Class size refers to the number of children taught within a single classroom. Dating back to the 1920s, the topic of class size has been of great interest to school staff, parents, politicians, and economists. While the idea of having smaller classes is appealing to nearly all, it is necessary to establish whether small classes will, in fact, lead to improved student outcomes, and whether such outcomes warrant financial funding. Despite being one of the most widely investigated topics in education, only the past 10–15 years of research has been able to yield substantial findings. This research has been facilitated by the implementation of several exemplary class-size reduction programs. Three foundational projects included Tennessee’s Project Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR), Wisconsin’s Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (Project SAGE), and North Carolina’s program in Burke County. There is some disagreement regarding what qualifies as a “small” class. While some...
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Suggested Reading
Achilles, C. M., & Finn, J. D. (2005). Class size and pupil-teacher ratio confusion: A classic example of mixing “apples and oranges”. National Forum of Applied Educational Research Journal, 18(2), 5–25.
Finn, J. D. et al. (2001). The enduring effects of small classes. Teachers College Board, 103(2), 145–183.
Krueger, A. (2003). Economic considerations and class size. Economics Journal, 113, 34–63.
Suggested Resources
National Education Association Web Page on Class Size: http://www.nea.org/classsize/research-classsize.html
Reduce Class Size Now Web Page: http://www.reduceclasssizenow.org/structuredAbstracts.htm
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Harms, A.L., Carlson, J.S. (2010). Class Size. In: Clauss-Ehlers, C.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9_72
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