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Small Class Size Study

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Biddle and Berliner (2002) offered tentative theories to explain why small classes had impressive effects in the early grades. This was when youngsters were first learning the rules of school and forming ideas about whether they can cope with education. Furthermore, the most frequently cited class size study in the literature is the STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio) experiment. The Tennessee STAR (experiment began as a pilot in 1984, was mandated in 1985, and was completed in 1990). Pupils entering kindergarten in participating schools were randomly assigned to a small class (13-17), a full size class (22-25), or a full size class with a full time teacher aide. According to Nye et al. (2004), the STAR experiment provided rather strong …show more content…

Under California’s Class Size Reduction program, most California school districts kept their reduced size classes as close to 20 students as possible (Bohrnstedt & Stecher, 2002). In Blatchford’s United Kingdom study, 23 pupils constituted a small class (2003). Classes of 24 were considered small if there was a teacher aide to assist the teacher (Hattie, 2005). Resnick (2003) stressed that class sizes must be reduced substantially to achieve the benefits. Hattie (2005) concluded that reducing class size from 40 or more to 20 students led to almost no increase in achievement. Hoxby (2000) offered an economic theory to explain the reason why class size did not significantly influence student achievement. Hoxby (2000) maintained that class size was a primary example of the education production fallacy; one could not assume there was a relationship between educational inputs like class size and outputs such as achievement (Hoxby, p. 240). Bonseronning (2003) asserted that since education production involved teachers, students and a number of other actors, the efforts of these actors and their complicated interactions were the determinants of student achievement. Pong and Pallas (2001) reported some studies found that students do better in large classes. …show more content…

This chapter reviewed articles that support the notion that class size greatly influences academic achievement and teacher effectiveness and those that do not espouse this view; as well as, the benefits of class size reductions and smaller

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