IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_9443.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Small Group Instruction to Improve Student Performance in Mathematics in Early Grades: Results from a Randomized Field Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Hans Bonesrønning
  • Henning Finseraas
  • Ines Hardoy
  • Jon Marius Vaag Iversen
  • Ole Henning Nyhus
  • Vibeke Opheim
  • Kari Vea Salvanes
  • Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør
  • Pål Schøne

Abstract

We report results from a large-scale, pre-registered randomized field experiment in 159 Norwegian schools over four years. The intervention includes students aged 7-9 and consists of pulling students from their regular mathematics classes into small, homogenous groups for mathematics instruction for 3 to 4 hours per week, for two periods of 4-6 weeks per school year. All students, not only struggling students, are pulled out. We find that students in treatment schools increased their performance in mathematics by .16 standard deviations at the end of the school year and by .06 standard deviations in national tests 1-2 years later, with no differential effect by pre-ability level or gender. Our study is particularly relevant for policy-makers seeking to use additional teaching resources to target a heterogeneous student population efficiently.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans Bonesrønning & Henning Finseraas & Ines Hardoy & Jon Marius Vaag Iversen & Ole Henning Nyhus & Vibeke Opheim & Kari Vea Salvanes & Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør & Pål Schøne, 2021. "Small Group Instruction to Improve Student Performance in Mathematics in Early Grades: Results from a Randomized Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 9443, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9443
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp9443.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4, June.
    2. Zimmer, Ron, 2003. "A new twist in the educational tracking debate," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 307-315, June.
    3. Simon Calmar Andersen & Louise Beuchert & Helena Skyt Nielsen & Mette Kjærgaard Thomsen, 2020. "The Effect of Teacher's Aides in the Classroom: Evidence from a Randomized Trial," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 469-505.
    4. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    5. Figlio, David N. & Page, Marianne E., 2002. "School Choice and the Distributional Effects of Ability Tracking: Does Separation Increase Inequality?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 497-514, May.
    6. Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & Michael Kremer, 2011. "Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives, and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1739-1774, August.
    7. Torberg Falch & Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør & Bjarne Strøm, 2017. "Do Smaller Classes Always Improve Students’ Long-run Outcomes?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(5), pages 654-688, October.
    8. Caroline M. Hoxby, 2000. "The Effects of Class Size on Student Achievement: New Evidence from Population Variation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1239-1285.
    9. Hainmueller, Jens & Mummolo, Jonathan & Xu, Yiqing, 2019. "How Much Should We Trust Estimates from Multiplicative Interaction Models? Simple Tools to Improve Empirical Practice," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 163-192, April.
    10. Jonathan Guryan & Jens Ludwig & Monica P. Bhatt & Philip J. Cook & Jonathan M. V. Davis & Kenneth Dodge & George Farkas & Roland G. Fryer Jr. & Susan Mayer & Harold Pollack & Laurence Steinberg & Greg, 2023. "Not Too Late: Improving Academic Outcomes among Adolescents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(3), pages 738-765, March.
    11. Edwin Leuven & Hessel Oosterbeek & Marte Rønning, 2008. "Quasi‐experimental Estimates of the Effect of Class Size on Achievement in Norway," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(4), pages 663-693, December.
    12. Peter Fredriksson & Björn Öckert, 2008. "Resources and Student Achievement—Evidence from a Swedish Policy Reform," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(2), pages 277-296, June.
    13. Will Dobbie & Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2013. "Getting beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence from New York City," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 28-60, October.
    14. Omar Al-Ubaydli & John A. List & Dana L. Suskind, 2017. "What Can We Learn from Experiments? Understanding the Threats to the Scalability of Experimental Results," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 282-286, May.
    15. Betts, Julian R., 2011. "The Economics of Tracking 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 7, pages 341-381, Elsevier.
    16. Martin Browning & Eskil Heinesen, 2007. "Class Size, Teacher Hours and Educational Attainment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 109(2), pages 415-438, June.
    17. Edwin Leuven & Sturla A. Løkken, 2020. "Long-Term Impacts of Class Size in Compulsory School," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(1), pages 309-348.
    18. Joshua D. Angrist & Victor Lavy & Jetson Leder-Luis & Adi Shany, 2019. "Maimonides' Rule Redux," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 309-324, December.
    19. Andre Nickow & Philip Oreopoulos & Vincent Quan, 2020. "The Impressive Effects of Tutoring on PreK-12 Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence," NBER Working Papers 27476, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Simon Heß, 2017. "Randomization inference with Stata: A guide and software," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 17(3), pages 630-651, September.
    21. David S. Lee, 2009. "Training, Wages, and Sample Selection: Estimating Sharp Bounds on Treatment Effects," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(3), pages 1071-1102.
    22. Imbens,Guido W. & Rubin,Donald B., 2015. "Causal Inference for Statistics, Social, and Biomedical Sciences," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521885881, September.
    23. Roland G. Fryer Jr. & Meghan Howard-Noveck, 2020. "High-Dosage Tutoring and Reading Achievement: Evidence from New York City," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 421-452.
    24. Lars J. Kirkebøen & Trude Gunnes & Lena Lindenskov & Marte Rønning, 2021. "Didactic methods and small-group instruction for low-performing adolescents in mathematics. Results from a randomized controlled trial," Discussion Papers 957, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Henning Finseraas & Ole Henning Nyhus & Kari Vea Salvanes & Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør, 2024. "Sustained Effects of Small-Group Instruction in Mathematics," CESifo Working Paper Series 11021, CESifo.
    2. Suzanne Bellue & Lukas Mahler, 2024. "Efficiency and Equity of Education Tracking A Quantitative Analysis," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_546, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Simon Calmar Andersen & Louise Beuchert & Phillip Heiler & Helena Skyt Nielsen, 2023. "A Guide to Impact Evaluation under Sample Selection and Missing Data: Teacher's Aides and Adolescent Mental Health," Papers 2308.04963, arXiv.org.
    4. Nicolai T. Borgen & Lars J. Kirkebøen & Andreas Kotsadam & Oddbjørn Raaum, 2022. "Do funds for more teachers improve student outcomes?," Discussion Papers 982, Statistics Norway, Research Department.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicolai T. Borgen & Lars J. Kirkebøen & Andreas Kotsadam & Oddbjørn Raaum, 2022. "Do funds for more teachers improve student outcomes?," Discussion Papers 982, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    2. Adrien Bouguen & Julien Grenet & Marc Gurgand, 2017. "Does class size influence student achievement?," Post-Print halshs-02522747, HAL.
    3. Canaan, Serena & Mouganie, Pierre & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "The Long-Run Educational Benefits of High-Achieving Classrooms," IZA Discussion Papers 15039, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Adrien Bouguen & Julien Grenet & Marc Gurgand, 2017. "Does class size influence student achievement?," Post-Print halshs-02522747, HAL.
    5. Lars J. Kirkebøen & Trude Gunnes & Lena Lindenskov & Marte Rønning, 2021. "Didactic methods and small-group instruction for low-performing adolescents in mathematics. Results from a randomized controlled trial," Discussion Papers 957, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    6. Canaan, Serena, 2020. "The long-run effects of reducing early school tracking," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    7. Maximilian Bach & Stephan Sievert, 2019. "Birth Cohort Size Variation and the Estimation of Class Size Effects," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1817, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Verónica Cabezas & José Ignacio Cuesta & Francisco Gallego, 2021. "Does Short-Term School Tutoring have Medium-Term Effects? Experimental Evidence from Chile," Documentos de Trabajo 565, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    9. Miller, Luke C. & Mittleman, Joel, 2012. "High Schools That Work and college preparedness: Measuring the model's impact on mathematics and science pipeline progression," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1116-1135.
    10. Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2022. "Learning loss and learning recovery," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 49(2), pages 183-188, June.
    11. Landaud, Fanny & Maurin, Eric, 2022. "Tracking When Ranking Matters," IZA Discussion Papers 15157, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Torberg Falch & Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør & Bjarne Strøm, 2017. "Do Smaller Classes Always Improve Students’ Long-run Outcomes?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(5), pages 654-688, October.
    13. Adrien Bouguen & Julien Grenet & Marc Gurgand, 2017. "La taille des classes influence-t-elle la réussite scolaire ?," Post-Print hal-02453596, HAL.
    14. Burgess, Simon, 2016. "Human Capital and Education: The State of the Art in the Economics of Education," IZA Discussion Papers 9885, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Adrien Bouguen & Julien Grenet & Marc Gurgand, 2017. "La taille des classes influence-t-elle la réussite scolaire ?," Post-Print hal-02453596, HAL.
    16. Gortazar, Lucas & Hupkau, Claudia & Roldán-Monés, Antonio, 2024. "Online tutoring works: Experimental evidence from a program with vulnerable children," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    17. Giacomo De Giorgi & Michele Pellizzari & William Gui Woolston, 2012. "Class Size And Class Heterogeneity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 795-830, August.
    18. Joshua D. Angrist & Sarah R. Cohodes & Susan M. Dynarski & Parag A. Pathak & Christopher R. Walters, 2016. "Stand and Deliver: Effects of Boston's Charter High Schools on College Preparation, Entry, and Choice," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 275-318.
    19. Masakazu Hojo, 2011. "Education Production Function and Class-Size Effects in Japanese Public Schools," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd11-194, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    20. Zenou, Yves & Hahn, Youjin & Hassani-Mahmooei, behrooz & Islam, Asad & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2016. "Do Friends Improve Female Education? The Case of Bangladesh," CEPR Discussion Papers 11615, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    education economics; small group instruction; tutoring; tracking; class size; field experiment; intervention; randomized controlled trial; teacher-student ratio; mathematics instruction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9443. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.