A classical theorem of Kuratowski says that every Baire one function on a G_delta subspace of a Polish (= separable completely metrizable) space X can be extended to a Baire one function on X. Kechris and Louveau introduced a finer gradation of Baire one functions into small Baire classes. A Baire one function f is assigned into a class in this heirarchy depending on its oscillation index beta(f). We prove a refinement of Kuratowskis theorem: if Y is a subspace of a metric space X and f is a real-valued function on Y such that beta_{Y}(f)<omega^{alpha}, alpha < omega_1, then f has an extension F onto X so that beta_X(F)is not more than omega^{alpha}. We also show that if f is a continuous real valued function on Y, then f has an extension F onto X so that beta_{X}(F)is not more than 3. An example is constructed to show that this result is optimal.
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