How the Sizes of Classrooms Affects Learning

With more students getting enrolled in schools every year, the class sizes change. Some rooms get bigger while others get smaller. Believe it or not, the size of the classroom does effect each individual’s learning. For instance if the class size is big, not everybody will get called on or participate in class. But if the class is small, everyone in the class will get noticed and be participating in class. 

From 1985 to 1989 an experiment called project STAR, or the Tennessee project, took place. 12,000 students and more than 1,200 teachers were randomly assigned classes, starting from kindergarten. The small class with 13-17 kids, the average class with 22-25 kids, and the large class with over 25 kids. They ran this experiment until these kids were in third grade. On average, the students in smaller classrooms had a reading score almost 8 percent higher and an average of 9 percent higher on math scores. Based off of these scores from project STAR, education economists Alan Krueger and Diane Schanzenback say that reducing classes from 22 to 15 will have an average of 5.5 percent return in annual benefits.

But we need to take into account where and how the project took place. It was conducted in larger schools, so the results might not have been so well in the smaller ones. It is also hard to believe that students were truly assigned randomly. Some parents who believed that smaller classes were better, might have fought to get their child into those classrooms. And lastly Tennessee is a below average state for education. So the students that were involved in project STAR may benefit better than in higher educational states.  The results from the Tennessee STAR project sparked the attention of California and Wisconsin. In 1996 California and Wisconsin performed a statewide class size reduction project. Which resulted in California having different results than Wisconsin and Tennessee.

A statistician named Jeremy Finn, of the State University of New York, says “Despite the many studies that show positive effects, research have yet to come up with a consistent, integrated explanation for the gains attributable to reduced class size,”which was published in the journal Review of Educational Research. We also need to take the teachers into account. Many studies have shown that in smaller classrooms teachers tend to have more interactions with their students. But they teach the same way they would if the class size was bigger. In big classrooms, students hide in the back and talk, and the teacher may not notice as fast as they would if the class was smaller. In smaller classrooms, students can’t hide.

“In a big class, everyone in the back are talking and giggling, and the little kids are throwing things at each other. But in a small class, the first thing a teacher says is ‘Let’s all bring our chairs around me here in a circle.’ ” Finn says after visiting classrooms around Buffalo. “Most people I talk to predict that the disruptive kids are the worst, but they’re not.” he goes on to say “The inattentive, withdrawn kids are by far and away poorer students than all the students. If you want to get lost in the back corner, whether your’re disruptive or not … you disconnect yourself from all instruction at all.”

Some students studying at schools where a project called Student Achievement Guarantee in Education, or SAGE. Elizabeth Graue had a question though. If the size of the class effects students behavior, would it work better if the teachers and principals changed what they were doing as well? Increased class size can have a negative affect on teachers because they have more children to watch. Although a bigger class size has its negative effects, it can also have its positive effects. This is because they can’t always rely on the teacher, but on classmates. They can learn to be more social than quiet in a classroom. But it can also have a negative effect. The larger the classroom, the harder it is to do group work. This is because everybody wants to socialize with peers, whether than work. 

Smaller classes also have their disadvantages. If every class is small, there would need to be more teachers and classrooms. And many schools don’t have the funds for this. On the other hand, smaller class sizes have positive effects as well. Teachers are able to get to know their students better and have better control of the students. As a result, students pay attention more and participate in class. They have better results on tests and other worksheets than students in bigger classrooms. 

In closing, class size has an effect on both the teacher and the students. In bigger classrooms(20-25 students) students socialize more, but in smaller classrooms(10-19 students), students participate in classwork and complete more assignments.  So if they both have their own positive effects, does class size truly matter?