Research Paper - Class Size
Class size is a very popular topic that is greatly research through out educational settings. Class size deals with how many students are in the classroom at once. Class size can vary greatly. It can depended on the location of the school, where the more rural areas have only one high school while in a city environment there could be twenty-three high schools in one area. Location also depends on the amount of population in that area. Class size also can depend on the level of schooling. Such as in a major university there could be two hundred students in one class, while in a local elementary school there is only eighteen students in one class. Class size can depend on what kind of class is being taught. In
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It also can deal with how much the student as learn and understanding of the information. Many of times academic achievement is shown by grades that are given out by the teacher. The teacher gets these grades by test and assignments the students perform by using the information they gain in class. Academic achievement is very important and all schools want everyone student to have high academic achievement.
Depending on the class size academic achievement can either be positive or negative. Positive academic achievement means the student is learning and understanding the information and can use it effectively. While negative academic achievement is that the student does not understand the information that is being given to them, which results in not being able to use the information they learn. This will lead failure in tests or assignments.
In one research study in Tennessee researchers had elementary grade students attended the same size class for four years. The one class had more then twenty students while the other class had only fifteen students. After each year of the study the students took the Stanford Achievement Test battery and received separate scores for reading, word-study skills, and mathematics. At the end of the test they found out that the students in the smaller class of fifteen students were 0.5 months ahead of the other students by the end of kindergarten, 1.9 months ahead of the other students at the end of 1st grade, 5.6 months ahead of
What is considered a small class size verses a large one? Different research teams displayed different terms for class sizes. This detail can make an enormous difference in the researcher’s outcome. Project STAR defined small classroom sizes into two categories: 13 to 17 students, one teacher, and 22 to 26 taught by a teacher and teacher aide. A larger
Researchers studies on the class size have differed. Some have found no significant impact; others have discovered that student achievement declines slightly as class size increases. More recently, others have found that students in a smaller class learn more because of the size and one-on-one time. Medium classes have
In every teacher or parent survey the number one thing that most parents and teachers are worried about is class size because most adults want their student or kid to have a small class size so then he or she gets all the support they can. New York city schools, has said class size and teaching improvement is something very important because having a big amount of students in one class will be a distraction for others. Many schools agree. Overcrowding schools is a big
Class size has a significant effect on education and should be taken into consideration when adding students to a particular course. Schools seemingly do not care too much about class size, but it could also be their inability to do anything about it. The size of schools are quite big, so trying to make smaller class sizes means having more classes available, which means hiring more teachers, which means needing more space, all which require money that the school most likely does not have. Class size has been one of the main deciding factors when it comes to differentiating good and bad schools. When faced with the decision of attending a public or private school, class size inevitably comes up, and usually as a benefit; this misconception
In recent years, the topic of class size reduction has come to light in the United States. "There is little doubt that reducing class size can boost student achievement in some circumstances," Matthew Chingos of the Brookings Institution Brown Center says. Class size reduction is becoming more and more demanded to help meet the needs of todays society and education. According to the Center For Public Education, 'student achievement in grades K-3 increased when the class size dropped'. Class size reduction has been debated about for years in the US and is now being extensively studied. Class size reduction continues to have positive affects on school districts and is now more commonly practiced in the United States because of the high
The classes more discussion-oriented and students are expected to be ready to discuss reading and assignments each class. Most college students feel more comfortable asking for help in smaller class size. In addition, the teacher better understands student strengths and weaknesses. Also, teachers are more apt to help students and it is easier to class become a group of friends. However, in large college, the quality of understanding with professor is not as good and attendance is less likely to count toward your grade. Nonetheless, some people think it is more important to learn from famous professors than to have a small class. According to Stephen Pemberton, class size can make a difference in your education. (“The importance of class size, Match 09, 2009). Conversely, according to Mark Montgomery, educational consultant, smaller classes are taught by the least effective teachers.
Grades cause students from various schools to look almost identical on paper. Two students may both receive high marks in a particular class, but if the student are from different schools from different financial regions, further analysis can prove that these students are not of the same level of academic ability. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is test to measure the abilities of student in the same grades from various regions. An analysis of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress by the New America Foundation shows that “a higher percentage of 4th graders in the Northeastern United States and the Midwest scored proficient or above in math on NAEP than in the South and the West” (4th Grade Math). Although students in the Northeast and Midwest scored better on the exam, students from the South and West may have received the same grades as the students in the other regions. The sense of achievement that students from poorer regions receive from their grades is disappear since the results of standardized test show how these students actually compare with other students. This harsh reality becomes part of a continuing cycle as elementary students move on to secondary
When measuring student achievement and administering standardized tests, policy writers, educators, parents, and students need to be reminded of Albert Einstein’s advice that “not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” Students would benefit more from school by lowering the number of standardized tests they are required to take before the age of fourteen. Local, state, and federal governments can measure student’s knowledge and achievements using other performance measures. Standardized tests are not an accurate source for establishing how much a child knows and what they learn each year.
The performance rate of schools in the United States compared to those in other countries speaks for itself. “Most of students of the American schools and colleges perform much below the average level. When compared with the students of 21 different industrialized countries, the twelfth graders of America ranks 19th in mathematics achievement and
While placed in a big classroom can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. According to the text, Does Class Size Matter? Teachers, parents of students, and the principal of New York’s Forest Hills High School, believes that big classrooms
Standardized tests do not give us a complete and direct measure of student achievement because they often only measure the goals of education(Harris). And while teachers and administration are forced to increase preparation for these tests, important -arguably more important - skills are being overlooked. Here are some attributes that standardized tests do not even try to cover: creativity, motivation, persistence, curiosity, reliability, critical thinking, self-awareness, leadership, civic-mindedness, empathy, courage, compassion, sense of beauty and wonder, honesty and integrity. Surely these are all “achievements” that students should be experiencing, so why don’t schools these as well as academic goals? Rochelle Gutiérrez, a member of The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics says "Achievement—all the outcomes that students and teachers attain. Achievement is more than test scores but also includes class participation, students' course-taking patterns, and teachers' professional development patterns"(Harris). These are all qualities that standardized tests cannot measure.
Moore argues that many schools are focusing more on building self-esteem rather than education standards in students. Self-esteem comes within you. Whereas, grades emanate from, how much the students gain knowledge through classes. The author believes that through the low grades, the students can improve their performance by evaluating academic their performance. I completely agree with him, as grades help them to know how to improve their standards and also how to give their best in future.
It is pretty apparent that in America, and elsewhere, most parents and general adults want what is best for their children in terms of education. This mindset can be seen reflected in the legislative aspects of our education system; there are many incentives pushing through the school boards and legislatures of our nation in order to attempt to further refine the education system. This is important as it allows us to refine traditional American education in order to improve upon it, and one of these attempt refinements and improvements has to deal with the subject of class size. For many people, large classroom sizes are a spawning ground for many issues with the education system: high distraction in the classroom, teacher inefficiency, among a plethora of others. Although it may seem regressive to favor small classes over bigger, more potentially diverse classes, small class sizes are more beneficial for education in that it is less distracting for the students and raises the possibility of staying focused, it potentially raises teacher-student relationships, and it allows for better results and better statistics coming from these smaller classes.
teachers over the next seven years to help reduce class sizes to reach the national
Finally, achieving a high grade in college is more difficult than in high school. In high school, grades are easier to achieve and there are greater opportunities for marks. Usually, a student is graded on many different areas, including; attendance, participation, effort, and organization. Also, students are graded on evaluations and assignments. These are the areas which are graded, and these account for a large portion of the final