Additional Evidence on the Relationship Between Class Size and Student Performance
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THE JOURNAL OF Economic Education FALL2004 VOLUME35 NUMBER4 Research in AdditionalEvidence on the Relationshipbetween Economic Class Size and Student Performance Education J. J. Arias and Douglas M. Walker Economic TeachingAuction Strategy Using Experiments Instruction Administeredvia the Internet John Asker, Brit Grosskopf, C. Nicholas McKinney, MurielNiederle, Alvin E. Roth, and Georg Weizsicker Using NonlinearProgramming in InternationalTrade Theory:The Factor-ProportionsModel John Gilbert Content On the Treatmentof Fixed and Sunk Costs in Articles in PrinciplesTextbooks Economics David Colander On the Treatmentof Fixed and Sunk Costs in PrinciplesTextbooks: A Commentand a Reply X. Henry Wang and Bill Z. Yang Features Maximizingthe Substance in the Soundbite: and A MediaGuide for Economists Information Daniel S. Hamermesh Howto Makea Scene Hal R. Varian The Economist as Public Intellectual R. 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Foreignsubscriptions must be paid in U.S. Mas- MassachusettsInstitute currency.Payment can be chargedto VISA/ of terCard.Supply account number, expiration date, Technology and signature.For subscriptionorders and cus- Myra Strober tomerservice inquiries only, call 1-800-365-9753 (www.heldref.org).Claims for missing issues StanfordUniversity made within six monthswill be servicedfree of charge. q 2004 Helen Dwight Reid Educational ASSISTANT EDITOR Foundation.Copyright is retainedby the author Suzanne R. Becker where noted. Reerhi cnoi dcto In this section, the Journal of Economic Educationpublishes original theoretical and empiricalstudies of economiceducation, dealing with the analysisand evaluationof teachingmethods, learning, attitudes and interests,materials, or processes. PETER KENNEDY, Section Editor Additional Evidence on the Relationship between Class Size and Student Performance J. J. Ariasand Douglas M.Walker Abstract:Much of the economic educationliterature suggests that the principles of economics class size does not significantly affect student performance. However,study methods have variedin terms of the aggregationlevel (studentor class), the measure of performance(TUCE or course letter grade), and the class size measure (e.g., studentswho completed both the TUCE pretest and posttest). The authors perform an experiment with principles students using total exam points as the dependentvariable in a model to explain student performance.By using the same instructorfor all sections, the authorscontrol variationin instruc- tion, lecturematerial, and topic coverage;they also accountfor variationin student abilities. In contrastto many other studies,the authorsfind statisticallysignificant evidence that small class size has a positive impact on studentperformance. Key words: class size, education,testing JEL codes: A22, 121 Students, parents, and administratorsoften believe that smaller university classes are better.'It is probablytrue that studentsin smallerclasses receive more personal attention,are more likely to be known by name by their professors, and may feel more comfortable to ask questions or otherwise participatein class J. J. Arias is an assistant professor of economics, and Douglas M. Walker(e-mail: doug.walker@ gcsu.edu) is an associate professor of economics, both are at Georgia College & State University.The authors are grateful to EsenCBalam, John Jackson,Peter Kennedy,David Laband,John Swinton,and three anonymousreferees for helpful comments. Fall2004 311 discussions. But do students really learn more in small classes? Much of the evidence in the economic education literature suggests the answer to this question is, "No."2 Various methods have been employed in studying the effects of class size on the performanceof economics students.Because each study comes with its own caveats, there is still a need for more evidence and debate. Our purpose in this article is to offer some additionalevidence on how class size and other factors affect learning in the survey of economics class. We conducted a controlled experimentin which the same instructortaught all the sample sections, delivered the same lectures, and used the same exams and grading mechanisms. The only major difference among the classes was their size. LITERATURE REVIEW The intuition behind the idea that smaller classes are better learning environ- ments is well known. In smaller economics classes, interactivediscussions may be used more than lectures, facilitating better "delayed recall" learning (McKeachie 1990, 190-91) and critical thinking (Raimondo, Esposito, and Gershenberg 1990, 371-72). In smaller classes, instructorsknow the students' names, and students may not want to disappointan instructorwho knows them personally (Siegfried and Kennedy 1995, 347, note 1). Lippman (1990, 193) boldly claimed that the class size debate is settled:"There is a strongrelationship between class size and student achievement. [This is] in accord with common sense, intuition, and anecdotalobservation. Small classes are better."3 Siegfried and Kennedy (1995) examined data from the Test of Understanding College Economics (TUCE III) and discussed the issue of pedagogy and class size. They suggested that there are not significant differences in how different class sizes are taught,at least for introductoryeconomics classes. This finding is not surprisingwhen one considers that many faculty members teach principles classes each semester. It seems unlikely that they would adjust the class format each semester simply because of differing class sizes. Siegfried and Kennedy (349-50) confirmedthis with evidence from their sample. The fact that "instruc- tors do not adjusttheir teaching methods to class size" (p. 347) suggests thatclass size should not affect learning.4 Kennedy and Siegfried (1997) presented the most comprehensiveanalysis of class size in economics. They used the TUCE data for almost 200 classes at 53 different universitiesto test a GLS (generalizedleast squares) model explaining scores on the TUCE posttest.5As in their previous work, they concluded that "class size does not affect studentachievement" and furtherthat "class character- istics over which instructorsor departmentchairs have control also do not influ- ence achievement"(p. 385). Siegfried and Walstad(1998) provided a recent and comprehensivereview of the literatureon teaching economics. In discussing the evidence on class size, they concluded that size does not seem to matter,once it rises above 20 students. Still, they indicated the need for more research, for example, comparing per- formance at a variety of differentclass sizes.6 312 JOURNALOF ECONOMIC EDUCATION Contraryto this evidence, Lopus and Maxwell (1995) used the TUCE data but reporteda significantpositive relationshipbetween achievementand class size. They explained, "This could indicate that large classes are efficient, that higher qualityinstitutions in the TUCE III sample offer largerclasses, [that]higher qual- ity instructorsare assigned to teach larger classes"