Small Classes and Academic Achievement

The research problem that was addressed in Nye, Hedges and Konstantopoulos' (2000) study was the determination of the most effective allocation of scarce educational resources. For most schools, one of the most critical decisions is to decide how to distribute instructional staff to the classes, which is in turn related to the determination of class size. More specifically, the research questions that were addressed in this research study were:

What are the effects of small class sizes on academic achievement?

How do the effects of small class sizes influence schools with diverse classes and teacher characteristics?

Data were collected from students from kindergarten to grade three, who were attending 79 elementary schools in 42 Tennessee school districts. In this long-term research study, kindergarten students were first randomly assigned to three conditions: small classes (13-17 students), large classes (22-26 students), or large classes with a classroom aide. Following the changes in the actual composition of the classes from kindergarten to grade 3, the attrition rate and the switching of the students from one class type to another, the researchers assessed the impact of class type on average reading and mathematics achievement test scores (Nye et al.,

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teachers and their mentors' perceptions about teaching? What are the relative effects of the beliefs of both the preservice teachers and their mentors on the conceptual changes of the preservice teachers? In what way do the mentors' teaching and instructional approaches affect the preservice teachers' learning experience? How are the preservice teachers' conceptual changes influenced by the school and classroom settings (Wang & Odell, 2003)? Data were collected from four participants who worked in a one-year field-based elementary teacher certification program - two preservice teachers and their two mentors. Four different types of data were gathered at different stages of the program: First, preservice teachers were asked to complete an initial survey that contained a series of open-ended questions designed to elicit information about their previous teaching experiences and their perceptions about teaching and learning. Another survey, administered at the end of the program, required the preservice teachers to remark on their agreement or disagreement with 24 statements about reading and writing instruction. Depending on the teachers' responses, this survey indicated whether the teachers tended to pursue traditional or r
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Approximate Word count = 1633
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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