Four-year longitudinal class-size study funded by the Tennessee General Assembly and conducted by the State Department of Education. Over 7,000 students in 79 schools were randomly assigned into one of 3 interventions: small class (13 to 17 students per teacher), regular class (22 to 25 students per teacher), and regular-with-aide class (22 to 25 students with a full-time teacher's aide). Classroom teachers were also randomly assigned to the classes they would teach. The interventions were initiated as the students entered school in kindergarten and continued through third grade. In 1996, Health and Education Research Operative Services (HEROS), Incorporated was funded to conduct a 10th grade follow-up study of Project STAR. To be on-schedule during the 1995-1996 school year, Project STAR students would be high school sophomores (10th Grade). The researchers reviewed the Tennessee Competency Examination (TCE) data for the 1993-94, 1994-95, and 1995-96 school years. Schools begin administering the TCE to students in eighth grade and they are required to pass the TCE prior to graduating from high school. Data were collected for each administration of the TCE to a Project STAR student.
