http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/teaching-practices-and-smaller-cla... Shrinking class size, by itself, doesn't do much to change the quality of teaching and learning unless the teacher is prepared to take advantage of the advantages a smaller class size allows. When teachers don't change their practice, researchers have a tough time detecting differences in quality. Teacher happiness, however, is much more easily detected with smaller class sizes, and perhaps that shouldn't be overlooked.