Are Class Size Differences Related to Pupils' Educational Progress and Classroom Processes? Findings from the Institute of Education Class Size Study of Children Aged 5-7 Years

By P. Blatchford, P. Bassett, Harvey Goldstein, Clare Martin. 2003

159 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Despite evidence from the USA that children in small classes of less than 20 do better academically there is still a vociferous debate about the effects of class size differences in schools, and considerable gaps in our understanding of the effects of class size differences. This article summarises results from the most complete UK analysis to date of the educational consequences of class size differences. The study had two aims: first, to establish whether class size differences affect pupils’ academic achievement; and second, to study connections between class size and classroom processes, which might explain any differences found. The study had a number of features that were designed to be an improvement on previous research. It used an ‘observational’ approach, rather than an interventionist one, in order to capture the nature of the relationship between class size and achievement across the full range of observed classes, and it employed a longitudinal design with baseline assessment to adjust for po...

Subfields: Education

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d5b31551413aaeb7e7e846a453f87a731f70f01c

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Education

1. P. Brown
2. P. Bassett
3. P. Blatchford
4. A. Russell
5. Clare Martin
6. R. Webster
7. Graham Hobbs
8. A. Vignoles

Citations in the corpus

• Examining the effect of class size on classroom engagement and teacher–pupil interaction: Differences in relation to pupil prior attainment and primary vs. secondary schools (2011, background): “Research has found that effects of class size on academic outcomes can vary by pupil characteristics such as prior attainment level, disadvantage and minority group status (Blatchford et al., 2003; Ehrenberg et al., 2001; Finn&Achilles, 1999; Molnar et al., 1999).”
• The effect of class size on the teaching of pupils aged 7 – 11 years (2007, methodology): “examine connections between class size and pupil attainment (for KS1 see Blatchford et al., 2003; for KS2 see Blatchford, Bassett, Brown, Martin, & Russell, 2004) and also relationships with other classroom processes, such as student engagement, within-class grouping, and peer relations (for KS1 s”
• The impact of support staff on pupils’ ‘positive approaches to learning’ and their academic progress (2011, methodology): “Moreover, the DISS Strand 2 Wave 1 case studies (Blatchford et al., 2008) and the CSPAR study (Blatchford et al., 2004) indicate that change in support over the year tends not to happen with any frequency.”
• Is Free School Meal Status a Valid Proxy for Socio- Economic Status (in Schools Research)? (2007, background): “Studies of the effects of class size (Blatchford et al., 2003); 6.”
• Is children’s free school meal ‘eligibility’ a good proxy for family income? (2010, background): “…on school effectiveness (Sammons et al., 1993; Strand, 1997), and on the effects of selective versus comprehensive schooling (Atkinson et al., 2006), class size (Blatchford et al., 2003), ability grouping (Ireson & Hallam, 2001), pupil mobility (Strand & Demie, 2006) and ethnicity (Strand, 1999).”
• The role and effects of teaching assistants in English primary schools (Years 4 to 6) 2000–2003. Results from the Class Size and Pupil–Adult Ratios (CSPAR) KS2 Project (2004, methodology): “The KS2 study had the same longitudinal, mixed method and multi-informant design as the KS1 study (see Blatchford et al, 2003), with data collection organised around a common set of objectives and themes.”
• The effect of support staff on pupil engagement and individual attention (2009, background): “There is evidence from interventions in schools, such as class size reductions, that the youngest pupils benefit most in terms of academic outcomes (Finn & Achilles, 1999; Blatchford et al., 2003).”