New Evidence on Class Size Effects: A Pupil Fixed Effects Approach

• Autores: Nadir Altinok, Geeta Kingdon
• Localización: Oxford bulletin of economics and statistics, ISSN 0305-9049, Vol. 74, Nº. 2, 2012, págs. 203-234
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The impact of class size on student achievement remains a thorny question for educational decision makers. Meta-analyses of empirical studies emphasize the absence of class-size effects but detractors have argued against such pessimistic conclusions because many of the underlying studies have not paid attention to the endogeneity of class size. This article uses a stringent method to address the endogeneity problem using Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study data on 47 countries. We measure the class size effect by relating the difference in a student's achievement across subjects to the difference in his/her class size across subjects. This (subject-differenced) within-pupil achievement production function avoids the problem of the non-random matching of children to specific schools, and to classes within schools. The results show a statistically significant negative effect of class size in 14 countries, but the effect size is small in most cases. Several robustness tests are carried out, including control for students’ subject-specific ability and subject-specific teacher characteristics, and correction for possible measurement error. Thus, our approach to addressing the endogeneity problem confirms the findings of meta-analyses that find little support for class size effects. Additionally, we find that class size effects are smaller in countries with higher teacher quality.