No. 2/2008
QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL ESTIMATES OF THE EFFECT OF
CLASS SIZE ON ACHIEVEMENT IN NORWAY
Edvin Leuven, Hessel Oosterbeek and Marte Rønning
Abstract:
Using a comprehensive administrative database we exploit independent
quasiexperimental methods to estimate the effect of class size on student
achievement in Norway. The first method is based on a maximum class size
rule in the spirit Angrist and Lavy (1999). The second method exploits
population variation as first proposed by Hoxby (2000). The results of
both methods (and of variations on these methods) are very similar and
cannot reject that the class size effect is equal to zero. The estimates
are very precise; we can rule out effects as small as 1.5 percent of a
standard deviation for a one student change in class size during three
years in a row.
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