Small Class Contribution

The Major Contribution of Small Class in Academic Success

Education has a vital role in the development of a country, socially and economically. Every country strives to provide the best educational system possible in their learning institutions for the student’s to achieve better academic success. Despite the contribution of providing quality and up to date study material through well qualified teachers and professor in student performance. ‘Class size reduction’ (CSR) theory has gained attention of countries. Its influence in academic success is one of the most debated and implemented strategy over the past several decades. Some researchers believe that class size doesn’t make a significant difference in the improvement of student’s performances.

Students in small classes perform better and will lead them to achieve better academic success. One of a noticeable experiment and well-designed research done on the class size reduction was the Tennessee study “The Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio, known as Project Star”. It was a remarkable research because students of kindergarten level were enrolled in three different classes, a small class of 13 to 17 children, a normal sized class of 22 to 26 children and a normal-sized class with both a teacher and full-time teacher’s assistant. The students remained in the classes they were assigned until they reached third grade. (Ehrenberg, 2001). Jeremy Finn of the State University of New York and M. Achilles of Eastern Michigan University analyzed the data of Project STAR. Finn estimated that students in normal sized classes were outperformed by their counterparts in small size classes by a fifth of a standard deviation. It seemed the students persists the advantage of smaller classes, even when they were placed in larger classes in upper elementary levels (Ehrenberg, 2001). The evidence from the STAR project proves that smaller classes can improve students’ performances to a certain level. In addition, Finn and Achilles also discovered the strong effect of class size reduction on ethnic minority. “Black or Hispanic children improved by two-fifths to three-fifths of

Eric Hanushek of Stanford University’s Hoover institute argues that he believes that students can gain benefits from small classes in lower elementary classes, but data from STAR cannot prove that the benefits which persists in students in normal sized upper level classes is the influence of small classes (Ehrenberg, 2001). However, Jeremy D. Finn and Susan B. Gerber prove in the article (The Enduring Effects of Small Classes) that “in addition to immediate impact, attending small classes also had long-term benefits. In general, students who attended small classes in K–3 performed better academically in all subjects in grades 4, 6, and 8 than their peers who attended full-size classes” (GERBER, 2001). Furthermore, a research by the Australian Education Union also demonstrated under the follow up benefits in high grades of classes. The students placed in smaller classes in early elementary classes were “rated as expending more effort in the classroom, taking greater initiative with regard to learning activities, and displaying less disruptive or inattentive behavior compared to their peers who had been in regular-size classes” (Peace,