Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 624-642 |
Journal | Bulletin of Economic Research |
Volume | 73 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 17 Oct 2021 |
Keywords
- class size
- course evaluations
- grades
- student engagement