The Effect of Attending a Small Class in the Early Grades on College-Test Taking and Middle School Test Results - Evidence from Project STAR - NBER Working Paper No. 7656

Sep 15, 2026

This paper delivers a long-term follow-up of students in the Tennessee STAR experiment, which randomly assigned 11,600 elementary students and teachers to small classes, regular-size classes, or regular-size classes with a teacher aide. The study tracks outcomes from kindergarten through the eighth grade, including standardized test performance and college-entrance exam participation and results. Findings indicate higher standardized test performance, greater likelihood of taking the ACT/SAT, and reduced black-white gaps. A cost-benefit calculation estimates a 5.5% internal rate of return.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages44

Reading Time1 h 51 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Project STAR experiment overview

Rationale for long-term follow-up

Paper organization and research design

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES # THE EFFECT OFATTENDING A SMALL CLASS IN THEEARLY GRADES ON COLLEGE-TEST TAKING AND MIDDLESCHOOL TEST RESULTS:EVIDENCE FROM PROJECT STAR Alan B.KruegerDiane M.Whitmore Working Paper 7656http://www.nber.org/papers/w7656 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts AvenueCambridge,MA02138April 2000 We thank Helen Pate-Bain and Jayne Boyd-Zaharias for providing data andanswering manyquestions,JamesMaxey and Amy Schmidt for assistance merging the STAR database to the ACT and SAT databases,theSmith Richardson Foundation forfinancial support,andJoshua Angrist,Anders Björklund,and David Card,tworeferees and seminar participants at Hebrew University,American Institutes for Research,Berkeley andPrinceton for helpful comments.We are also grateful to Stacy Dale,Cecilia Rouse,and Mark Votruba forhelp with data.Naturally,we bear sole responsibility for all views expressed in the paper. ◎ 2000 by Alan B.Krueger and Diane M.Whitmore.All rights reserved.Short sections of text,not toexceed two paragraphs,may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit,including ◎notice,is given to the source. The Effect of Attending a Small Class in the Early Grades on College-TestTaking and Middle School Test Results:Evidence from Project STARAlan B.Krueger and Diane M.WhitmoreNBER Working Paper No.7656April 2000JELNo.I2 Alan Krueger Industrial Relations SectionPrinceton UniversityPrinceton,NJ 08544and NBERakrueger@princeton.edu ## ABSTRACT This paper provides a long-term follow-up of students who participated in the TennesseeSTARexperiment.The Tennessee STARexperiment randomly assigned 11,600elementary schoolstudents and theirteachers to a smallclass,regular-sizeclass or regular-sizeclass with ateacher-aide.The experiment began with the wave of students who entered kindergarten in 1985,and lasted forfour years.After the third grade,all students returned to regular-size classes.We analyze the effectof past attendance in a smallclass on standardized test scores through the eighth grade,on whetherstudents took the ACT or SAT college entrance exam,and on how they performed on the ACTor SAT exam.The results suggest that attending a small class in the early grades is associated withsomewhat higher performance on standardized test,and an increase in the likelihood that studentstake acollege-entrance exam,especially among minority students.Most significantly,being assignedto a smallclass appears to have narrowed the black-white gap in college-test taking by 54 percentA calculation is presented suggesting that the internal rate of return from reducing class size from 22to 15 students is 5.5 percent. Diane Whitmore Industrial Relations SectionPrinceton UniversityPrinceton,NJ 08544whitmore@princeton.edu Project STAR was an experiment in which an eventual 11,600 students in their first fouryears of school (from kindergarten until3grade)were randomly assigned to a smal class(target of 13-17 students),regular-size class (target of 22-25 students),or regular-size class witha teacher aide within 79 Tennessee public schools.¹Teachers were also randomly assigned toclass types.The experiment began with the wave of students who entered kindergarten in the1985-86 school year.Students who entered a participating school while this cohort was in first,second,or third grades were added to the experiment and randomly assigned to a class type.After four years,all students were returned to regular-size classes.Students were supposed tostay in their original class-assignment type for four years,although students were randomly re-assigned between regular and regular/aide classes in first grade.²Students who moved along onpace graduated from high school in the Spring of 1998.Mosteller(1995)described ProjectSTAR as "a controlled experiment which is one of the most important educational investigationsever carried out and illustrates the kind and magnitude of research needed in the field ofeducation to stre

FAQs

What was the Tennessee STAR experiment designed to test?

It randomly assigned about 11,600 elementary students and their teachers to a small class, a regular-size class, or a regular-size class with a teacher aide to study educational effects over time.

Which long-term outcomes are analyzed in this paper?

The paper examines effects on standardized test scores through the eighth grade and on whether students take the ACT or SAT, including performance on those exams.

What do the results suggest about early small-class attendance?

Attending a small class in the early grades is associated with somewhat higher standardized test performance, a higher likelihood of taking a college-entrance exam, and a narrowing of the black-white gap in college-test taking.

Sep 15, 2026

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