I have to support Michelle's statement. When the choice is between 25 students in a classroom and 35 students in a classroom, I don't need volumes of journals to tell me that the better, more effective choice is to have 25 students in the room. The more one-on-one personalized instruction that a student recieves generally results in higher performance and a better educational experience. Watch out, that is from my own conjecture as well, as I don't have volumes of educational materials at hand to support that statement. There is a very specific reason why colleges and univerisities advertise their student to teacher ratio class sizes (even research univeristies such as the University of Minnesota advertises the fact that over 50% of its classes have less than 20 students in each class). Why? Less competition for attention, more room for academic exploration, and SMALLER CLASSES equal a HIGHER CHANCE of success. The same holds true for K-12.
-Brandon Lacy Campos -Powderhorn Park -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Michael Atherton Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 6:32 AM To: Mpls List Subject: Re: [Mpls] Small class size research--would 2 standard deviations be enough? "Joseph A. Erickson" wrote: > In a recent post to this list, Michael Atherton wrote, > > > I'm not only disputing the volumes of research maintaining the link between > > smaller class sizes and higher student achievement, I'm disputing that any > > large volumes of such research exist. > > While I have neither the time and inclination to do Mr. Atherton's > literature review for him (is that the purpose of a listserv, to get others > to do your research for you?), Benjamin Bloom's classic "2-Sigma" research > program (1984) would be an easy place to start--although it hardly stands > alone in highlighting the utility of small group instruction. Bloom and > students' many years of research on this topic should be plenty of evidence > even if a large body of other findings were not also available. > > Certainly there are other issues that are important for learning outcomes. > The centrality of motivation should hardly be ignored. By all means, let's > be research-based in our approach, but quibbling over this issue makes me > wonder exactly what kind of research WOULD be valid from Mr. Atherton's > point of view? I will certainly take a look at this single 18 year old study (which I assume has been replicated by now). Meanwhile, I will ask Dr. Erickson to explain why the authors of the Scientific American article did not find this study to be conclusive evidence. I think that Dr. Erickson needs to counter more recent evidence to support his position that small classes have an effect on student achievement. And, as Dr. Erickson knows one study does not validate an effect. Is there not a review article in as prestigious a journal as Scientific American that he can suggest, rather and a single older study? As to what type of evidence would be valid ...other than a project like the Tennessee one, I would like to see a nation wide correctional study showing the relationship between class size and achievement in which the covariance for SES is controlled. As I tried to point out in my other post, regardless of what the research say, if smaller class sizes result in cost effective gains for students in Minneapolis I'll get on the bandwagon. Evidence? The POINT is that there is NO evidence that class size reductions are move effective dollar for dollar than other means of increasing student achievement. There is plenty of evidence that reducing class sizes is very expensive and has questionable returns. Please see the Scientific American article. Michael Atherton Prospect Park _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
