Professional concern about the possible injurious effects of large classes and personal interest in various cognitive style variables led to this particular research at West Valley College (California). The belief persists among teachers, in spite of objective research, that small classes are better. Here, it was hypothesized that (1) class size…

Argues that study findings indicate that lowered class size increases student achievement and improves school attitudes. Counter argument indicates there is little educational payoff and great monetary expense in small reductions in class size. (RH)

Nine generalizations are made about what takes place in smaller elementary and secondary school classes (those with 25 students or less). The generalizations are based on findings from nearly 60 studies. (RC)

Attempts to show that the question of class size is a complex one that should not be dealt with in isolation from such variables as desired quality of education, subject being taught, teacher attitude, total number of professional staff members working with students, and method of instruction. (Author/JN)

The basic problem in designing change efforts and in assessing them is determining which processes or consequences count and by how much. Whether it is teaching or learning that needs to be changed has to be determined. So it is with class size. What is to be changed as well as how that change is to be measured needs to be determined. The key…

This review surveys the current literature dealing with the effect of class size on both school finance and educational quality. The literature cited reflects a general agreement on the telling impact of class size on school budgets. However, the material gives little evidence of uniform agreement on the effect of class size on educational…

Research on the relationship of class size to academic achievement is being used by administrators, parents, teachers, and politicians. Unfortunately, many questions are being raised on the methodology, results, and conclusions of the research studies. (FG)

This survey of the literature indicates that the problem of class size is not so much one of the type of subject or student, but more often a problem of teaching technique with different sizes of classes. Some authors maintain that class size in itself is not the important factor, but rather it is a factor which masks other more important…

To assess student feeling toward large group instruction, an attitude survey of 17 questions was administered before and after participation in such a class. Tremendous attitude changes from negative to positive were attributed largely to effective media use in the class. (LBH)

While the desirability of small classes seems an article of faith among educators, a review of the research indicates that class size in itself has rarely shown a substantial effect on educational achievement. The research itself has been flawed by the impossibility of determining or measuring all the variables that changes in class size can…

This analysis outlines the generally inconclusive nature of class size research. In the area of achievement as it relates to class size, the research is demonstrated to be especially inconclusive. In addition to analyzing the problems and weaknesses of class size research, this paper summarizes the effects of class size on the educational process…

The comparative effects of large and traditional-sized remedial mathematics classes on college student aptitude and attitude were studied. Two large pre-algebra classes of 129 and 121 students and traditional-sized classes ranging in size from 30 to 40 students were assessed by informal observations and two instruments: a department-developed…