IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jedbes/v36y2011i2p154-185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Causal Effect of Class Size on Academic Achievement

Author

Listed:
  • Yongyun Shin

    (Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA)

  • Stephen W. Raudenbush

    (Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, IL, USA)

Abstract

This article addresses three questions: Does reduced class size cause higher academic achievement in reading, mathematics, listening, and word recognition skills? If it does, how large are these effects? Does the magnitude of such effects vary significantly across schools? The authors analyze data from Tennessee’s Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio study (STAR) of 1985, where students and teachers are randomly assigned to a small or regular class. The authors propose a three-level multivariate simultaneous equation model with an instrumental variable (IV) and estimation via maximum likelihood (ML) to analyze the data under an assumption of data missing at random (MAR). The IV, random assignment of students to a small or regular class, reduces class size which, by hypothesis, improves academic achievement in these domains. The authors extend Rubin’s Causal Model (RCM) by involving a modified Stable Unit Treatment Value Assumption (SUTVA), requiring no interference between classrooms and intact schools. The method accommodates data with a general missing pattern and extracts full information for analysis from the STAR data. The authors investigate both homogenous and heterogenous causal effects of class size on academic achievement scores across schools. The results show that reducing class size improves reading, mathematics, listening, and word recognition test scores from kindergarten to third grade, although the effects appear relatively small in second grade. The authors find no evidence that the causal effects vary across schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Yongyun Shin & Stephen W. Raudenbush, 2011. "The Causal Effect of Class Size on Academic Achievement," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 36(2), pages 154-185, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:36:y:2011:i:2:p:154-185
    DOI: 10.3102/1076998610388632
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/1076998610388632
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3102/1076998610388632?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alan B. Krueger, 1999. "Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 497-532.
    2. Constantine E. Frangakis & Donald B. Rubin, 2002. "Principal Stratification in Causal Inference," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 21-29, March.
    3. Hong, Guanglei & Raudenbush, Stephen W., 2006. "Evaluating Kindergarten Retention Policy: A Case Study of Causal Inference for Multilevel Observational Data," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 101, pages 901-910, September.
    4. Frangakis, Constantine E. & Brookmeyer, Ronald S. & Varadhan, Ravi & Safaeian, Mahboobeh & Vlahov, David & Strathdee, Steffanie A., 2004. "Methodology for Evaluating a Partially Controlled Longitudinal Treatment Using Principal Stratification, With Application to a Needle Exchange Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 99, pages 239-249, January.
    5. Minzhi Liu & Jeremy M. G. Taylor & Thomas R. Belin, 2000. "Multiple Imputation and Posterior Simulation for Multivariate Missing Data in Longitudinal Studies," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 56(4), pages 1157-1163, December.
    6. Harvey Goldstein & Min Yang & Rumana Omar & Rebecca Turner & Simon Thompson, 2000. "Meta‐analysis using multilevel models with an application to the study of class size effects," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 49(3), pages 399-412.
    7. Krueger, Alan B & Whitmore, Diane M, 2001. "The Effect of Attending a Small Class in the Early Grades on College-Test Taking and Middle School Test Results: Evidence from Project STAR," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(468), pages 1-28, January.
    8. Kenneth Bollen, 1996. "An alternative two stage least squares (2SLS) estimator for latent variable equations," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 61(1), pages 109-121, March.
    9. Bob Thompson, 2008. "Liveability," ERES eres2008_275, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    10. Yongyun Shin & Stephen W. Raudenbush, 2007. "Just-Identified Versus Overidentified Two-Level Hierarchical Linear Models with Missing Data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 1262-1268, December.
    11. Guido W. Imbens & Donald B. Rubin, 1997. "Estimating Outcome Distributions for Compliers in Instrumental Variables Models," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 555-574.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matej Opatrny & Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Milan Scasny, 2023. "Publication Bias and Model Uncertainty in Measuring the Effect of Class Size on Achievement," Working Papers IES 2023/19, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised May 2023.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yongyun Shin, 2012. "Do Black Children Benefit More From Small Classes? Multivariate Instrumental Variable Estimators With Ignorable Missing Data," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 37(4), pages 543-574, August.
    2. Steven Lehrer & Weili Ding, 2004. "Estimating Dynamic Treatment Effects from Project STAR," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 252, Econometric Society.
    3. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2021. "Answering causal questions using observational data," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2021-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    4. Wo[ss]mann, Ludger & West, Martin, 2006. "Class-size effects in school systems around the world: Evidence from between-grade variation in TIMSS," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 695-736, April.
    5. Andersson, Christian, 2007. "Teacher density and student achievement in Swedish compulsory schools," Working Paper Series 2007:4, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    6. Giacomo De Giorgi & Michele Pellizzari & William Gui Woolston, 2012. "Class Size And Class Heterogeneity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 795-830, August.
    7. Gilpin, Gregory A., 2012. "Teacher salaries and teacher aptitude: An analysis using quantile regressions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 15-29.
    8. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally, 2012. "The Evaluation of English Education Policies," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 219(1), pages 15-25, January.
    9. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Martina Viarengo, 2018. "Changing How Literacy Is Taught: Evidence on Synthetic Phonics," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 217-241, May.
    10. Heinesen, Eskil, 2004. "Determinants of local public school expenditure: a dynamic panel data model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 429-453, July.
    11. Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser, 2005. "Targeted Remedial Education for Underperforming Teenagers: Costs and Benefits," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(4), pages 839-874, October.
    12. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hilger & Emmanuel Saez & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan, 2011. "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project Star," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1593-1660.
    13. Masakazu Hojo, 2011. "Education Production Function and Class-Size Effects in Japanese Public Schools," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd11-194, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    14. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Costas Meghir, 2010. "Resources and Standards in Urban Schools," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(4), pages 365-393.
    15. Laura Forastiere & Patrizia Lattarulo & Marco Mariani & Fabrizia Mealli & Laura Razzolini, 2021. "Exploring Encouragement, Treatment, and Spillover Effects Using Principal Stratification, With Application to a Field Experiment on Teens’ Museum Attendance," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 244-258, January.
    16. Marie Connolly & Catherine Haeck, 2018. "Le lien entre la taille des classes et les compétences cognitives et non cognitives," CIRANO Project Reports 2018rp-18, CIRANO.
    17. Simone Dobbelsteen & Jesse Levin & Hessel Oosterbeek, 2002. "The causal effect of class size on scholastic achievement: distinguishing the pure class size effect from the effect of changes in class composition," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(1), pages 17-38, February.
    18. Vilsa E. Curto & Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2014. "The Potential of Urban Boarding Schools for the Poor: Evidence from SEED," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 65-93.
    19. Fan Li & Constantine E. Frangakis, 2006. "Polydesigns and Causal Inference," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 343-351, June.
    20. Alessio Gaggero & Getinet Haile, 2020. "Does class size matter in postgraduate education?," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 88(3), pages 489-505, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:36:y:2011:i:2:p:154-185. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.