engleski

Class size and student/teacher ratio as determinants of student achievement in primary school: Evidence from Croatia

During the past few decades, the measures of reducing the class size are prioritized in the educational policies of different countries as one of the practices that should improve the quality of educational outcomes (Bascia & Fredua-Kwarteng, 2008). Hence, a number of studies have examined the effects of class size on educational outcomes, in order to determine how reducing the class size contributes to minimizing the negative consequences of social inequality, improving student achievement, enhancing the basic skills and competencies of students in the first few years of schooling, etc. (Achilles et al., 2002 ; Biddle & Berliner, 2002). While Graue and Rauscher (2009) define the class size as the actual number of students in a class assigned to an individual teacher, in some studies student-teacher ratio is used as the measure of class size. Student-teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students attending a school with the total number of school’s employees, including teachers who work full- and part-time, the principal, and school specialists, and excluding the teachers who are absent for longer than one school term (Blatchford & Mortimore, 1994 ; McRobbie et al., 1998 ; Wilson, 2002). Based on the analysis of a pilot-program of class size reduction and of the existing literature on class size and student-teacher ratio Sharp (2002) estimates that in US primary schools class size on average exceeds student-teacher ratio by 9 to 10 students. A number of studies conducted in USA (e.g. Chargois, Irons & Carlson, 2011 ; Hanushek, 1994 ; Chingos, 2010 ; Ehrenberg et al., 2001 ; Becker, 2006), as well as those in which European countries are included (e.g. Wössmann & West, 2006), have tried to empirically test the relation between class size, student-teacher ratio and student achievement, yielding contradictory and inconsistent results. In Croatian primary schools, there were no comprehensive studies of the relation between these variables. The aim of this study was to examine the relation between class size, student-teacher ratio and student achievement in primary school. Additionally, we examined whether the relation between class size and student-teacher ratio changes in schools situated in municipalities of different level of urbanization. Finally, we explored whether some school characteristics, primarily those related to teaching quality, have an important role in the relation between class size, student-teacher ratio and school achievement. Participants in the study were all the students attending the fourth grade of all 844 Croatian primary schools (N=48 232). Data on class size and total number of teachers and school specialists who work in a school were collected. School achievement was measured by objective paper-and-pencil tests used in a large national testing of fourth grade students in Croatian primary schools, covering the content of the primary school curriculum. First, descriptive statistics were calculated, which show that in Croatian primary schools the class size of fourth grades varies between 2 and 35 students (D=24, M=23, 41). The lowest average student-teacher ratio is 2, 11 and the highest 20, 68 students on a teacher. The most frequent ratio is 14:1, and the average ratio is 3, 28:1. Hence, the difference between class size and student-teacher ratio in Croatian primary schools is 10 students, which corresponds to findings from USA (Sharp, 2002 ; Achilles & Sharp, 1998) on which the majority of empirical findings in the field are based. The results show that the relationship between class size, student-teacher ratio and school achievement is not significant. No significant relations were found even when the level of urbanization of the municipality in which the school is situated was taken into account. Likewise, the characteristics of teaching in schools did not significantly moderate the basic relation between class size, student-teacher ratio and school achievement in Croatian primary schools. The results are discussed in the context of existing literature on the topic, while taking into account the specific features of Croatian educational system.

class size; student-teacher ratio; academic achievement

nije evidentirano