Class Size
Note: This is by no means intended to be an exhaustive look at this subject matter. Rather, it is a description of why we found homeschool to be a compelling alternative for our children when we considered the class size issue. The linked resources are a minor, but relevant subset of the available information on how class size influences student performance.
It seems intuitively obvious that as the size of a class gets smaller, a teacher can grant more individual attention to each student. That is true, but in a way that really surprised me. From what I have been able to garner, the correlation between small class size and performance does not really start to improve until class size has dropped to fifteen or fewer students. When the class size drops to that level, the teacher has sufficient time for one-on-one tutoring to improve the performance of the class as a whole. If the class size is larger than fifteen, there is appears to be no such effect.
One-on-one tutoring has been shown in some studies to have a significant effect on performance while very small group tutoring has a less significant effect. This is one such study. This paper describes the effect of smaller class size on improving performance, not only because of smaller group instruction tailored to the needs of small sub-groups, but because of one-on-one individualized instruction and the reduction of disciplinary problems due to the closer relationship the teacher has time to develop with the individual students. These are exactly the type of benefits you would expect to see in a class of four or fewer homeschool students.
One of the largest and most important studies on whether performance can be improved by class size reduction was a four year longitudinal study performed in Tennesse called Project STAR. There is a good deal of controversy about how the report was interpreted. Some say it shows that smaller class sizes improve performance, but others who have looked at the same data argue it shows just the opposite. The bigger point, though, is that the smallest class sizes for which data were reported were classes with between thirteen and seventeen students. That is right at the boundary where we expect the teacher to start having enough time to provide sufficient one-on-one tutoring to cause statistically significant improvements in standardized test scores for the whole class. Here are some additional links to studies and surveys that describe the correlation between small class size and academic performance:
- Does Smaller Class Size Improve Student Performance? A Brief Review of the Empirical Literature
- Do Small Classes Influence Academic Achievement? What the National Assessment of Educational Progress Shows
- California Class Size Report
- The Evidence on Class Size. Occasional Paper.
Conclusion: The abilities of the teacher to provide one-on-one tutoring and to get to know and understand the needs of the individual students appear to be the greatest contributors to improved student performance when class size is considered. Most homeschools have less than five students which provides for a level of one-on-one tutoring rarely available in public or even private school settings. Parents as teachers can know and understand the needs of their children better than teachers in typical public school settings. We view these small class size advantages as very compelling reasons to homeschool our children.
Next: Socialization