|
Importance of Research-Based
Education “Medical
professionals cannot ignore the sound conclusions of drug testing or
successful surgical practices when dealing with patient concerns and
illnesses. Likewise, professional architects must apply the foundational
principles of engineering when creating a design and subsequent building
plans. … The same is true for teachers. Despite the allure of seasonal or
topical activities and units, teaching concepts and providing a positive
learning environment can best be accomplished with a base of sound,
research-based practices.”[i] |
2021 Nobel Prize winners find benefits to
lower class size
(All bold mine)
In October the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Economics to David Card, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Joshua D. Angrist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA; and Guido W. Imbens, Stanford University, USA. Research and “natural experiments” by Card and Angrist have found benefits to smaller classes. “What the research tells us” on this issue, I realize, is up for debate. But such acclaim for Card and Angrist might open a few minds.
·
In two studies[ii] published in 1992, Card
found that American students who attended schools with smaller class sizes and
higher teacher salaries wound up with better paying jobs as adults. The
findings “surprised the research community,” the Nobel Prize committee wrote.
“The results led to a discussion on whether school quality and school resources
mattered for school and labor market outcomes.” https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/10/13/22724766/economics-nobel-prize-education-research-school-spending
·
“Angrist
and Lavy, 1999, and Urquiola, 2006, in their different contexts, point out robust
positive effects of reduction in class size on achievements,” “Class Size
and the Regression Discontinuity Design: The Case of Public Schools,” Dec. 2009,
https://docs.iza.org/dp4679.pdf. [More from Angrist, Lavy[iii].]
Research
(1994-2019)
1.
“Class Size: What Research Says and What it Means for State Policy”* (2011)
Brown Center on
Education Policy at Brookings
[Next month, Part
4, focus is STATE POLICY on CLASS SIZE/TEACHER WORKLOAD]
Krueger’s analysis of the Tennessee STAR
experiment finds that elementary school students randomly assigned to small classes
outperformed their classmates who were assigned to regular classes by about
0.22 standard deviations after four years. This is equivalent to students in
the smaller classes having received about 3 months more schooling than the
students in the regular classes. … In addition, the positive effects of class size were
largest for black students, economically disadvantaged students, and boys. A recent long-term
follow-up of STAR participants into adulthood utilized IRS tax records to
investigate a range of outcomes. Krueger estimates that the economic returns to
class-size reduction in Tennessee were greater than the costs, with an internal
positive rate of return of about 6 percent. [More from STAR research, section #7.]
*https://www.brookings.edu/wp-ontent/uploads/2016/06/0511_class_size_whitehurst_chingos.pdf
2.
“Size
alone makes small classes better for kids”
Greg Toppo, USA Today, March 25,
2008
Breaking up large classes into several
smaller ones helps students, but the improvements in many cases come in spite
of what teachers do, new research suggests.
New findings from four nations, including
the USA, tell a curious story. Small classes work for children, but that’s less
because of how teachers teach than because of what students feel they can do:
Get more face time with their teacher, for instance, or work in smaller groups
with classmates.
“Small class are more engaging places for
students because they’re able to have more personal connection with teachers, simply
by virtue of the fact that there are fewer kids in the classroom competing for
that teacher’s attention,” says Adam Gamoran of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison….
3. “Education experts disagree on importance
of school class size”*
Kevin Simpson, The Denver Post, May
26, 2012
Alex
Molnar, a research professor for the National Education Policy Center at the
University of Colorado at Boulder … headed a major study of class size in Milwaukee
schools. (He) contends that the research — particularly at the younger grades —
is formidable in favor of smaller numbers. The initial investment in more
teachers, he says, ultimately saves money by producing gains that carry through
to college.
He
adds that smaller class size remains a major factor in attracting quality
teachers at any grade level, particularly in hard-to-staff schools
trying to close the socioeconomic “achievement gap.”
“Parents
want it, teachers want it, schools use it as a selling point,” Molnar said.
“And yet, those intuitive perceptions about the advantages of smaller classes
seem to be trumped, in many cases, by the topic of effective teachers and
conflicting data.”
*https://www.denverpost.com/2012/05/26/education-experts-disagree-on-importance-of-school-class-size/
4. “Class
Size Matters: Understanding the Link Between Class Size and Student
Achievement”*
Content provided by Bethel University Online, EschoolNews, Nov. 12, 2019
“… Understanding the connection between
class size and student achievement, as well as teacher retentions, is critical
to the future of our educational system."
"The Benefits of Small Class Sizes
- Better
Teacher/Student Relationships
- More
Customized Instruction
- Classrooms
Become More Collaborative
- Topics are
Explored In-Depth
- Teachers
Stick Around"
Class size is one of many factors to consider when choosing or
evaluating a school.
By GreatSchools Staff, GreatSchools.Org, August 27, 2012*
"Many studies have shown an increase in student achievement, fewer discipline problems and improvement in teacher morale and retention as a result of class size reduction."
What are the benefits of small classes?
"Numerous studies have been done to assess the impact of class size reduction. Although most studies do show a relationship between small class size and increased student achievement, researchers disagree on how to interpret the results… Nevertheless, studies over a period of years have pointed to a number of trends as a result of lowering class size:
- Gains associated with small classes are stronger for the early grades.
- Gains are stronger for students who come from groups that are traditionally disadvantaged in education - minorities and immigrants.
- Gains from class size reduction in the early grades continue for students in the upper grades. Students are less likely to be retained, more likely to stay in school and more likely to earn better grades.
- Academic gains are not the only benefit of lowering class size. A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health revealed that reducing class sizes in elementary schools may be more cost-effective than most public health and medical interventions. This is because students in smaller classes are more likely to graduate from high school, and high school graduates earn more and also enjoy significantly better health than high school dropouts.”
Other important factors to consider - Teacher workload
|
When we
teach writing |
"In high schools, it is important to consider not only the number of students per class but the nature of the class, and the subject the teacher is teaching... an English teacher teaching four classes of 40 students would probably not be able to give the proper attention to written assignments from that many students, and might not give as many assignments because of the large number of students."
6.
From
the Coalition of Essential Schools
PERSONAL NOTE: During my six years as a program officer at the Gates Family Foundation (1990-96), we supported six Colorado high schools seeking to implement the nine principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES). One of those principles was to achieve a 1:80 teacher: student ratio for instruction.
By Maisie McAdoo, America’s Agenda,
Spring 1994
Bob McCarthy, former high school principal
and at the time part of the CES leadership team, noted:
|
Again, why “teacher workload” is key Helen
Pate-Bain: “‘Class size research is not an attempt to reduce class size.
At its best it is an effort to find appropriate casework loads, because much
of sound educational practice consists of individual instruction, coaching,
mentoring, and tutoring,’ which can best be accomplished with smaller classes.” From “America’s Agenda,” Spring 1994 |
“a typical high school teacher’s student load
of 125 to 150 pupils makes any other reform untenable. Getting the
student-to-teacher ratio down to 1:80 is the first order of business.
But then, says McCarthy, teachers can—and must—redesign the school day to
permit more individualized work, and more fluid interaction among student and
teachers.”
7.
“Class Size and Students at Risk
- What is Known? What is Next?”* (1998)
(More
on Tennessee’s STAR experiment)
A Commissioned Paper prepared by Jeremy D. Finn, National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 1998. (31 pages)
Overviews
of Research on Small Classes
"A compilation of studies examined by Educational Research Service is noteworthy because of its extensiveness - more than 100 separate studies were reviewed…. In particular, the review concludes that small classes are most beneficial in reading and mathematics in the early primary grades and that: '[t]he research rather consistently finds that students who are economically disadvantaged or from some ethnic minorities perform better academically in smaller classes.'"
Finn
analyzed several small school initiatives. The most well-known, perhaps, was
Project STAR in Tennessee. The state also conducted a follow-up report, the
Lasting Benefits Study (LBS). Finn describes Project STAR as “the only
large-scale, controlled study of the effects of reduced class size.” The study
looked at 79 elementary schools in Tennessee.
State-wide Class Size Studies: PRIME TIME
and STAR
Conclusions. Both Project STAR and the LBS provide compelling
evidence that small classes in the primary grades are academically superior to
regular-size classes. The findings were confirmed for every school
subject tested. Teachers of small classes received no special instructions
or training; the outcomes result from class size and from whatever perceptions
and advantages accompany having substantially fewer students in a room with one
teacher….
A clear small-class advantage was found for
inner-city, urban, suburban, and rural schools; for males and females; and for
white and minority students alike. The few significant interactions found each year
indicated greater small-class advantages for minority or inner-city students. Targeting small classes
in particular schools or districts may provide the greatest benefits at a cost
that is contained, although it may also mean denying the benefits to other
students or schools.
Further
Work
Economist Alan Odden (1990) explored whether
the effects of reducing class size on student achievement could be achieved
with other lower-cost interventions, or whether larger effects could be
obtained through other interventions at the same cost. He concluded that
particular uses of small classes are worthwhile, especially in kindergarten
through grade 3. Odden recommended reducing class size for students
achieving below grade level and combining individual tutoring with classes
reduced to 15 students for language arts-reading instruction. He also
proposed that small classes be coupled with a "larger comprehensive set of
strategies" shown to be effective for low-income, ethnic and language
minority students. Early childhood education is one example.
Teacher
and Pupil Behavior in Small Classes
…
the pattern of results suggests that in smaller classes:
· Less time is spent on classroom
management; and
· There is more interaction between
teachers and individual students, with the interaction more protracted.
Both
of these are conducive to increasing the academic engagement of pupils.
Several STAR-related studies also support
these conclusions. For example, observations were made of mathematics and
reading lessons in 52 of STAR's grade 2 classrooms….
· “Teachers in the small classes devoted an
average of an hour to reading instruction, while teachers in regular
classes spent an hour and twenty-four minutes." That is, higher average
levels of performance were obtained with less time expenditure.
· In mathematics, students in small
classes initiated more contacts with the teacher, for purposes of
clarification, giving answers to questions that were open to the whole class,
and contacting the teacher privately for help.
·
In reading, small classes had
more students on-task and fewer students off-task and spent less time
waiting for the next assignment, compared with students in regular classes.
·
Teachers in small classes
were rated as better monitors of students' understanding of class material
and as more consistent in their management of student behavior.
In sum, due to the magnitude of the Project
STAR longitudinal experiment, the design, and the care with which it was
executed, the results are clear: This research leaves no doubt that small
classes have an advantage over larger classes in student performance in the
early primary grades.
*https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED418208.pdf
8.
From Sacred Trust: A Children’s
Education Bill of Rights, By Peter W. Cookson, Jr. (2011)
“Across
the United States, a quiet revolution has been occurring usually led by innovative
teachers and principals. Some of the most promising innovations [include]:
“Smaller
schools and smaller class sizes. For some this ‘finding’ may seem
self-evident, but oddly we often overlook the most obvious. One reason private
schools are sometimes better learning environments than public schools is that
they are smaller and class sizes are realistic…. Teaching 40 students is
akin to crowd control, 20 is manageable, 15 is ideal.”
From Chapter 3 – “The Cultural
and Individual Rights of Students,” pages 54-55
9.
“Estimating causal
effects of class size in secondary education: evidence from TIMSS”* (2019)
8th graders, four European countries
“The effectiveness of class size reduction on student performance has been of great research interest and policy debate worldwide…. The purpose was to investigate over time the effects of class size on eighth grade students’ cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes on five mathematics and science subjects in four European countries (i.e. Hungary, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia)…. Overall, the class size effects that were significant were also substantial in magnitude and typically much larger than the effects reported in Project STAR.” *https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02671522.2019.1697733
10. "Reducing Class Size: What Do We Know"* (1998)
By Ivor Pritchard, National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum and Assessment Office of
Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education
More at Class Size Matters-Research (https://classsizematters.org/research-and-links/) and its “Bibliography of class size research” (12 pages). “Smaller classes, higher achievement and narrowing the opportunity gap.” https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.31/3zn.338.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/class-size-bibliography_formatted.pdf
[i] https://online.mc.edu/degrees/education/med/curriculum-instruction/research-based-strategy-in-education/
[ii] “Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and
the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States,” David Card, Alan
B. Krueger, The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 100, No. 1. (Feb.,
1992), pp. 1-40.
“School Quality and
Black-White Relative Earnings: A Direct Assessment David Card,” Alan B. Krueger,
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 107, No. 1. (Feb., 1992), pp.
151-200.
[iii] “Using Maimonides' Rule to Estimate the Effect
of Class Size on Student Achievement,” Joshua D. Angrist, Victor Lavy, 1999; http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/fichiers/AngristLavy1999.pdf. Explains why they believe the research on
class size by Eric Hanushek is flawed, and therefore why his conclusions … are
unfounded.
