1. Teacher-Student Ratio and Elementary Children’s Academic Achievement Wendy Jowers, Teri Paulk, and Sol Summerlin

2. Outline ä *Purpose of the Proposal ä *Research Question ä *Definition of Terms ä *Review of Literature

3. ä *Directional Hypothesis ä *Procedures ä *Data Analysis ä *Final Points

4. Purpose of this Proposal ä To study the effect of teacher-student ratio on the academic achievement of elementary students.

5. Research Question ä What is the effect of teacher-student ratio on the academic achievement of elementary students?

6. Definition of Terms Teacher-Student Ratio the number of students assigned to a teacher per classroom. Low Teacher-Student ratio ä 18 or fewer students assigned to a teacher per classroom.

7. Definition of Terms High Teacher-Student Ratio ä 25 or more students assigned to a teacher per classroom. Academic Achievement ä the Total Reading Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills before and after reduction of class size.

8. Definition of Terms Elementary Students students enrolled in the second grade at Westside Elementary School and Satilla Elementary School in Douglas, Georgia during the 1998 school year.

9. Review of Literature: Class Size ä Small Classes ä Majority of small class sizes range from 13-18 students. ä Reduced class size is more conducive to the learning environment than a large class (Finn & Achilles, 1990).

10. Advantages of small classes: ä teacher-students under less stress ä more relaxed environment ä more individualized instruction Large Classes: ä 19-30 students (Mueller, Chase, & Walden, 1990) ä most classrooms are considered large classes

11. Disadvantages of large classes: ä more discipline problems ä higher retention rates ä increased absences ä more special education referrals ä lower self-esteem among students (Cited in WWW, n.d.)

12. Effects of Class Size on Academic Achievement Research has been Positive for Small Class Size ä improved instruction ä increased reading test scores (Mueller, Chase, & Walden, 1988) ä higher self-esteem ä students in small classes outperform students in large classes on standardized tests (Word et al., 1990).

13. Directional Hypothesis ä Reduced class size will increase reading achievement among elementary students.

14. Procedures ä About 300 second graders from Westside or Satilla Elementary Schools. ä Seven classrooms from each school. ä Daily reading instruction of 120 minutes. ä ITBS will be given as pre-test in the fall and post-test in the spring of the same school year.

15. Data Analysis ä Comparison of scores according to class size (i.e., small versus large). ä Independent samples t-test to determine whether the means of these two groups are significantly different. ä Dependent samples t-tests to assess gain score differences over the school year. ä Level of statistical significance for all comparisons will be set at.05.

16. Final Points ä Test scores rise when districts use money to reduce class size (Bracey, 1995). ä Is reducing class size necessary to the improvement of education?