 million students in kindergarten to 3 rd grade were placed in reduced size classes. s Teachers in smaller K-3 classes reported spending more time working individually with problem readers and attending to the personal needs of students.They also spent less time on discipline than teachers in larger classes. s Parents of students in reduced size classes had more contact with teachers and were more satisfied with their children's education. Other findings from this two-year assessment of CSR are less positive: s To implement CSR quickly, some districts with already overcrowded facilities had to take classroom space away from other educational programs. s Because space was particularly tight in districts with high proportions of low-income, minority, or English language learner (ELL) students, these districts were slower to implement smaller classes in all four grades, K-3. Districts that could not reduce class size …