Class Size Education

The Impact of the Class Size in Academic Success

Education is the most valuable investment a country can do in its citizens. The foundation of developed countries is based on their educated nations. When people get educated, they become better and productive citizens. With the extension of education in a country, its people improve socially and economically, and may change their cultural attitudes. Nowadays, every country around the globe tries to advance its education. There are many factors that can impact the improvement of education and each one of these factors must be considered important in regards to the educational advancement. One of the most influential and important factor among these is the class size. Small classroom greatly

However, there are some analysts who criticize STAR and its proponents. One of them is Eric Hanushek of Stanford University’s Hoover institute. Hanushek admits that pupils can obtain primary benefits from small classrooms. But, he argues that the STAR project outcomes cannot guarantee that the students’ academic success will continue when they return to the normal-sized classes. On the other hand, Nye et.al (2001) writes “our analysis of the data collected by the Lasting Benefits Study demonstrate that the positive effects of small classes in early grades resulted in mathematics achievement gains that persisted at least through Grade 9.” (p.255). Nye et.al (2001) also insured that the effects of small classes were long lasting for all types of students in different kinds of schools, but the effects of small classrooms were stronger for minority students. Moreover, Nye et.al (2001) provides evidence that shows small classrooms effects do not disappear overtime but confer on students from early grade classes’ achievement benefits that continue until the high school. With that in mind, Jespen and Rivkin (2009) argued “overall, the findings suggest that CSR increased achievement in the early grades for all demographic groups, and an important question is whether the benefits justify the substantial cost.” (p.247). According to Jespen and Rivkin, targeted state

In some developed Asian countries, classes are very large with high numbers of pupils and the students achieve more academic success in these classes compare to students in smaller classes in other countries. Analysts and researchers have addressed the importance of cultural factors in academic achievements. According to Zorpette (2001) there is a lower rate of divorce among Asian parents compare to the American parents and Asian parents are likely to have more involvement in their children’s education. Therefore, he claims that these two cultural factors are important in the academic success of Asian students. In addition, Catherine Lewis an expert on the Japanese educational system and a senior researcher at Mills College, in regards to the academic success of Asian pupils says “There is an incredibly strong emphasis on class, group and school being meaningful entities for the children.” The analysis of Zorpette and Lewis shows that culture can be also an effective factor in academic success of