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Making Sense of the Class Size Debate
This is a guest blog by Elaine Hirsch, a writer for onlineschools.org, who frequently writes for other blogs.
These days, everyone is looking for ways to increase student achievement. There are innumerable factors that contribute to a student’s success, but many believe the focus should be on class size. From elementary school classrooms to PhD programs, class size studies have looked at the relationship between class size and student success.
Project STAR looked at
whether 12,000 K-3 students in 300 classrooms from 1985-1989 in Tennessee had
higher academic achievement in small classes (13-17 students) or larger classes
(22-26 students). Researchers found that students who spent three years in
small classes, were on average 4.5 months ahead of their peers in Grade 4, 4.2
months in Grade 6 and 5.4 months in Grade 8. The study also found a
relationship between class size and college aspirations. All students in small
classes were more likely to take college admission courses such as the SAT than
students who had been placed in regular size classes, although the difference
in scores was not statistically significant.
Evaluators of Project STAR study have deduced that young learners may benefit
from smaller class sizes because they need time to discover how to learn
alongside other learners. In addition, smaller class sizes can increase student
participation and engagement, leading to positive learning outcomes. Finally,
smaller class sizes lead to decreased disciplinary problems, which contribute
to a more positive learning environment in which there are fewer distractions
from academics.
A 2008 study by University College London
and Institute for Fiscal Studies looked at the
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) for whether class size had a
significant effect on student achievement at the university level. Most college
students would agree with the results of the study, which found that class size
has no significant effect on student achievement. This is due to the
lecture-style nature of college courses, where retaining information was based
on individuals instead of class discussions. While smaller classes encourage positive
teacher-student interaction, larger classes encourage independent learning and
positive student-student interaction in the form of study groups, which offer
greater diversity of backgrounds and opinions.
When discussing class size reduction strategies, critics are quick to point out
that increasing teacher quantity is no substitute for teacher quality.
Wisconsin’s Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) Program reveals
that teachers of small classes are able to spend more time actively teaching,
less time on classroom management and student discipline, and more time
providing students with individual attention. In short, smaller classes provide
teachers opportunities to specialize their teaching efforts, while larger class
settings allow students to dictate how much they learn.
Elaine’s blog is in my opinion a fair representation of the point of view of the woman on the street. Against it, I offer the following. POSTING POSTING POSTING BONUS PARAGRAPH ON SMALLER CLASS SIZES (TOP OF SECOND PAGE)