My Personal Research Journey

          My chosen topic for simulation is “Early Childhood Classroom Size and Student Performance”. Of course, I had to tweek the title after the literature review but overall, I was excited to see the research articles I found. One study claims “no one knows" if there is any real benefit to having small class sizes in early childhood. The same study states that the "debate still lingers" (NIEER, 2005). Another study states that there are benefits to having small class sizes. Nevertheless, I'm anxious to learn more.   

          This topic is close to my heart because over the years, I have seen some very good teachers get burned-out over the stress conditions they have had to endure over not having enough teachers in the classroom and this stress over time caused some teachers to leave the field. Some became ill and left the field on their own.  Some have even continued to work in the field but have lost the joy they once had for teaching and some have become extremely dogmatic and short tempered and any way it falls, the children loose out because these types of situations can negatively affect their performance.   

 I’m hoping to gain some more insight into what the research says about other causes of poor student performance and what interventions teachers can make to combat this situation. My heart and mind is also open to any advice my colleagues may have on this topic.  

Reference

NIEER. (2005). Preschool Matters.  Pre-K Class Size: What’s the Best Fit for the Nation’s 3- and 4-Year Olds? National Institute for

EarlyEducation Research, 3(1).