Class Size Data from Project STAR

Project STAR Research

Tennessee's Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) project was a large-scale, four-year, experimental study of reduced class size, that Donald Orlich of Washington State University described in Phi Delta Kappan (April, 1991) as "one of the most significant studies in education during the past 25 years."

Overview Of The Data Files

The STAR-and-Beyond database contains raw student- and school-level data from a longitudinal experiment conducted in Tennessee beginning in 1985. The experiment lasted for four years, with a single cohort of students progressing from kindergarten through third grade. Achievement tests and non-achievement measures were administered annually. The experiment ended in 1989. However, student achievement data continued to be collected through high school, and ancillary studies resulted in other non-achievement variables being added to the data set.

The primary student-level data file contains information on 11,601 students who participated in the experimental phase for at least one year. Information for each of grades K-3 includes:

• Demographic variables;
• School and class identifiers;
• School and teacher information;
• Experimental condition (“class type”);
• Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced achievement test scores;
• Motivation and self-concept scores.

Additional data, added to the records of some or all students, include:

• Achievement test scores for the students when they were in grades 4 – 8, obtained from the Tennessee State Department of Education;
• Teachers’ ratings of student behavior in grades 4 and 8;
• Students’ self-reports of school engagement and peer effects in grade 8;
• Course taking in mathematics, science, and foreign language in high school, obtained from student transcripts;
• SAT/ACT participation and scores, obtained from ACT, Inc. and from Educational Testing Service;
• Graduation/dropout information, obtained from high school transcripts and the Tennessee State Department of Education.

Other data files include:

(1) Student data on 1780 students in grades 1 – 3 in 21 comparison schools, matched with STAR schools but not participating in the experiment;
(2) A school-level file with additional information about each of the 80 STAR schools;
(3) A school-level file with additional information about each high school attended by STAR students.

Please refer to the User’s Guide for detailed information.
Download User's Guide (Adobe Acrobat Reader Required)

Star Data Files (All Data Sets in SPSS Protable File Format:)

Some browsers experience problems downloading ".sav" files.If you are unable to download the files above, download the following zip file; it contains all the files below.

All Data Files (Zipped) (2500 KB)

On All Files "Right-Click" and select "Save Link As" to download

Star High Schools Data (15 KB)
Star K - 3 Schools Data (16 KB)
Star Student Data (8770 KB)
Comparison Student Data (353 KB)

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