MoneyClassSizeMathAchievement

Posted on May 24, 2005 @ 16:29 by CatherineJohnson

This item made my day.

After our school board announced that budgetary constraints had left them no choice but to increase class size in the 4th and 5th grades (from 19 or 20 students per room up to 23 or 24) parents voted in our second double-digit tax increase in a row.

Our fourth and fifth grade classes will remain small.

I was skeptical.

For one thing, I was aware that Asian math classes are far larger than our own.

For another, I was aware that comparative education researcher James Stigler* actually recommends increasing class size as a means of improving math achievement in America. Larger class size would allow American teachers to meet with colleagues in the lesson study groups that are standard practice in high-achieving countries.

But while I knew all this, I hadn’t quite allowed myself to draw the obvious conclusion.

I hadn’t grokked the possibility that if you’re living in a school district where everyone’s clamoring for small class size, and no one’s clamoring for teacher release time, . . . that might be a problem.

So this afternoon I found this analysis of TIMSS data in Education Next:

When other factors are taken into account, higher
spending and smaller class sizes seem to correspond
to inferior mathematics and science results, though
the overall effect is relatively small.

Well, all I’ve got to say is, thank heavens there’s only a small correspondence between high spending, small class size, and inferior mathematics and science results.

Because if there were a large correspondence we’d be in trouble.


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I like this chart, too:

soucre:
Why Students in Some Countries Do Better
by LUDGER WOESSMAN
EDUCATION NEXT

* James Stigler was one of the investigators in the 1999 TIMSS study and is coauthor of The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom by James W. Stigler, James Hiebert and The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education by Harold W. Stevenson, James W. Stigler.

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Comments

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I always wondered about this. It seems anecdotally that there's a negative correlation between expenditures and results in this country, but I've never seen anyone do the actual statistics. I do wonder, though, how well is this controlled for "what $1000 is worth" --- how does the $2000--$3000 in Singapore compare to the $7000--$8000 in Switzerland in terms of buying power?

-- CharlieMartin - 25 May 2005

My kids go to a Montessori school. Part of the educational theory is that the classes are multi-aged, and also on the large size. This is deliberate, so the teacher can't be available all the time. The kids are supposed to turn first to themselves, then to other kids and then to the teacher.

The materials are really expensive though, so I can't say we spend less. . .

-- EmmaAnne - 25 May 2005

EmmaAnne: have a look at CalStateStudyOfGroupLearning for evidence that supports that theory.

-- CarolynJohnston - 25 May 2005

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