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Class Size And Student Achievement: Experimental Estimates Of Who Benefits And Who Loses From Reductions

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  • Steven Lehrer

Abstract

Class size proponents draw heavily on the results from Project STAR to support their initiatives. Adding to the political appeal of these initiative are reports that minority and economic disadvantaged students receive the largest benefits. To explore and truly understand the heterogeneous impacts of class size and student achievement requires more flexible estimation approaches. We consider several semi and nonparametric strategies and find strong evidence that i) higher ability students gain the most from class size reductions while many low ability students do not benefit from these reductions, ii) there are no significant benefits in reducing class size from 22 to 15 students in any subject area, iii) no additional benefits from class size reductions for minority or disadvantaged students, iv) significant heterogeneity in the effectiveness of class size reductions across schools and in parental and school behavioural responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Lehrer, 2005. "Class Size And Student Achievement: Experimental Estimates Of Who Benefits And Who Loses From Reductions," Working Paper 1046, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    • Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1046
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    File URL: https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/qed_wp_1046.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alan B. Krueger, 2003. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 34-63, February.
    2. Alan B. Krueger, 1999. "Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 497-532.
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    5. Eric A. Hanushek, "undated". "The Evidence on Class Size," Wallis Working Papers WP10, University of Rochester - Wallis Institute of Political Economy.
    6. Edward P. Lazear, 2001. "Educational Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 777-803.
    7. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-1177, September.
    8. Steven Lehrer & Weili Ding, 2004. "Estimating Dynamic Treatment Effects from Project STAR," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 252, Econometric Society.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rodrigues, Clarissa Guimarães & Rios-Neto, Eduardo Luiz Gonçalves & de Xavier Pinto, Cristine Campos, 2013. "Changes in test scores distribution for students of the fourth grade in Brazil: A relative distribution analysis for the years 1997–2005," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 227-242.
    2. Gregory A. Gilpin & Anton Bekkerman, 2012. "Cost-effective hiring in US high schools: estimating optimal teacher quantity and quality decisions," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(14), pages 1421-1424, September.
    3. Meghir, Costas & Rivkin, Steven, 2011. "Econometric Methods for Research in Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 1, pages 1-87, Elsevier.
    4. Ryan Bosworth, 2014. "Class size, class composition, and the distribution of student achievement," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 141-165, April.
    5. Graham J. McKee & Steven G. Rivkin & Katharine R.E. Sims, 2010. "Disruption, Achievement and the Heterogeneous Benefits of Smaller Classes," NBER Working Papers 15812, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Rui Wang, 2023. "Point Identification of LATE with Two Imperfect Instruments," Papers 2303.13795, arXiv.org.
    7. Weili Ding & Steven Lehrer, 2011. "Experimental estimates of the impacts of class size on test scores: robustness and heterogeneity," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 229-252.
    8. Fan, Yanqin & Park, Sang Soo, 2010. "Confidence sets for some partially identified parameters," MPRA Paper 37149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Trine Filges & Christoffer Scavenius Sonne‐Schmidt & Bjørn Christian Viinholt Nielsen, 2018. "Small class sizes for improving student achievement in primary and secondary schools: a systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 1-107.
    10. Anton Bekkerman & Gregory Gilpin, 2011. "Cost-Effective Hiring in U.S. High Schools: Estimating Optimal Teacher Quantity and Quality Decisions," Caepr Working Papers 2011-007, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Economics Department, Indiana University Bloomington.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Class size; Academic performance; Project STAR; Economic disadvantaged students; Minority students;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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