It is widely assumed that increasing the number of teaching assistants (TAs) in the classroom will be beneficial to children, and this is one important aim of the recently implemented Workforce Agreement. But there are still significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of their deployment and impact. The Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratios…

Although experimental results indicate that smaller classes promote higher achievement in early elementary school, the broader literature on class-size effects is inconclusive. This seeming contradiction raises questions about the generalizability of experimental evidence, an issue that this article addresses by examining the effects of class size…

This review has two parts: the first concerns class size and general education; the second, class size and special education. The general education review is in four sections: (1) foundational class size research; (2) critiques of the foundational works; (3) extended research; and (4) five studies in class size research conducted by states. The…

As a result of the Morgan-Hart Class Size Reduction Act of 1989, San Juan (California) Unified School District was able to reduce the number of students in freshman English classes from over 30 to 20 in the spring semester 1991. This reduction of at least 10 students per class was a welcome change for high school students and their teachers. The…

This policy brief is based on prior class size research and address the following issues of concern to policy makers: (1) the extent and reliability of class size impact on student achievement; (2) the mechanisms by which class size changes turn into student learning effects; and (3) the economic consequences of the reduction of class size. This…

This study investigated the possible causes of the contradiction between the results of two projects. Indiana's Prime Time project compared the achievement of students in large (averaging 26 students) and small (averaging 19 students) classrooms in grades 1 through 3. Results indicated that 3 years in smaller classes had little effect on student…

A study was conducted to determine the effect of limiting class size in developmental English on subsequent student performance in a college-level English course. Class size effects were studied for two groups of students enrolled in College English I at the seven two-year branch campuses of Kent State University (i.e., Ashtabula, East Liverpool,…

Brief abstracts of research studies on the subject of the relationship between class size and student achievement are presented in this bibliography. The first part of the study examines the research concerned with the reduction of class size and the positive effects it has on student achievement, particularly in the areas of reading and…

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…

The purpose of the Neighborhood Education Center (NEC) Project, funded under Title III of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, is to significantly raise academic achievement in the areas of language arts and computational skills. The NEC encompasses four elementary schools in Region 8 of the Detroit Public Schools system. This region…

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)

The headline was dramatic enough to cause a ripple in the reading public. "Students who use computers a lot at school have worse maths and reading performance," noted the BBC news article, citing a 2004 study by Ludger Woessmann and Thomas Fuchs (Fuchs and Woessman, 2004). It was not long before the blogosphere took notice. Taking the…

Educational research, unfortunately, often focuses on finding statistical differences between overall means or averages. Media reports of research routinely present those differences and little else. This paper discusses the importance of considering the spread of the data in addition to the center and how this is relevant to research focused on…

Wisconsin's Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program demonstrates that small class sizes have unclear achievement benefits and that improvements remain isolated in small populations. SAGE grants $2,000 per low income student to elementary schools agreeing to class sizes of 15 students, extended hours, a rigorous curriculum, and…

A survey with open-ended questions investigated the attitudes of 54 urban Chinese teachers about issues related to the functions and benefits of having small classes (for both teachers and students). Findings indicated that most of the urban Chinese teachers preferred teaching small classes. While they perceived small class size as a beneficial…