School Size and Preformance

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School Size |

The Effect of School Size on Student Performance |

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By: Andrew Harvey & Yan Liang |

4/26/2013 |

Abstract

In this economic paper we will be exploring whether or not school size has an effect on student performance. Our hypothesis is that if class sizes are smaller, and all other factors are equal, then students will perform better. Our data comes from 408 high schools in Michigan in the year 1993. From this data we can run our null hypothesis that school size has no effect on student performance, and then move to testing our hypothesis. Our hypothesis is that school size has a negative correlation to student performance. To gauge student performance we will be using standardized math test scores from tenth graders that year, this is measured by the number of students that receive passing scores on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program’s standardized test. For this particular case we will be incorporating teacher compensation and number of staff per thousand students as two control factors. Teacher compensation is a control because it gives a measure of teacher quality, and number of staff per thousand students gives us a measure of how much attention a student receives. Lastly in our equation we will be using school enrolment to measure the size of the school. So if our hypothesis is true than this means that a higher enrolment rates will result in a lower number of students receiving passing test scores.

Intro

Question of interest in this study is, dose school size have an effect on student performance? This is a very relevant study for many reasons. One reason being, if the study rejects the null hypothesis and school size has an effect on student performance, then local governments should take this information into consideration and use it to build their school districts in a way that best benefits the students. For example if the null hypothesis is rejected and there is a negative correlation between school...