Small Class Size

666 Words3 Pages
Along with the growing emphasis on education, reduction in class size has become a trend in a considerable number of countries, especially those with highly-developed educational system, like America, Canada and the UK (Ehrenberg and Brewer et al., 2001) The issue of the role of class size in deciding the achievement of students has been widely debated. The debate concerning class size helps evaluate the worth of large investment in staff-student ratio. It is true that limiting class size can produce benefits in teaching, but it is obviously not the only factor. In this essay, I will argue for the impacts of small classes, and put forward other essential factors that can influence academic success. Recent research (Ward, 2006 ) demonstrates that separating students into small size classes by their different levels is better for literacy instruction in elementary schools. Truly, in that case, teachers can design customized lessons to meet the needs and interests of class members. In addition, detailed feedback can also be immediately imparted to better control the gap between each student. However, the overall effect of small classes is not as evident as we imagine. According to statistics launched by NAEP examination, the reading score of students from different grades stayed at a stable level from 1971 to 1996, though the class sizes experienced a downward trend in the shared period. Indeed, merely cutting down the number of students makes little difference. Supportive measures including clear goals and appropriate teaching methods are more essential. Take the education awards in Japan as an example, instead of monitoring the performance of each student, Japanese teachers devolve the right to them (Ehrenberg and Brewer et al., 2001) . As a result, despite their bigger class size than most western countries, Japanese students obtain better self-discipline, and thus
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