Are Small Class Sizes More Beneficial For Elementary School Children?

In the elementary education world, there is constantly an ongoing debate about how many students should be in each classroom. Most teachers advocate for smaller class sizes, but schools continue to have class sizes of over 20 students. The average class size for schools in Delaware is 26 students. These larger class sizes are mostly due to financial reasons, but the benefits of small class sizes outweigh the negative higher costs. Having smaller class sizes not only benefits the students, but also the teachers and school. The academic and social benefits for students and teachers of being in a small class size in elementary school is greater than the larger class sizes.

Researchers in Tennessee wanted to prove that smaller class sizes had more benefits to children than larger class sizes, so they created the STAR (Students-Teacher Achievement Ratio) Project. The study randomly assigned over 7,000 students in kindergarten to 79 different schools and class sizes and they stayed in those classroom size groups for all four years of the study. The class sizes the study followed were 13-17 students (small), 22-25 students (regular), and 22-25 students with a full-time teacher’s aid (regular-with-an-aid). The result of this study is that the children in the small classes performed better academically than the children in the regular class sizes (“Smaller Class Sizes Pros and Cons”). The average reading score was 8 percent higher and the math score was 9 percent higher in the class with the smaller size than the regular sizes class (Woods, Darian).

The Star project primarily focuses on the academic benefits of small class sizes. Students believe that teachers who teach small classes tend to have the student do problems or examples in class instead of just learning about it. This also allows the students to figure out what they don’t know in class and allows the teacher to help the student understand that topic. Children are more likely to retain information if they are actively participating and learning in class as opposed to listening to the teacher talk. Participating and asking questions in class can be especially beneficial for young children because they learn it is ok to answer a question even if you are not 100 percent sure of the answer.

Teachers with smaller class sizes usually have fewer behavioral problems. Every class is going to have one child who does not behave, but the fewer people in the class, the fewer people that can pass bad habits around and there is less of a chance that the class will have more than one badly behaved child. Teachers are then able to get farther in their lessons and cover more material than teachers of bigger class sizes. This often leads to their students either having a better understanding of the lesson, or it prepares them for the material they will see later in their life (Chingos, Matthew, and Grover Whitehurst). Between the more one-on-one time children in small class sizes can receive and now covering more material in class, children in smaller classes have more opportunities to learn more and perform better academically than children in larger classes.

Some parents take the average class size for a school into consideration when choosing an elementary school for their child. They believe that these small class sizes will improve their child's academic abilities and later down the road will help their child get accepted into a good college. Most public schools have larger class sizes and those parents truly believe that the education the small class size provides will greatly benefit their child twelve years later.

Now, at this point you are probably wondering if small class sizes are so beneficial then why do most schools still have class sizes on the larger side? Unfortunately, most public schools do not get the funding to decrease class sizes. In order to decrease the class size in a public school, another teacher would have to be hired, and they would have to create a classroom for this new teacher. In the school most public board's opinions, the cost is not worth the reward, but based on many studies and evidence it clearly shows that it is worth it to decrease the class sizes in each elementary school grade.

Even though it may be costly, decreasing class sizes will benefit the children in the education system in the long run. Excellent teachers will stay at larger public schools and private schools will not have as big of an advantage over public schools in the future. Smaller class sizes are the future for children and it will help lay the groundwork for academic success in many students later down the road.