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Table of Contents Abstract 11 Role of the Researcher 12 Permission to Conduct Research 13 Ethical Considerations 13 Chapter One: Introduction 14 Chapter Two: Literature Review 21 Chapter Three: Procedures 22 Chapter Four: Findings 32 Chapter Five: Recommendations 33 References 34 Appendix A 37 Appendix B 38

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Overview

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the effects of large class sizes on student learning outcomes at Meadowfield Elementary School. 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 comprises 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 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% Black, 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).

Overall, the Meadowfield Elementary School population is similar to the South Carolina urban public-school population in terms of concentrated poverty and racial isolation. The school is the state's top 25 most economically disadvantaged elementary schools (Elementary Schools.org, 2024), with 100% of its 610 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Richland County School District One (RCSD 1), which is home to 50 schools and caters to roughly 24,000 students, is a Title I district, and Meadowfield is a Title I, Part A federally funded school for high-poverty schools designed to help schools meet academic achievement standards (Richland One, 2025). While this type of funding is critical for a school such as Meadowfield, research has shown that funding alone is not a panacea for the instructional difficulties of persistently large classes in low-resourced schools (Opatrny et al., 2023). The school's per-pupil spending is about $22,848, which is 59% higher than the national average per-pupil spending, but this higher expenditure has not resulted in consistently strong academic achievement, as evidenced by below state averages in math proficiency (40%) and reading proficiency (41%) (Public School Review, 2025).

Meadowfield is an institutionally challenged school from a staffing and operational perspective. In the last five school years, the school's teacher population has decreased by about 7%, while the number of students has stayed relatively stable at approximately 610 children, indicating that the teacher-to-student ratio has been deteriorating over time (SchoolDigger, 2025). Chronic absenteeism is also a growing problem: In recent years, the school's chronic absenteeism rate has ranged from 22.3% to 31.1%—well above the national average of 20% in 2023-2024 (SchoolDigger, 2025; Malkus, 2025). High levels of absenteeism and low teacher staffing directly affect class size: when the number of absentees is high, and the number of teachers is low, classroom enrollment patterns are irregular, and instructional consistency is lacking, which can worsen the impact of large classes. Meadowfield faces a structural problem in the form of large class sizes, a problem that is not an independent entity, but rather is part of a larger ecology of inequity that requires targeted and evidence-based intervention (SchoolDigger, 2025; 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 behavior, 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 behavior, especially low-achieving students (Blatchford & Russell, 2020). In a review of 112 peer-reviewed studies, the vast majority found that 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).

Meadowfield Elementary School's classroom size issue needs to be addressed as part of the context of the state of South Carolina's class size legislation. While the General Assembly has mandated student-teacher ratios for the elementary grades, it has historically allowed waivers of those ratios due to budgetary pressures, which individual districts have opted to pursue in response to those pressures (South Carolina Legislature, 2023). The average number of students in each Meadowfield classroom is 24.1, which falls outside the range of the most effective teaching strategies and approaches the tipping point suggested by recent large-scale international research, which indicates that student outcomes decline non-linearly beyond that point (Antoniou et al., 2024). In a recent meta-analysis, Opatrny et al. (2023), released as a CEPR Discussion Paper and subsequently accepted for publication in the Journal of Labor Economics, combined evidence from hundreds of studies and uncovered a significant negative association between class size and achievement, particularly in economically disadvantaged schools, which are the schools served by Meadowfield. Such findings underscore the need to consider class size as more than just an administrative statistic; it is a crucial factor to explore that influences instructional equity and opportunity for students.

In addition to the academic literature, outcome data from the school level support the problem at Meadowfield. For the 2023-2024 school year, Meadowfield's proficiency rate at grade 3 in ELA was 62.5% compared to Richland 01 at 53.9% and the state at 61.8%, while proficiency rates at grade 5 in mathematics ranged from 34.1% to 51.9% and consistently underperformed both district and state benchmarks (SchoolDigger, 2025). The chronic absenteeism rate of 22.3%-31.1% also suggests that a substantial share of the student body is not attending school often enough to reap the benefits of any instructional time provided, and when teachers serve 24 or more students, they are not able to monitor and address each student's individual learning gaps (Malkus, 2025). Instructional responsiveness—the ability of a teacher to adjust instruction as it happens in real time to student needs—is a critical factor in the link between class size and student learning and decreases sharply with class sizes greater than 20 in high-poverty settings (Cartwright et al., 2023). The combination of these contextual and empirical factors makes Meadowfield Elementary School a ripe and appropriate location to explore the effect of large classes on student learning.

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 enrolment 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 in school report-card data, research on 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).

This study is especially relevant given the current national discussion of educational equity and the allocation of educational resources in Title I schools. Meadowfield's overall achievement performance on state tests over the years has been markedly below average; as such, Meadowfield falls within the federal policy focus on persistently low-achieving schools mandated by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (U.S. Department of Education, 2023). This concern is reinforced by contemporary research: in their most recent meta-analysis, Opatrny et al. (2023) found that the negative effects of large class sizes on student achievement are significantly more pronounced in schools serving lower-income students, as is the case at Meadowfield. Further, there is an “absent policy” gap in urban-poverty schools, where general policy recommendations do not account for local contextual factors such as absenteeism, staff turnover, or the lack of community resources. This study fills that void and provides evidence grounded in the context of Meadowfield Elementary that can be used for action, both on a school-by-school basis and at a broader district level.

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. These three pieces of data collection will give a combined quantitative and observational evidence to conclude the effect of a large class size on 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

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

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

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

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

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

6. 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 serves as an indicator of instructional workload and resource allocation (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025).

Summary

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the effects of large class sizes on student learning outcomes at Meadowfield Elementary School. 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). 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.

Overview

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Narrative Review

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Theoretical Framework

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Summary

Begin summary here…

Overview

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the effects of large class sizes on student learning outcomes at Meadowfield Elementary School. 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 outlines the three data collection methods used in this study: semi-structured teacher interviews, a Likert-scale teacher survey, and structured non-participant classroom observations.

Interview Procedures

The analysis of interview data was conducted in the six phases of thematic analysis as outlined by Braun and Clarke (2022) as a systematic and rigorous process in identifying, coding and interpreting patterns in a qualitative data set. The six phases are followed in sequence: familiarization with the data, initial coding, searching for themes in the data, revisiting the themes, defining and naming themes, and finally, the report. Coding was deductive, as the coding framework was not only formed from the central research question but also based on the theoretical constructs of the study. The deductive approach minimizes the chances of the researcher's theme inflation and maintains the focus of analysis on the objective of the study. After coding, the percentage of each theme within the 10 participants was determined in order to quantify the findings and determine the prevalence of each finding, which was then compared to the Likert scale survey and observation data to support triangulation across the 3 methods (Noble & Heale, 2019).

Survey Procedures

The second data collection method in this quantitative study is a structured Likert-scale survey administered to classroom teachers at Meadowfield Elementary School. A five-point Likert-scale survey was selected because it allows the systematic collection of numerical data on teacher perceptions and supports the identification of patterns related to the instructional effects of large class sizes across a larger sample (DeVellis & Thorpe, 2022). Open-ended questions in the form of Likert scales (1 = Strongly Disagree; 5 = Strongly Agree) generate ordinal data, which are ideal for conducting descriptive and inferential statistical analyses and for supplementing qualitative detail from semi-structured interview data with a broader quantitative perspective on the same issue (DeVellis and Thorpe, 2022). The survey also endorses the triangulation of results of all three data collection methods.

Purposeful sampling will be used to recruit participants, as they will all be full-time classroom teachers at Meadowfield Elementary School who currently have classes with at least 20 students (South Carolina Department of Education, 2025). The sampling technique that suits the research is purposive sampling, as it focuses data collection on people with firsthand, direct experience of the phenomenon under study (Palinkas et al., 2015). With a school staffing profile of about 47 full-time teachers, it can be estimated that 30 to 40 teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade are eligible. Recruitment will be conducted via an official email request sent through the school administration and with the principal's written approval.

The survey will be conducted electronically via a secure, password-protected online platform. All qualified teachers will receive a special access link and will be asked to complete the survey within two weeks. Electronic administration was chosen to minimize the burden on participants, enable anonymous responses, and collect data efficiently across the entire teacher population (Dillman et al., 2022). The survey is estimated to last between 15 and 20 minutes and will comprise a small demographic section and ten Likert-scale content prompts. To describe the general trends in teacher perceptions, descriptive statistics (frequency distributions, means, and standard deviations) will be used to analyse survey data (DeVellis and Thorpe, 2022). Subscale scores will be calculated by summing the related items, and, where necessary, inferential statistics such as independent-samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA will be applied to test differences across grade levels or years of experience. All analyses will be conducted in SPSS and reported in tabular form in Chapter Four.

Survey Prompts and Rationales

The subsequent 10 Likert-scale items are based on the academic literature and are aimed at gauging teacher attitudes on the effects of high-class size on student academic achievement and classroom interaction in Meadowfield Elementary School.

7. The high number of students in my classes has a negative impact on my performance to deliver individualized instruction to students.

It has been consistently demonstrated that the larger the class size, the smaller the ability of teachers to provide differentiated instructions, and the immediate impact it has on student learning outcomes (Blatchford and Russell, 2020). This item determines if there is a sense of this limitation among Meadowfield teachers in their practice.

8. Academic engagement levels in my class are lower with the increase in the class size to above 20 students.

In larger classes, students’ on-task behaviour and engagement are observed to be significantly lower, especially among low-achieving students (Blatchford et al., 2011). This item measures the extent to which educators in their respective schools notice this relationship.

9. Student behavior in a big classroom means that I will not have much time to interact with the students directly.

Classroom management needs increase with the size of the classroom at the expense of instructional time in correcting student behaviour and overall instruction efficiency (Hattie, 2022). This item represents the perceived trade-off in instruction that teachers feel.

10. I can effectively track the academic development of every student with the current size of my classroom.

In oversized classrooms, formative assessment fidelity is jeopardized, and teachers cannot deliver timely and personalized feedback (López-Martin et al., 2023). This is a reverse-coded item that measures the perceived assessment capacity of the teachers in relation to the class size.

11. Large class sizes negatively affect my students’ performance on standardized tests.

There is research evidence showing that there is a negative correlation between big classes and student academic performance outcomes, such as standardized test scores (Oduwan and Francis, 2023). This item links teacher perception to the recorded performance measures in school.

12. I have high levels of professional stress due to the large class sizes.

Oversized classes are associated with much increased teacher occupational stress, and their adverse consequences on instruction and student achievement are downstream (Aldrup et al., 2020). This item measures the extent to which Meadowfield teachers place stress on large class sizes.

13. Large class sizes limit students’ opportunities to ask questions during lessons.

The decreased teacher-student interaction time in large classes restricts the possibility of academic dialogue and engagement, which is essential in learning (Blatchford et al., 2011). This item captures teacher perceptions of participatory equity with increasing class size.

14. Meadowfield Elementary School should consider reducing class sizes in order to have a significant impact on student academic performance.

The teacher’s beliefs regarding the importance of class-size reduction indicate knowledge of the literature at large and guide the policy implications of the study (DeVellis and Thorpe, 2022). This item reflects general teacher agreement about structural reform as a school improvement strategy.

15. Large class sizes reduce my ability to provide timely feedback to students on their academic work.

Timely academic feedback is an essential component of effective instruction, yet teachers in overcrowded classrooms often struggle to provide prompt and individualized responses to student work because of increased instructional demands (López-Martin et al., 2023). This item measures teacher perceptions regarding the effect of class size on feedback quality and instructional responsiveness.

16. Large class sizes make it difficult to maintain an effective learning environment in the classroom.

Research has shown that overcrowded classrooms create greater classroom-management challenges and reduce overall instructional effectiveness, which can negatively influence the quality of the learning environment (Hattie, 2022). This item evaluates teacher perceptions of how class size affects the overall classroom climate and learning conditions.

Observation Procedures

Structured non-participant classroom observations are the third type of data collection and will be performed in a few grade-level classrooms in Meadowfield Elementary School. An observational methodology was selected due to its ability to enable the researcher to directly and methodically record teacher instructional behaviors, teacher-student interactions, and student engagement indicators in the naturalistic school environment (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016). Direct observation can offer a raw account of classroom dynamics, unlike self-reported data, such as interviews and surveys, and therefore is a useful source for triangulating and validating the other two data-collection methods (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016).

The researcher will also seek written permission from the principal before any observations are made and will schedule with each participating teacher. Informed consent will be obtained in writing from all teachers whose classrooms are under observation, and parents or guardians of students in observed classrooms will be informed in writing by the school administration at least two weeks before any scheduled session (Creswell & Guetterman, 2021). These plans are designed to make everything as transparent as possible for all stakeholders and reduce interference with teaching activities.

The observations will be made in six or eight classrooms (at least two grade bands, the primary (kindergarten through second grade) and the intermediate (third through fifth grade)) to ensure that possible differences in the appearance of large class-size effects are captured by developmental level. The two observations in each classroom will be noted, and each session will take one full instruction time (about 45 to 60 minutes) of core instruction in either English Language Arts or Mathematics. The entire observation will be planned between February and April 2026, during regular school hours. The researcher will record the date, time, grade level, classroom identifier, and the number of students present at the beginning of each session.

A standardized observation protocol will be used to gather data through five focal dimensions: (a) frequency and quality of teacher-initiated interactions with students; (b) student on-task and off-task behavior at every 5 minutes using time-sampling; (c) frequency of classroom management occurrences; (d) percentage of students visibly engaged in the assigned academic task at each time; and (e) physical classroom organization compared to the number of students The researcher will be a non-participant observer in the classroom where he will sit in a fixed and peripheral position to reduce observer effects on natural classroom behaviour (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016). Field notes will be taken by hand during every session and elaborated into detailed descriptive text within 24 hours to maintain accuracy and contextual detail.

The analysis of observational data will be conducted within a deductive coding procedure implemented with respect to the extended field notes, based on a framework derived from the main research question that will be the focus of the study (Braun and Clarke, 2022). Interval-based behavioural coding tallies will be converted to percentages to provide a standardized comparison across classrooms and grades. Chapter Four will involve triangulation of the observation findings and interview and survey data to enhance the overall validity and credibility of the study conclusions (Creswell and Guetterman, 2021).

Summary

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the effects of large class sizes on student learning outcomes at Meadowfield Elementary School. 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 presented the Interview Procedures, Survey Procedures, and Observation Procedures.

Overview

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First Data Collection Method Findings

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Second Data Collection Method Findings

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Third Data Collection Method Findings

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Discussion

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Summary

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Overview

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Recommendations

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Roles and Responsibilities of Stakeholders

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Resources Needed

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Timeline

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Summary

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