Adam Gamoran of the University of Wisconsin-Madison told the American Educational Research Association's 2008 meeting that class sizes appear to help children behave well in school. Gamoran analyzed four studies conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Hong Kong and found that two studies showed kids in smaller classes were more focused and less likely to be badly behaved. The other two studies were inconclusive. Gamoran suggests that some teachers were not using techniques geared toward smaller classes. If they had done this, the benefits of teaching fewer kids at once would likely have been more significant.
Students perform better at school if they are in smaller classes, according to research. The Tennessee Project Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) study found kids achieved higher scores on standardized and curriculum-based tests if they were taught in smaller groups. These effects appeared to continue throughout the child's education regardless of class size, if they had been taught in small groups early on. Other studies in California and Wisconsin found similar results.
Several studies found that disadvantaged and minority groups improved the most through small class sizes. Researcher Harold Wenglinsky found that inner-city students appeared to benefit more than others by learning in smaller classes. Indeed, disadvantaged fourth-grade kids in small classes were three-fourths of a grade level ahead of their peers in larger groups. The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) Program in Wisconsin showed similar findings, with first- and third-grade African-American students improving substantially more than white children until their scores no longer showed an achievement gap.
Some research criticizes the value of cutting down the number of students each teacher educates at a time. Critics point to the cost of providing smaller class sizes. Figures published by the American Educational Research Association in 2003 revealed that the cost of extra teacher salaries for a school of 1,000 students cutting class sizes to 17 from a starting point of 20 was $248,000. If class sizes were being cut from 35, it would cost $899,000 in teacher salaries alone.
Furthermore, a pilot study from the University of Edinburgh found smaller classes to have a negative effect on academic attainment. Scottish students in North Lanarkshire in small classes had lower math scores than their peers in larger groups, while modern studies and chemistry marks did not appear to be affected at all.