The Impact of Class Size and Number of Students on Outcomes in Higher Education

Numerous studies have investigated the impact of class size on student outcomes. This analysis contributes to this discussion by examining the impact of class size on student outcomes in higher education. Additionally, this paper investigates the importance of student load (total number of students taught across all courses) in educational outcomes. We find that both class size and student load negatively impact student assessments of courses and instructors. Large classes and heavy student loads appear to prompt faculty to alter their courses in ways deleterious to students

Pathways to Improvement: Using Psychological Strategies to Help College Students Master Developmental Math

Some 60 percent of the nation's 13 million community college students are unprepared for college-level courses and must enroll in at least one developmental course....[and] less than a quarter of students in developmental math courses earn a degree or credential within eight years.Faced with a long sequence of pre-college-level, non-credit courses, often repeating math material they've failed before, half of them quit within the first few weeks of enrolling in the courses. They quit because they believe they aren't smart enough to do math, that the class itself has little relevance to their personal or academic goals, and that they don't really belong in the course or in college at all. And because such students cannot get to graduation if they cannot get past mathematics, the result is not just a dropped class, but the end of college and the economic insecurity that often results from not earning a degree. This report examines the success of the Pathways programs created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching which is currently being taught in 28 different community colleges nationwide. The Pathways program differs from traditional developmental math courses in that it is a yearlong class for academic credit with fewer students dropping out, most earning college credit toward graduation, and some even discovering a predilection for mathematics

Nerd Harassment and Grade Inflation: Are College Admissions Policies Partly Responsible?

[Excerpt] In the eyes of American parents, college admissions officers control the single most important gate their children will ever pass through. Nearly all parents hope their child will go to college. Perceptions of what it takes to get into preferred colleges and universities profoundly affect the courses students take, the standards teachers set and the effort students put out. Many (but not all) of the admissions selection criteria favored by American colleges and universities unwittingly create incentives for educationally dysfunctional behavior by secondary school students, teachers and administrators and by voters in school budget referendums. How can college admissions criteria be causing so many problems? Some selection criteria are fine: the rigor and challenge of academic courses should be given heavy weight as should externally assessed achievement in these courses. This will induce students to take challenging courses and to work hard in them. They also induce administrators to offer rigorous courses (eg. AP and IB courses) and to hire teachers who have the thorough content background necessary to teach them. Most of the other commonly used selection criteria— aptitude test scores, rank in class, high school GPA, rank in class and high school reputation—send as many pernicious signals as they send positive signals

Improvement or selection? A longitudinal analysis of students' views about experimental physics in their lab courses

Laboratory courses represent a unique and potentially important component of the undergraduate physics curriculum, which can be designed to allow students to authentically engage with the process of experimental physics. Among other possible benefits, participation in these courses throughout the undergraduate physics curriculum presents an opportunity to develop students' understanding of the nature and importance of experimental physics within the discipline as a whole. Here, we present and compare both a longitudinal and pseudo-longitudinal analysis of students' responses to a research-based assessment targeting students' views about experimental physics -- the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS) -- across multiple, required lab courses at a single institution. We find that, while pseudo-longitudinal averages showed increases in students' E-CLASS scores in each consecutive course, analysis of longitudinal data indicates that this increase was not driven by a cumulative impact of laboratory instruction. Rather, the increase was driven by a selection effect in which students who persisted into higher-level lab courses already had more expert-like beliefs, attitudes, and expectations than their peers when they started the lower-level courses.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, submitted as a short paper to Phys. Rev. PE

Dialoging A Successful Pedagogy for Embedded Tutors

Over the past three years, Rider University’s Student Success Center Writing Lab has implemented an embedded tutor program for composition courses. Tutors attend class, participate in class discussions, facilitate writing workshops in class, and hold drop-in hours for students (in addition to tutors’ Writing Lab hours). The Embedded Tutor (ET) program, facilitated by Jenny Scudder (who is also the Writing Lab Director), has been successful in helping students complete skills-based courses and connect to academic support services. Initial assessment of the ET program supports the inclusion of the tutor in a skills-based course. While an ET’s training is similar to a tutor who works solely in the Writing Lab, there are key additions that are vital to the tutors’—and the program’s—succesUniversity Writing Cente

Class tournament as an assessment method in physics courses : a pilot study

Testing knowledge is an integral part of a summative assessment at schools. It can be performed in many different ways. In this study we propose assessment of physics knowledge by using a class tournament approach. Prior to a statistical analysis of the results obtained over a tournament organized in one of Polish high schools, all its specifics are discussed at length, including the types of questions assigned, as well as additional self- and peer-evaluation questionnaires, constituting an integral part of the tournament. The impact of the tournament upon student improvement is examined by confronting the results of a post-test with pre-tournament students’ achievements reflected in scores earned in former, tests written by the students in experimental group and their colleagues from control group. We also present some of students’ and teachers’ feedback on the idea of a tournament as a tool of assessment. Both the analysis of the tournament results and the students’ and teachers’ opinions point to at least several benefits of our approach

Heterogeneous Class Size Effects: New Evidence from a Panel of University Students

Over the last decade, many countries have experienced dramatic increases in university enrolment, which, when not matched by compensating increases in other inputs, have resulted in larger class sizes. Using administrative records from a leading UK university, we present evidence on the effects of class size on students’ test scores. We observe the same student and faculty members being exposed to a wide range of class sizes from less than 10 to over 200. We therefore estimate non-linear class size effects controlling for unobserved heterogeneity of both individual students and faculty. We find that (i) at the average class size, the effect size is -0.108; (ii) the effect size is however negative and significant only for the smallest and largest ranges of class sizes and zero over a wide range of intermediate class sizes; (iii) students at the top of the test score distribution are more affected by changes in class size, especially when class sizes are very large. We present evidence to rule out class size effects being due solely to the non-random assignment of faculty to class size, sorting by students onto courses on the basis of class size, omitted inputs, the difficulty of courses, or grading policies. The evidence also shows the class size effects are not mitigated for students with greater knowledge of the UK university system, this university in particular, or with greater family wealth.class size, heterogeneity, university education

Comparing the Effects of Various Exercise Regimens on Anxiety Levels in College Aged Students

Generalized anxiety disorder is described as excessive and inappropriate worrying that is persistent and not restricted to particular circumstances. Anxiety has recently surpassed depression as the number one mental health disorder on college campuses. Multiple studies have shown that exercise reduces anxiety symptoms and feelings of stress. Many students enroll in physical activity courses due to college requirements, or as a way to engage in regular physical activity. On our campus, yoga and pilates are two of the most popular physical activity courses and require two 50-minute sessions each week. The purpose of this study was to determine whether participation in these courses has a significant impact in reducing anxiety in a traditional college population. We surveyed students enrolled in either a yoga or pilates class and compared their responses to a control group not enrolled in a physical activity course