Research in Tennessee

In 1984 the Tennessee state legislature passed the Comprehensive Education Reform Act (CERA). Components of this piece of legislation included sections, which addressed the teaching of basic skills and computer skills to students, the provision of merit pay and career ladders for teachers, and the establishment of Centers of Excellence in higher education, which began to focus on improving the teaching of basic skills in K-12 education.

Tennessee State University Study

One of the initial activities of the Center for Excellence founded at Tennessee State University was a study of the effects of a pupil/teacher ratio of 15:1 on students in grades 1-3. This project, begun in August 1984, focused on four kinds of student outcomes: achievement in reading and mathematics, behavior, attendance, and self-concept. The researchers also collected information on such teacher variables as attitudes and use of time. Seven first-grade classes, serving a total of 105 students, were created in an experimental school in Nashville. One control group consisted of 90 first-graders enrolled in a school serving a population similar to that of the experimental school. A second, blind control group of 105 students was chosen from among first-graders enrolled in 35 other elementary schools in metropolitan Nashville. Each subject in the blind control group was matched to a subject in the experimental group according to five preselected criteria.

To assess quantitative differences, researchers utilized the California Achievement Test; a comparison of pre- and post-test scores in reading an mathematics "showed statistically significant gains favoring students in the experimental groups." Even though pupil achievement was a major focus of the study, teachers provided valuable qualitative information as well. For instance, they agreed that:

"smaller classes were quieter, with few student interruptions;
students in smaller classes showed more appreciation for one another and more desire to participate in classroom activities;
potential disciplinary problems could be identified and resolved more quickly;
more learning activities took place, and students participated more often in them;
teachers had more time to monitor students' on-task behavior during the instructional process, and they were able to provide quicker and more thorough feedback to students, to reteach concepts as needed, and to provide in-depth instruction;
greater individualization of instruction in the smaller classes significantly reduced the need for reteaching; and
greater interaction among students helped them understand one another and increased their desire to assist one another."

Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project

The study by Tennessee State University was instrumental in the Tennessee legislature's decision to investigate the issue of class-size on pupils in grades K-3 statewide. In 1985 the state's general assembly funded a major study and invited all Tennessee school systems to participate in the Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project.

Seventy-nine schools in 42 systems were selected to be part of a four-year longitudinal study. Student achievement and development were analyzed in three types of classrooms: (1) small, one teacher with a range of 13 to 17 students; (2) regular, one teacher with a range of 22 to 25 students, and (3) regular-with-aide, one teacher with a range of 22 to 25 students and a full-time teacher aide. Participating schools agreed to not group students by ability and to assign teachers and students at random to one of the three kinds of classrooms. The 79 schools were classified according to four locations: inner-city, rural, suburban, and urban. Beginning with kindergartners in 1985-86 and ending with these children as third-graders in 1988-89, more than 6,000 students were involved each year.

Project STAR included a "within-school" design. Each of the 79 schools was required to have at least 57 students at the appropriate grade level and thus contain at least one of each type of class (small, regular, regular/aide). This design "reduced major sources of possible variation in student achievement attributable to school effects (i.e., community demographics, principal leadership, instructional materials, etc.)."

To measure student achievement, the study used the appropriate parts of the Stanford Achievement Test (K-3), STAR's Basic Skills Criterion Test (grades 1-2), and Tennessee's Basic Skills Criterion Test (grade 3). The Self-Concept and Motivation Inventory (SCAMIN) measured student development.

Overall findings of Project STAR indicated a "significant (statistically and educationally) achievement advantage (specifically in reading and mathematics) for students in small classes. The most pronounced effect occurred in the first grade.... Students in small classes consistently outperformed students in regular and regular-with-aide classes on all sub-scores of both achievement measures at every grade level (K-3), and in all four school-type locations."

Lasting Benefits Study (LBS)

To determine if the achievement gains realized as a result of small-class participation in Project STAR were maintained by students in later grades, the Tennessee Department of Education contracted with the Center of Excellence for Research in Basic Skills, at Tennessee State University, to conduct a longitudinal follow-up study. All Project STAR students had returned to regular-sized classes beginning with the fourth grade. The Lasting Benefits Study (LBS) tracked the gains made by these students in the primary grades and assessed their lasting benefits on students' performance, as measured by state achievement tests in later grades.

The LBS used the Tennessee Comprehensive Achievement Program (TCAP) to measure academic achievement. The instrument was chosen because Tennessee requires all its schools to administer the TCAP at grades 2 through 8 and at grade 10. The TCAP, including both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced testing components, thus proved to be a consistent measure across schools.

The fourth-grade LBS results indicated that students who had been in Project STAR small classes continued to outperform those students who had been in regular and regular-with-aide classes on all achievement measures and across all school locations. Results of the analyses of students' fifth-and sixth-grade years showed that small-class students consistently did better than their peers who had been in the other two kinds of classes.

During their seventh-grade year (1992-93), "students previously in a small-size Project STAR classes demonstrated that they had statistically significant advantages over students who were in other class types on every set of measurements.... Students from the small classes retained an academic advantage over students from regular and regular-with aide classes. The positive effects from involvement in a small-size class still remain pervasive four-full years after students returned to regular-size classes.... The statistically significant advantages for LBS seventh-grade students, who had been in Project STAR small classes, form a strong pattern of consistency. Small-class students outperformed regular and regular-with aide class students on every academic measure."

Such findings have led Donald Orlich to refer to Project STAR as "the most significant educational research done in the U.S. during the past 25 years" (Phi Delta Kappan, 1991). Jeremy Finn, a nationally recognized educational statistician with the National Center for Educational Statistics, and his colleagues have written that the research provides "unambiguous evidence of a significant class-size effect" and the "few classroom-level interventions have been identified that have a consistent impact of this sort."

More information about the Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio Project and about the Lasting Benefits Study may be obtained by contacting Jayne Zaharias, Center of Excellence for Research in Basic Skills, Tennessee State University, 330 Tenth Avenue North, Suite J, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, (615) 963-7238.

References:

Finn, Jeremy D., et al. (1990). Three Years in a Small Class. Teaching & Teacher Education, 6(2): 127-136.

Nye, Barbara A., et al. (1994). The Lasting Benefits Study: A continuing analysis of the effect of small class size in kindergarten through third grade on student achievement test scores in subsequent grade levels: seventh grade (1992-93) technical report. Nashville: Center of Excellence for Research in Basic Skills, Tennessee State University.

Nye, Barbara A., et al. (1994). Policy and Practice Brief (No.0004). Nashville: Center of Excellence for Research in Basic Skills, Tennessee State University.

Nye, Barbara A., et al. (1992). Smaller Classes Really Are Better. The American School Board Journal, 179 (5):31-33.

Pate-Bain, Helen, et al. (1992). Class Size Does Make a Difference. Phi Delta Kappan, 74 (3): 253-256.

Pate-Bain, Helen and C.M. Achilles (1986). Interesting Developments on Class Size. Phi Delta Kappan, 67 (9): 662-665

Word, Elizabeth, et al. (1990). Project STAR: Final Executive Summary Report, Kindergarten through Third Grade (1985-1989). Nashville: Tennessee State Department of Education.

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