LEER 2020


ES šalių švietimo sistemų efektyvumo ir našumo analizė naudojant antrinius didelės apimties duomenis

A. Jakaitienė, R. Želvys , D. Stumbrienė, L. Ringienė, J. Vaitekaitis, S. Raižienė, L. Lipkevičienė, V. Brazdeikis

6th LEER Conference on Education Economics, 2020 m. balandžio 2-3 d., KU Liuvenas, Belgija.

Abstract. Class size is often considered as one of the factors which can have an impact on educational effectiveness. Positive effects of reducing class size were revealed by a number of large-scale student achievement studies which led to class size reduction policies in many countries. However, there are few research studies focused on class-size effect in Europe. The existing research evidence reveals contradicting results on the impact of class size on student achievement. E. g., Wößmann and West (2006) analyzed TIMSS 1995 data and results didn‘t indicate any significant effect of the class size on the maths achievement of 8th grade students. Schen and Konstantopoulos (2017) used PIRLS 2001, 2006 and 2011 data in order to estimate the class-size effect in eight European countries. Results indicate that class size effects on reading achievement are not significant across countries and years. One exception was Romania where class size effects in 2001 and 2011 were significant. In another study, Shen and Konstantopolous (2019) analysed class size effect on eight grade students by using TIMSS 2003, 2007 and 2011 data. The results revealed class size effects in Romania and Lithuania, but not in Hungary and Slovenia.

The aim of the study is to investigate class-size effect (teacher/ student ratio) and students’ achievements in mathematics using national data sets (maturity and 10th grade national assessment examinations). We use individual level data for the entire population, who have taken maturity examinations for the 2014-2018 period. We found that achievements in mathematics and teacher/student ratio are significantly negatively correlated. Our findings, similarly to Schen and Konstantopoulos (2017), acknowledge that results could be informative to policy makers who should exercise with caution when planning to implement class-size reduction policies to improve student achievement. Class-size reduction programs may work in some countries and contexts, but not in others

Literature

  • Wößmann, L., & West, M. (2006). Class-size effects in school systems around the world: Evidence from between-Grade variation in TIMSS. European Economic Review, 50(3), 695–736. 
  • Schen, T., & Konstantopoulos, S. (2017) Class-size effects on reading achievement in Europe: Evidence from PIRLS. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 53, 98-114.
  • Ting Shen & Spyros Konstantopoulos (2019): Estimating causal effects of class size in secondary education: evidence from TIMSS, Research Papers in Education, DOI: 10.1080/02671522.2019.1697733


Bendras konferencijų sąrašas


Projektas bendrai finansuotas iš Europos socialinio fondo lėšų (projekto Nr. DOTSUT-39 (09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0018) / LSS-250000-57) pagal dotacijos sutartį su Lietuvos mokslo taryba (LMTLT).