Classroom Size and Student Test Scores
Having been a classroom teacher in the state of Arizona for the past three-plus years has allowed me to witness first hand the problems stemming from two of the state's hottest topics in regards to public education: the number of students in a classroom and low student test scores. Arizona ranks near the top when surveys are taken examining the student to teacher ratio in the different states across the country. At the same time, Arizona has consistently ranked in the bottom two or three when compared to the other forty-nine states when looking at how students in each of these states score on standardized tests. I feel that these two problems go hand in hand: the first problem is a major factor in the second problem. My feeling is that if teachers were given 20-24 students to work with on a daily basis, as opposed to the often 30 or more students many are currently working with, student performance (including testing results) would increase dramatically. In order to discover whether my beliefs have information and data to back them up, I feel that a quantitative e
A qualitative research approach, I feel, would not be the most effective way to discover if there really is hard data out there supporting this claim. Another advantage of this type of research is that the sample size can be larger than that of a qualitative research approach. Using quantitative research would provide actual statistical findings that could strengthen my "case" that classrooms with a high number of students will likely score, on average, lower on standardized assessments than those classrooms where the number of students is lower. So, as the sample size goes up, statistically this would give a more accurate reading of the problem being tested. Quantitatively researching whether or not large classroom sizes are effecting student test scores would also allow for several other avenues available to follow after the original examination of the problem. Or the original researcher himself can re-test his problem and compare the separate findings to see if they match up or contradict one another. What is their average classroom size? Is the student population pretty stable in terms of numbers throughout the year? Are there instructional assistants in the classrooms? What is the percentage of the student body that actually takes the test? These are the types of questions I would want to answer when looking at Arizona's problem of low test scores and how those scores are related to Arizona's large class sizes. Qualitatively researching this topic would instead allow for a presentation of different people's opinions on this matter, likely backed up by personal beliefs and experiences--not the cold, hard facts of what really is going on. Still other reasons why I feel quantitative research would be better than qualitative research in this example is that any conclusions reached would be backed up by fact instead of opinion; analyzing the findings would be done objectively as compared to subjectively; and at the conclusion of the research recommendations and final solutions could be offered to assist in solving the original problem. xploration would be the best way to research this problem. For example, I could survey different schools in Arizona, some that tested well and some that did not test well, and see their feelings about how their student's scored. Depending on the type of problem and where the problem is taking place, choosing the right type of research can allow for an even more effective and beneficial examination of the issue. As the researcher, this would allow me several options when working on this project. Looking at this specific example, classrooms with large numbers of students and how that relates to those student's test scores, I feel quantitative research would be the best approach for a more in-depth look at this issue.
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