Corrections

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The Impact of Large Class Sizes on Student Learning,

Including Academic Performance and Classroom Engagement,

at Meadowfield Elementary School

Michael Whitener

Liberty University

EDUC 880

Chapter One: Introduction

Overview

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the effects of large class sizes on student learning outcomes at Meadowfield Elementary School. At Meadowfield Elementary School, large class sizes have been shown to negatively influence teachers' ability to teach, manage students' behaviour, and engage them in a meaningful way (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025). This chapter is comprised of the Organizational Profile, Introduction to the Problem, Significance of the Research, Purpose Statement, Central Research Question, Definitions, and Summary.

Organizational Profile

Meadowfield Elementary School is a public school at 525 Galway Lane in Columbia, South Carolina, in the Richland County School District One. Established in 1967, it has the mission of being "a leader in transforming lives through education, empowering all students to achieve their potential and dreams" (Richland One, 2025). The school has an enrollment of about 615 students in Pre-K to 5th grade, with a student population of 63% African American, 19% White, 9% Hispanic, 7% two or more races, and 2% Asian, with 100% eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025). There are about 47 full-time teachers and one school counselor on staff with the principal, Dr. Timothy Blackwell (U.S. News Education, 2025; Columbia Star, 2025). Meadowfield is a National Paideia Model School that provides Gifted and Talented programs, STEM, visual and performing arts, and extracurricular activities (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025).

Introduction to the Problem

High class sizes at Meadowfield Elementary School have been shown to hinder teachers' capacity to provide tailored instruction, manage behaviour, and keep students engaged, which has a negative impact on learning outcomes (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025). Studies show students in larger classes exhibit more off-task behaviour, especially low-achieving students (Blatchford & Russell, 2020). In a review of 112 peer-reviewed studies, the vast majority found smaller class sizes have a substantial impact on academic performance and closing the achievement gap (Zyngier, 2014). In an effort to improve student achievement, Meadowfield Elementary has adopted a Professional Learning Community model and employs data to inform differentiation of instruction (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025).

Significance of the Research

This research has serious implications for several stakeholders related to Meadowfield Elementary School. Students have the most to gain directly, since empirical evidence on the relationship between class size and student learning outcomes may inform specific interventions that enhance the quality of their academic experience. Having fewer or well-controlled class sizes can result in students getting a more personalized education and achieving better academic outcomes (Oduwan & Francis, 2023). The teachers are other beneficiaries of this research. The teaching staff in overcrowded classrooms tend to report high levels of professional stress and reduced instructional effectiveness (Blatchford et al., 2011). This research can contribute to advocacy by developing a better understanding of the impact of large classes on instructional quality, thereby justifying more equitable staffing and resource distribution.

Another group of critical stakeholders is school administrators and district leaders. The research can equip them with factual information to make sound judgments about school enrollment policies, classroom assignments, and the hiring of extra instructional staff. Moreover, the findings of this study can be valuable to policymakers in South Carolina. Since the South Carolina Department of Education (2025) is monitoring class-size metrics as part of school report-card data, research establishing the academic effects of large classes may influence future legislative decisions on class-size requirements. Lastly, the study can be useful to the general educational research community by expanding the existing empirical evidence on the relationship between class size and student achievement in public elementary schools (Oduwan & Francis, 2023).

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this quantitative research is to examine how large classes affect the learning of students (both academic achievement and classroom behavior) in Meadowfield Elementary School in South Carolina. To eliminate this issue, the data will be gathered in three ways: (a) a review of academic performance records such as standardized tests scores and grades of the students in Meadowfield Elementary School; (b) a survey, which will be conducted among classroom teachers in Meadowfield Elementary School to assess their perceptions of student engagement in large classes; and (c) structured classroom observations to be carried out in the selected grade-level classrooms in These three pieces of data collection will give a combined quantitative and observational evidence to conclude the effect of a large class size in academic performance and classroom engagement among students at the elementary level.

Central Research Question

What is the impact of large class sizes on student learning, including academic performance and classroom engagement, at Meadowfield Elementary School?

Definitions

Academic performance. The quantifiable results of the student learning in terms of grades, standardized tests, or classroom-based assessments (López-Martin et al., 2023)..

Class size. This is the number of students who will be allocated to one classroom teacher to do the teaching (Blatchford et al., 2011).

Classroom engagement. How actively students engage in and pay attention to learning activities and instructional content during class time (López-Martin et al., 2023).

Individualized instruction. Teaching that is based on the unique learning requirements, speed, and strengths of individual learners in the classroom (Oduwan & Francis, 2023).

Student engagement. The interest and attention the students show the educator about pedagogy issues (López-Martin et al., 2023).

Student-teacher ratio. The mathematical calculation of the number of students in a school or classroom and the number of teachers in a school or classroom that serves as an indicator of instructional workload and resource allocation (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025).

Summary

This quantitative study aims to examine how large classes influence student learning, in terms of academic performance and classroom activity, at Meadowfield Elementary School, in South Carolina. The issue is that during the 2025-26 school year, Meadowfield Elementary School had the mean class size of 24.1 students (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025). In this chapter, the Organizational Profile, the Introduction to the Problem, the Significance of the Research, the Purpose Statement, the Central Research Question, and the Definitions were discussed.

Chapter Three: Procedures

Overview

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the impact of large class sizes on student learning, including academic performance and classroom engagement, at Meadowfield Elementary School in South Carolina. The problem is that in the 2025–26 school year, the average class size at Meadowfield Elementary School was 24.1 students (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025). This chapter presents the Interview Procedures used to collect data from classroom teachers at Meadowfield Elementary School, including the type of interview, participant identification and sampling approach, interview administration format, data analysis procedures, and ten open-ended interview questions, each grounded in the relevant scholarly literature. Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is not the correct wording. Please fix to match the template. Comment by Evan Hubbard: Just reference the level 1 headings here.

Interview Procedures

The initial data collection method used in this research will be semi-structured interviews, in whichform of data collection that will be used in this research is semi-structured interviews whereby classroom teachers at Meadowfield Elementary School will be interviewed. The use of semi-structured interviews was chosen because this type of interview is flexible yet consistent, allowing the researcher to delve into participants' personal experiences and perceptions without straying fromdue to the fact that this type of interview is flexible and yet consistent as it provides the researcher with the opportunity to delve into the personal experience and perceptions of the participants without violating the main topics, as everything is discussed systematically (Creswell and Guetterman, 2021). Semi-structured interviews allow respondents to elaborate on their experiences and provide contextually important information that might not have been anticipated during protocol development, unlike fully structured interviews, which limit respondentsexpand on their experiences and add contextually important information that might not have been predicted during the protocol development unlike fully structured interviews, which limits the respondent to predefined answers (Castillo-Montoya, 2021). This method is particularly well-suited to the present study, as the researcher is interested in understanding how classroom teachers at Meadowfield Elementary School understand and encounter the instructional and engagement challenges associated withespecially ideal to the present study since the researcher is interested in comprehending how classroom teachers at Meadowfield Elementary School understand and encounter the instructional and engagement challenges related to large class sizes.

The sample size will be determined through purposive sampling, in which the researcher will target people with direct, relevant experience with the phenomenon under study and activelypurposeful sampling, where the researcher will be targeting people who have direct and relevant experience with the phenomenon being studied and will actively recruit them (Palinkas et al., 2015). In particular, the classroom teachers who are currently working inteaching classes of 20 or more students inat Meadowfield Elementary School will be asked to take part. Such a qualification guarantees that everyone is familiar with the issues of large class sizes first-hand and their answers will be the most relevant to the research questions (Creswell and Guetterman, 2021). Eight to twelve kindergarten to fifth fifth-grade teachers will be recruited as a target sample. This size has been deemed sufficient to reach data saturation in qualitative interview research of this magnitude, as themes and patterns in the datasuitable to reach data saturation in qualitative interview research of this magnitude since themes and patterns in the information are likely to become redundant within this scope (Fusch & Ness, 2015). Comment by Evan Hubbard: This does not make sense.

The interviews will be conducted in a private, quiet place agreed upon by the researcher and each participant, and will be conducted incarried out in a personal, quiet place that will be agreed upon by the researcher and each participant and will be in person. The interviews will take about 45 to 60 minutes. All interviews will be audio-recorded and transcribed word-tofor-word with the participant's written permission to capture all data and ensurewritten permission of the participant to capture all the data and make sure that the information is complete and accurate (Castillo-Montoya, 2021). To ensure that the participantsparticipants' willidentities remain confidential, their pseudonyms will be designatassigned before transcription. Any audio recordings, transcripts, and other materials will be stored on a password-protected device accessible only to the primary researcher, and all data will be destroyed once the study has been completed,any other materials will be stored on a password-protected device that can only be accessed by the primary researcher and all data will be destroyed once the study has been completed in line with institutional data protection measures.

Thematic analysis will be used as a systematic qualitative method to identify, categorize, and interpret meaning patterns into analyze data by being a systematic method of qualitative analysis to identify, categorize, and interpret meaning patterns of a data set (Braun and Clarke, 2022). After transcription, the researcher will first undergo an initial stage of open coding, assigning descriptive labels to information pertinent to classthe transcription, the researcher will first undergo an initial stage of open coding which will assign descriptive labels to pieces of information pertinent to the class size, instructional challenges, student engagement, and academic performance. The codes will then be placed under larger themes and will be cross-tabulated usingwith participants' responses of participants to determine common patterns. Member checking will also be used to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of the findings, in which participants are asked to review summaries of their answers to assessfindings, where participants are requested to check summaries of their answers to determine their accuracy (Creswell and Guetterman, 2021). Reduction of the researcher bias in the analysis process will also be achieved bythrough peer debriefing with an adeptexperienced colleague.

Interview Questions

The ten 10 open- ended interview questions listed below were designed to gather informative and descriptive responses by the classroom teachers on the effects of large classes on the learning, academic achievement, and classroom interaction of the students. All of the questions are based on the corresponding academic literature.

1. In what ways has teaching a group of 20 or more students influenced your capacity to deliver differentiated teaching to each student? Comment by Evan Hubbard: Use a numbered list where the text on the second line does not drag underneath the number.

Reasoning: It has been shown that large classes considerably reduce teachers' ability to provide individualized instruction, one of the most important variables in students' academic performance (Hattie,decrease the ability of teachers to provide individualized instruction, one of the most important variables in the academic performance of students (Hattie, 2022). The question reflects how this limitation manifests in teachers' day-to-day practice.directly manifests itself in the day-to-day practice of teachers.

2. How, or have you not, have you experienced the size of classes to influenceinfluencing the academic performance of your students during a school year? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "or."

Rationalization: Research has attributed overcrowded classes to quantifiable negative effects on students' academic performance, especially inthe overcrowded classes to the quantifiable negative effects on student academic performance, especially during the lower elementary grades (Oduwan & Francis, 2023). This question questionasks teachers to provide observational data on the correlation between class size andthe teachers to provide observational data about the correlation between the size of the class and student performance. Comment by Evan Hubbard: Delete this initial word on all prompts.

3. What do you think is the amount of classroom engagement with your students, and how do you think class size helps or hinders this amount of engagement? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "and."

Reason: The instructional environment is strongly linked with classroom engagement, such as the student-teacher ratio (Blatchford et al., 2011). This question explores teachers’ expectations ofabout how class size and the quality of student engagement relate.

4. What were are some of your particular instruction strategies to deal with the issues of a large classroom and how effective do you feel they were in helping students learn? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "and."

Justification: Teachers in large classes often createadopt adaptive teaching practices to address environmental limitationconstraints, and it is crucial to learn more about suchthese adaptations to determine the most effective practices (Creswell and Guetterman, 2021). This question reveals the practical strategies that teachers use and how effective they believe themose tostrategies bare.

5. What is the impact of the number of students in your classroom on your capacity to consistently evaluate and track the learning outcomes of individual learners? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "and."

Reason: Formative assessment is an essential aspect of the successful work of a teacher, but in large classes, a teacher may struggle to pay appropriate attention to the development of each student in a timely and meaningful manner (López-Martin et al., 2023). The question investigates the real issues of assessment in overcrowded classes.

6. How does the size of classes affect the willingness and the opportunity of the students to engage in classroom discourse and the willingness to pose questions during lessons in your experience? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "and."

Reason: Students in biglarge classes are less likely to have a chance of personal contact with the teacher, which may decrease their participation and narrow their active learning (Blatchford et al., 2011). This question examines the influence of class size on patterteachers' perceptions of student participation as perceived by teacherpatterns.

7. What have been some of the challenges that you have had in managing student behavior in a large classroom, and how have these challenges have impacted the learning environment in general? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "and."

Rationale: Classroom management getbecomes more complicated with the increaseas in theclass size of the clasincreases, and the consequences of behavioral disruptions can significantly worsen the academic climate (Hattie, 2022). This question will explore the behavioral management issues associated with large classes and their impact onthat come with big classes and the impact that they have on the learning environment.

8. How have you experienced professional well being, such as your job satisfaction and your feelings of instructional effectiveness in teaching a large class? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "and."

Justification: The quality of instruction and teachers’ professional well-being and job satisfaction are directly correlated, and studies have shown that teachers in overcrowded classes report moregreater stress and lessower job satisfaction (López-Martin et al., 2023). This question describes the professional and emotional experience of teaching in a large-class setting.

9. What and where do you think resources, supports, or structural changes would be most effective in helping teachers in Meadowfield Elementary School deal with the issues of large class sizes and enhance student outcomes? Comment by Evan Hubbard: This is a double-barreled question. Rephrase removing the word "and" and "or."

Rationale: The views of teachers on the requirements of resources and structural supports are crucial to the creation of practical, evidence-based recommendations (Castillo-Montoya, 2021). This question will bringprovide practical feedback directly out offrom the educators thatwho have to deal with large classes on a daily basis.

10. What would you change about the current situation involving the size of the classroom at Meadowfield Elementary School that would help to increase student learning outcomes? Why?

Rationale: This method of asking participants to define one priority intervention is a helpful practice for unearthing the most urgent needs, according to frontline practitioners' perceptionsthe participants to define one priority intervention is a helpful practice of unearthing the most urgent needs, according to the perception of frontline practitioners (Braun & Clarke, 2022). The question promptingthat prompts teachers to reflect on their professional experience, both syntactically and in a visionary, solutions-based way, facilitates the explicit translation of their experience into the study recommendations.

Summary

This quantitative research aims to examine how large classes affect student learning, in terms of academic outcomes and classroom interactions at Meadowfield Elementary School in South Carolina. The issue is that the average number of students in a class was 24.1 at the Meadowfield Elementary School in the 2025-26 school year (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025). In this chapter, the Interview Procedures and Interview Questions were introduced.

References

Blatchford, P., Bassett, P., & Brown, P. (2011). Examining the effect of class size on classroom engagement and teacher–pupil interaction: Differences in relation to pupil prior attainment and primary vs. secondary schools. Learning and Instruction, 21(6), 715–730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.04.001

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. SAGE Publications.

Castillo-Montoya, M. (2021). Preparing for interview research: The interview protocol refinement framework. The Qualitative Report, 21(5), 811–831. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2337

Creswell, J. W., & Guetterman, T. C. (2021). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (6th ed.). Pearson.

Fusch, P. I., & Ness, L. R. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 20(9), 1408–1416. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2281

Hattie, J. (2022). Visible learning: The sequel. Routledge.

López-Martín, E., Gutiérrez-de-Rozas, B., González-Benito, A. M., & Expósito-Casas, E. (2023). Why do teachers matter? A meta-analytic review of how teacher characteristics and competencies affect students’ academic achievement. International Journal of Educational Research, 120, 102199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2023.102199

Oduwan, J., & Francis, A. (2023). Teacher-student ratio and job performance of teachers in government universal secondary education schools in Bukedea town council, Bukedea district, Uganda [Doctoral dissertation, Kampala International University]. KIU Institutional Repository.

Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533–544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y

South Carolina Department of Education. (2025). South Carolina school report cards. https://screportcards.com