Analysing education - Does a smaller class size have a significant effect on student test scores?

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Introduction:

Education serves multiple purposes. In the long run, higher levels of education are related to higher earnings in the work world, economic mobility, better health, lower mortality rates, and greater democratic participation. For these reasons, most countries require children to attend school for a specified number of years or until they are of a certain age.

Many of the benefits of education occur in part because students expand their knowledge and understanding of the world.  Moreover, schools provide the skills that enhance a child’s ability to communicate, solve problems, and make decisions. Much of debate over education is essentially about how to capitalize on the amount of student learning, which we will measure by various assessment instruments such as standardized achievement tests. Given that resources are scarce, a fact learned in economics, it follows that there must be some optimal way in which to allocate them to each school.  Therefore, the overall objective is that the amount of learning needs to be maximized at least cost to the consumer.  

Learning is complex, involving cognitive processes that are not completely understood. The majority of school systems have a system of learning that involves groups of students of about the same age interacting with a single individual leading activities directed towards learning a particular topic in a confined physical space– in other words, students are placed in classes with a teacher. The number of students in a classroom can vary. At the extreme, there can be one teachers assigned to one or two pupils (special education classrooms).  At the other, a student may be one amongst hundreds being taught by a single instructor (or with new Internet technology, one of millions).

The number of students in a class has the potential to affect how much is learned in several different ways. For instance, it could affect how students interact with one another – the level of social engagement. This may result, in more or less noise and disruptive behavior, which in turn influences the kinds of activities the teacher is able to perform in a classroom.  It may also affect how much time the teacher is able to focus on individual students and their individual needs rather than on the group as a whole. Since it is easier to focus on one individual in a smaller group, the smaller the class size the more likely individual attention can be received (in theory at least). A classroom size might also affect the teacher’s allocation of time, and hence effectiveness by limiting the amount of material can be covered. Teachers may employ different methods of teaching and assessment when they have smaller classes.  In this case, teachers may assign more writing or provide more feedback on students’ work and have the ability to focus on students’ mastery of concepts, or encourage more discussions -- all activities that may be feasible given a smaller number of students.  It may be true that exposure to a certain learning environment may affect a students learning during the time period of exposure – or it could possibly have longer term or delayed effects (increasing self-esteem or cognitive developments that have lasting effects).

For these reasons, changes to the class size are considered a promising means in changing the effectiveness of student learning. Not only is class size potentially a key variable in the pursuit of knowledge, but it is also perhaps one of the simplest variables for policymakers to manipulate (Ashton& Crocker).  However, the amount of student learning depends on many different factors. Some of these factors are related to the environment in which the class takes place, but others are related to the student’s own background, motivation, and the broader influences of a community.   When we ask whether class size is significant for a student’s overall achievement, it is essential to ask also, how class size matters.

The ways in which class size matters is important for three reasons. First, if we can observe not only achievement differences, but also the mechanisms through which the differences are produced, this will increase our confidence that the differences are real, and not an artifact of some unmeasured or poorly controlled condition. Second, the effects of class size may vary in different circumstances, and identifying how class size affects achievement will help us to understand why the effects of class size are variable. Third, the potential benefits of a reduction in class size may be greater than what is observed. Case in point - suppose class size reductions do aid achievement, but only when teachers modify instructional practices to take advantage of the smaller classes. If a few teachers make such modifications, but most do not, then understanding how class size affects achievement in some cases will help reveal its potential effects, even if the potential is generally unrealized.  This paper explores the ways in which class size, among other working conditions, affects overall student performance. To produce accurate cost estimates for policy changes, it is essential to understand the effects of working conditions on student achievement. This analysis will identify the magnitude of these effects.

Data Measurements:

The measurement of class size is not as simple as it might seem. It should be noted in advance that while the two are related, class size and student teacher ratio are not necessarily the same figure.  Obviously each class cannot have 19.68 students, as would be the case for Nevada County Elementary if each class size matched the average.  There are, in fact, a number of factors that can influence this statistic, which may mean that the average student in a school with a lower student teacher ratio may not enjoy smaller class sizes!  Class size may vary significantly for a single child at different times during a school day and school year, because of student absences, truancy, or the presence of special education or gifted classrooms.  Consequently, a class of 20 students that varies in its size from day to day might in fact have fewer than 20 pupils at a specific time. In middle and high school, class size also varies by subject area.  

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For generations, the nation has struggled with how to improve its public schools.

Since the late 1970s and early 1980s those concerns have risen, prompted largely by threats to our nation’s economic supremacy and prosperity.  Trends on standardized tests have been stagnant since they were first begun in 1970, and international comparisons of student performance generally indicate that U.S. children, particularly in the upper grade levels, are not competitive (Ferguson).  

Following the 70’s, many different kinds of educational reforms have been attempted – ranging from a student’s testing and assessment, bigger district budgets, changes in the academic curriculum, magnet, ...

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