Is the class size one of the factors influencing academic achievement?
Nowadays education is the chief factor to achieve success in our lives. We try to explicate the knowledge that we have and we master it. One of the most important factors of academic achievement is the class size. This essay will show the positive effects of class size reduction on student achievement so that in smaller classes each student receives a larger portion of educational resources, however big class size can also be beneficial.
Researchers have used various techniques to study how class size affects the quality of education. They have looked at the relationship between class size and student achievement, and have conducted various kinds of studies related to class size and its possible influences on educational practice. For example, the Smith’s and Glass’s meta-analysis that combined the results of 77 empirical studies to the relationship between class size and achievement. Overall, they found that smaller classes passed with higher achievement at all grade levels, especially if students were in the small classes for more than 100 hours, and if student assignments were carefully controlled. Another one is the Wenglinsky research that was published in 1997. The findings were concerning the relationship between class size and student achievement from three national level databases. Based on analysis of data on fourth-graders in 203 districts and eighth-graders in 182 schools from across the United States, Wenglinsky found that class size served an important link with school education.
Data from several more initiatives have added more clarity to the research concerning class size reduction. The most important analysis was held by the Tennessee’s project STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio). They compared classes of 13-17 students with classes of 22-26 students. Project STAR found that smaller class students substantially outperformed larger class students on...