The effect of class size on student achievement: evidence from Bangladesh

This study examines the effect of class size on student achievement in Bangladesh using national secondary school survey data. A Ministry of Education rule regarding allocation of teachers to secondary grades is exploited to construct an instrument for class size. This rule causes a discontinuity between grade enrolment and class size thereby generating exogenous variation in the latter. It is found that OLS and IV estimates of class size effects have perverse signs: both yield a positive coefficient on the class size variable. The results suggest that reduction in class size in secondary grades is not efficient in a developing country like Bangladesh. Last, as by-product, some evidence is found suggesting that greater competition among schools improve student achievement.

Class size and its effect on learning in business education

This thesis explores the multi-dimensional nature of class size and how educational processes are shaped by different class size environments in four undergraduate business courses. Class size significantly influenced how curricula were structured and designed for learning and consequently students' course expectations and learning experiences in large and small classes.

Class size and student evaluations in Sweden

This paper examines the effect of class size on student evaluations of the quality of an introductory mathematics course at Lund University in Sweden. In contrast to much other studies, we find a large negative, and statistically significant, effect of class size on the quality of the course. This result appears to be quite robust, as almost all other influences but class size have effectively been accounted for.

Explaining the effects of class size on faculty and students

This study explored the effects of class size on faculty and students. Specifically, it examined the relationship of class size and students' participation in class, faculty interactive styles, and academic environment and how these behaviors affected student achievement (percentage of students passing). The sample was composed of 629 students in 30 sections of Algebra I at a large, urban community college. A survey was administered to the students to solicit their perceptions on their participation in class, their faculty interaction style, and the academic environment in their classes. Selected classes were observed to triangulate the findings. The relationship of class size to student participation, faculty interactive styles, and academic environment was determined by using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). A significant difference was found on the participation of students related to class size. Students in smaller classes participated more and were more engaged than students in larger classes. Regression analysis using the same variables in small and large classes showed that faculty interactive styles significantly predicted student achievement. Stepwise regression analyses of student and faculty background variables showed that (a) students' estimate of GPA was significantly related to their achievement (r = .63); (b) older students reported more participation than did younger ones, (c) students in classes taught by female, Hispanic faculty earned higher passing grades, and (d) students' participation was greater with adjunct professors. Class observations corroborated these findings. The analysis and observational data provided sufficient evidence to warrant the conclusion that small classes were not always most effective in promoting achievement. It was found that small classes may be an artifact of ineffectual teaching, actual or by reputation. While students in small classes participate and are more engaged than students in larger classes, the class-size effect is essentially due to what happens in instruction to promote learning. The interaction of the faculty with students significantly predicted students' achievement regardless of class size. Since college students select their own classes, students do not register for classes taught by faculty with poor teaching reputation, thereby leading to small classes. Further studies are suggested to determine reasons why classes differ in size.

Class Size Reduction: A Significant Option for Improving Student Learning

Raising academic standards is a driving force behind public school initiatives. True educational reform requires a data-driven approach to choosing valid options for student improvement. We discuss current and continuing research that provides evidence that class size reduction, with related variables, is a significant option for improving student learning.

Class Size Reduction for the State of Florida: Is This the Solution for a Better Education?

Smaller class sizes have a positive impact on student achievement but Florida struggles with the problem of how to achieve smaller classes. Through a review of the literature, this paper discusses some of the programs currently used across the US, with the focus on Florida. Conclusions and implications are presented.

Class Size Matters in Florida

In this paper, the researcher investigates the benefits of using smaller class sizes in Florida as compared to its projected costs. Six class size research studies are analyzed for experimental integrity and generalizability. There is also a discussion of the politics behind the class size movement in Florida.

Size invariant measures of association: characterization and difficulties

A measure of association is row-size invariant if it is unaffected by the multiplication of all entries in a row of a cross-classification table by a same positive number. It is class-size invariant if it is unaffected by the multiplication of all entries in a class (i.e., a row or a column). We prove that every class-size invariant measure of association as-signs to each m x n cross-classification table a number which depends only on the cross-product ratios of its 2 x 2 subtables. We propose a monotonicity axiom requiring that the degree of association should increase after shifting mass from cells of a table where this mass is below its expected value to cells where it is above .provided that total mass in each class remains constant. We prove that no continuous row-size invariant measure of association is monotonic if m ≥ 4. Keywords: association, contingency tables, margin-free measures, size invariance, monotonicity, transfer principle.

Grain-size distributions and bulk chemistry of sediment core MD00-2361

The terrigenous fraction of sediments from a deep-sea sediment core recovered from the northwestern Western Australian continental slope offshore North West Cape, SE Indian Ocean, reveals a history of Western Australian climate throughout the last 550 ka. End-member modelling of a data set of grain-size distributions (n = 438) of the terrigenous sediment fraction allows to interpret the record in terms of aeolian and fluvial sediment deposition, both related to palaeo-environmental conditions in the North West Cape area. The data set can be best described by two aeolian end members and one fluvial one. Changes in the ratio of the two aeolian end members over the fluvial one are interpreted as aridity variations in northwestern Western Australia. These grain-size data are compared with bulk geochemical data obtained by XRF scans of the core. Log-ratios of the elements Zr/Fe and Ti/Ca, which indicate a terrigenous origin, corroborate the grain-size data. We postulate that the mid- to late Quaternary near North West Cape climate was relatively arid during the glacial and relatively humid during the interglacial stages, owing to meridional shifts in the atmospheric circulation system. Opposite to published palaeo-environmental records from the same latitude (20°S) offshore Chile and offshore Namibia, the Australian aridity record does not show the typical southern hemisphere climate variability of humid glacials and dry interglacials, which we interpret to be the result of the relatively large land mass of the Australian continent, which emphasises a strong monsoonal climatic system.