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The effect of class size on grades and course evaluations: Evidence from multisection courses
Author(s) -
Karas Alexei
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
bulletin of economic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.227
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-8586
pISSN - 0307-3378
DOI - 10.1111/boer.12274
Subject(s) - class size , liberal arts education , course (navigation) , class (philosophy) , mathematics education , psychology , quality (philosophy) , student engagement , variation (astronomy) , medical education , higher education , computer science , political science , engineering , medicine , law , philosophy , physics , epistemology , artificial intelligence , astrophysics , aerospace engineering
Using rich administrative data from a small Dutch liberal arts college, I study how the number of students enrolled in a course affects student grades and course evaluations. Exploiting variation across parallel sections of the same course taught by the same instructor, I show that class size has a significant negative effect on student grades in mandatory courses, but not in electives. I show similar results for various components of student course evaluations: perceived overall course quality, perceived amount learned, student participation and engagement. I interpret these findings to be consistent with class size affecting educational outcomes through student engagement.