Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the influences of calendar year, year level, gender and language background other than English (LBOTE) on student achievement in literacy and numeracy relative to class size. Design/methodology/approach: Data for this study were collected over five years (2008-2012) as test results from the…

Although there has been significant progress in the long term, achievement gaps among the nation's students persist.Many factors have contributed to the disparities in outcomes, and societal changes can explain progress, or lack thereof, over the past few decades.This is well documented in the 2010 Educational Testing Service (ETS) report…

The aim of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions and concerns about the implementation of the preschool curriculum developed over 10 years (2005-2015). This paper reports findings from an interpretive case study design in four preschool settings in Tanzania with 12 teachers and 8 parent participants. Data were generated using interviews…

Underachievement at GCSE level has significant effects on an individual's life chances. Each year, around half of 16-year-olds leave school without having achieved a full level-2 qualification (five GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths). Many of these students enrol on a programme of study at local further education (FE) colleges. Recent…

There is a common perception that private schools achieve higher than public schools. However, recent studies have found that the performance disparity between school types can be accounted for by differences in the population of students attending the different types of schools. Using raw data from the 2015 Secondary Entrance Assessment exam,…

An ideal group size is hard to obtain in small group settings; hence there are groups with more members than others. The purpose of the study was to find out whether group size has any effects on students' mathematics achievement in small group settings. Two third year classes of the 2011/2012 academic year were selected from two schools in the…

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs now requires states to fully disclose the precise steps they will take to ensure better outcomes for students with disabilities. This new requirement can aid educators in implementing effective practices for providing deeper learning opportunities for these students. With the…

When MIT approached Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) to participate in edX, the new Harvard/MIT massive open online course (MOOC) initiative, the administrators reacted with both interest and skepticism. What did MIT have in mind for Bunker Hill Community College? Today at BHCC, the establishment of "Learning Communities" transforms…

Large classes have increasingly become a feature in many countries around the world. This paper presents a two-pronged analysis of this phenomenon, drawing on the political economy of higher education as well as the sociology of knowledge to contribute to a principled discussion about why we have large classes, and when a large class is too large.…

We analyze class-size effects on academic achievement in secondary school in Denmark exploiting an institutional setting where pupils cannot predict class size prior to enrollment, and where post-enrollment responses aimed at affecting realized class size are unlikely. We identify class-size effects combining a regression discontinuity design with…

Background/Context: The effects of class size on student achievement have gained considerable attention in education research and policy, especially over the last 30 years. Perhaps the best evidence about the effects of class size thus far has been produced from analyses of Project STAR data, a large-scale experiment where students and teachers…

Studies of inquiry- and context-based science education (IC-BaSE) have shown that teachers find these approaches problematic. In this study, 12 primary school teachers' reflections on challenges related to IC-BaSE are explored. The aim of the study was to investigate which challenges primary teachers experience when working with IC-BaSE and how…

Class size reduction policies have been widely implemented around the world in recent years. However, findings about the effects of class size on student achievement have been mixed. This study examines class size effects on fourth-grade mathematics achievement in 14 European countries using data from TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and…

The "field trip" is a key pedagogical tool within geographical education to encourage deep learning, though they are increasingly difficult to implement due to reduced budgets, safety concerns and increasing class sizes. We incorporated three field-learning activities into a large introductory module. A traditional staff-led trip was the…

Focusing on China's current education reform, this article critically discusses how contextual factors, specifically sociocultural factors and resources, assist and constrain Chinese educators in their attempt to develop dynamic and inviting classroom communities. Three main findings are highlighted in this article, the first being that the…