My work for GOVT 310, Introduction to Political Research was published in Clocks and Clouds 2021-2022 Issue!
Clocks and Clouds is the undergraduate journal for American University covering political science, international relations, and public policy.
My paper covers the topic of class size and its debate in the education policy space.
“Educational practices and policies have been debated among educators, policymakers, and others for ages. The idea of class size and pupil teacher ratio (PTR) exemplify this idea. In the existing literature, there are varied opinions as to how we should handle the number of students per classroom. Some researchers show that smaller class sizes can be beneficial to both student achievement and closing the educational gap for students of color. Others are concerned that both class size research and policies lack supporting evidence and therefore should not be attempted. Meanwhile, lawmakers and policymakers continue to invest large amounts of money into class size reduction (CSR) policies including states like California and Florida. This research seeks to reframe and question current policies by determining to what extent low pupil teacher ratios influence student achievement. Using regression and correlation tests, the results produce the conclusions that while math achievement is not affected by class size, ELA achievement in combination with the percentage of African American students does influence test scores. The results lend themselves to a plan for future class size policies that are more in tune with the current state of education and the students who will be affected.”
You can read my work here at the Clocks and Clouds website.