This section contains older research pieces, and articles which focus on small schools research. More articles are available in Media.
Research shows that small schools can....
Raise student achievement
Other Related Research
More resources are listed in our Bibliography of (off-line) research articles.
RAISE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTFrom The Rural School and Community Trust : School Size, Poverty, and Student Achievement
New research shows that smaller schools reduce the damaging effects of poverty on student achievement and help students from poorer communities narrow the achievement gap between them and students from wealthier communities. [12/99]From Principal Magazine : How Small Schools Increase Student Learning (and What Large Schools Can Do About It)
As research continues to show that bigger schools are not necessarily better, educators are finding innovative ways to shrink them. [11/99]From Education Week : Reading Scores Surge at Small N.Y.C. Schools
An analysis of test scores in a network of small schools in New York City has found a one-year jump of 5 percentage points in the proportion of students reading at or above grade level. "Progress Report: Outcomes Study, January 1999," free, from the New York Networks for School Renewal; [3/24/99]From The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development : Small Schools - A Reform That Works
Numerous studies confirm that small schools lead to improved student achievement and enable educators to realize many of the other goals of school reform. [12/97]From Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory : Monthly column : Big Learning at Small Schools
Kids usually go for big ice cream cones and giant rides at the fair. But when it comes to school size, research clearly says that kids thrive on small; it's often better for student learning.... [9/7/97]From The Institute for Educational Research in NSW : Research Paper From New South Wales on Small Schools
This paper examines two related research questions. First, irrespective of other school and student background variables, does school size make a difference to achievement in the HSC examination? Second, does school size affect HSC achievement after taking into account school and student background characteristics, student academic motivation and the educational component of the school culture? [1996]From ERIC : Effects of High School Restructuring and Size on Gains in Achievement and Engagement for Early Secondary School Students
Restructured high schools and unrestructured schools were contrasted with traditionally reformed schools. High school size was an important structural feature. Results showed that students' achievement and engagement were significantly higher in restructured schools and lower in unrestructured schools. Achievement and engagement gains were also more equitably distributed in restructured schools. Smaller schools also had higher and more equitable engagement and achievement. [4/94]From ERIC : The Academic Effectiveness of Small-Scale Schooling (An Update).
The positive effects of small school size on attitudes and satisfaction, extracurricular participation, attachment to school, and attendance have been confirmed by decades of research findings. But researchers continue to investigate the unique influence of school and district size on student achievement. The results have generally pointed to a negative relationship between size and academic achievement. All else held equal, small schools have evident advantages for achievement, at least among disadvantaged students. [1994]From ERIC : What Is the Effect of Small-Scale Schooling on Student Achievement?
New studies suggest that small-scale schooling can have a positive influence on student achievement. This Digest reviews the recent evidence. The discussion should be of particular interest to policymakers and practitioners who confront the related issues of declining enrollments and school consolidation. [1989]
REDUCE INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE OR DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIORFrom National Center for Education Statistics : How Safe are the Public Schools: What Do Teachers Say?
From 1987-88 to 1993-94, teachers in public schools with more than 750 students consistently reported physical conflicts among students and weapons possession as moderate or serious problems more frequently than did teachers in schools with fewer than 150 students. [4/98]From NWREL : Small Schools Superior for Students
The research is clear: Small is better when it comes to school size. A new report from NWREL finds overwhelming evidence that student attitudes, behavior, and participation are better when school size is smaller. As for student achievement, small schools get results at least equal to, and in many cases superior to, big schools. [5/96]From ERIC : School Size and School Disorder
This paper uses a national survey of secondary schools to examine the relation between size and orderliness in secondary schools and to test alternative theories linking school disorder to school size. Manning theory and social control theory, taken together, predict that larger schools will experience more disruption because a smaller proportion of the student population will be involved in meaningful activities. In addition, previous research suggests that larger schools experience more disorder because they cannot be managed as effectively as small schools due to communication problems. [7/85]
COMBAT STUDENT ANONYMITY AND ISOLATIONFrom ERIC : What Research Says about Small Schools
Reviews findings on the effects of school size on student achievement and participation. Concludes that small size, in itself, does not lower academic achievement, and does enhance opportunities for students to participate in school activities and assume leadership roles. Contains 44 references. [Fall 1998]From ERIC : Reducing Student Alienation in High Schools: Implications of Theory
Newmann develops six guidelines for reducing student alienation, and shows why current efforts in school reform have failed to provide a comprehensive solution to the problem. [11/81]From ERIC : School Size and the Importance of School Activities.
Among the results, in a sample of 1,562 ninth through twelfth graders from large and small high schools, it was found that students in the smaller schools participated in more school activities and that their participation was more strongly related to feelings of personal worth [Spring 1981]From ERIC : How School Size Affects Student Participation, Alienation
Cites evidence that students in small high schools participate in cocurricular activities more and are less alienated than students in large schools. [10/80]
INCREASE ATTENDANCE AND GRADUATION RATESFrom National Center for Policy Analysis : Small, Alternative NYC Schools Do Better
In recent years, New York City has been experimenting with smaller high schools that enroll 600 or fewer students. The aim has been to determine whether they can better serve struggling students from poorer sections of the city. [4/29/98]From Harvard Education Letter : Small Schools Work Best for Disadvantaged Students
Small schools are safer, have lower dropout rates, and better attendance records, but the trend toward large schools has been around throughout the twentieth century. "It's one of those areas where the research points in one direction and the world is running as fast as it can in the opposite direction." [3/98]From ERIC : School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance
See how these factors affect education. [1996]From Journal of American Indian Education : American Indians Out of School: A Review of School-based Causes and Solutions Research indicates a number of factors associated with higher student dropout rates. Particularly critical factors for American Indian students include large schools, uncaring and untrained teachers, passive teaching methods, inappropriate curriculum, inappropriate testing/student retention, tracked classes, and lack of parent involvement...The problem of large, impersonal schools can be solved by building smaller schools and restructuring older large ones to allow for more teacher-student contact. [1/92]
ELEVATE TEACHER SATISFACTIONFrom ERIC : Managing Change in Small Primary Schools
This report summarizes a two-phase research project on the strategies used by headteachers in small Scottish primary schools to manage mandated education changes. The findings suggest the benefits of a small-school management style involving creation of a collegial team; networking with outside colleagues and resources; and situational management based on realistic assessment of context, tasks, and available resources. [6/98]From Southwest Educational Development Laboratory : Professional Learning Communities: What Are They And Why Are They Important?
The following physical factors that support learning communities: time to meet and talk, small school size and physical proximity of the staff to one another...For staff the following results have been observed... more satisfaction, higher morale, and lower rates of absenteeism. [1997]From the National Center for Education Statistics: Teachers' Sense of Community: BRIEF How Do Public and Private Schools Compare?
As expected, within each sector, teachers' sense of community with their colleagues generally was greater in small schools (i.e., schools with fewer than 150 students) than in large schools (i.e., schools with 750 or more students). [12/96]From National Center for Research in Vocational Education : As Teachers Tell It: Implementing All Aspects Of The Industry: The Case Studies
By creating smaller schools-within-schools, teachers increase interdisciplinary interaction with other teachers, students see a unity and relevancy among their classes, and students will feel more involved in a school community. These outcomes will effect an improvement in student-student, student-teacher, and teacher-teacher relationships and, therefore, enhance student achievement. Our students and teachers in [schools-within-schools] receive more interdisciplinary input, feel more of a "small school" intimacy, and have a greater identity. [10/96]From The Coalition of Essential Schools : The School Change Study; A Collaborative Inquiry on School Change
Drawing on the faculties' responses and their own observations, the researchteams explore three main themes: how the nine Common Principles are put into practice; how whole-school change occurs; and what factors affect the momentum of change. [1991-94]
IMPROVE SCHOOL CLIMATEFrom Virginia Tech : The Impact of School Size
It appears that smaller schools strengthen interpersonal relationships and sense of community. Smaller schools are also associated with stronger parental committment and have higher rates of parental involvement. [4/99]From American School & University Magazine : Sum of Its Parts
The school-within-a-school approach to middle-school design can provide small, specialized learning environments for students. [1/99]From Educational Research Service (ERS) Bulletin : Small Urban Schools
Big schools often have harmful effects on many students, teachers, and parents, and given the right conditions, small schools can create an academic climate in which a sense of belonging and rich teaching and learning can flourish, write Michelle Fine and Janis I. Somerville in Small Schools, Big Imaginations: A Creative Look at Urban Public Schools... [12/98]From Duval County School Board : New Century Commission Report
Quality of Student Experiences...An effective education system is built on creating a learning climate that motivates students to do their best, encourages students to be creative, challenges all their learning senses...On the surface, oversized, crowded schools, big classrooms and lack of state-of-the-art learning tools, impede learning conditions. The New Century Commission recommends that schools be downsized by developing schools within schools. [1/98]From ERIC : Outcomes of School Downsizing
This report covers the extent to which downsizing creates separateness, autonomy, and distinctiveness, three qualities said to be of practical significance. [4/96]From New York Times : A Big Answer for Public Education: Small Schools. A City School Experiment That Actually Works.
ERIC abstract: The School for the Physical City (SPC) is 1 of 50 new public schools established in New York City since 1993. Like many, SPC offers small classes, greater teacher-student interaction, and a rigorous curriculum, but depends on some private financial support. However, it remains questionable whether the City cares enough about reform to finance smaller schools. [5/28/95]From Southwest Educational Development Laboratory : Confronting And Managing Culture In A Changing Environment
This paper presents a description of the site where this study was conducted, the inception of the innovation, the implementation process, and the outcomes...The first strategy restructures the traditional junior high into a middle school that organizes students into smaller learning communities called families. These families, or small learning communities, should provide environments where stable, close, mutually respectful relationships with adults and peers are created and where students' intellectual development and personal growth flourish. [1995]From ERIC : Organizing Schools into Small Units: Alternative to Homogeneous Grouping.
Large school size adversely affects attendance, school climate, student involvement. Dividing large schools into small units creates a learning and teaching context that is more stable, intimate, supportive, interdisciplinary. [3/94]From The Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools: Let's Build Teachers' Professional Community
Physical isolation can be a real barrier to building professional community, especially in larger schools. In schools where classrooms are close together and "open door" policies are supported, teachers find it easier to work together and to gain new insight into their own practices. In such settings, it's much easier for teachers to continually observe each other and discuss what they see. [1994]From The National Center on Effective Secondary Schools : The High School as Community: Contextual Influences and Consequences for Students and Teachers.
This study developed an index of communal school organization and used this measure to focus on specific features of high schools as social organizations..."Breaking down large schools into small communities is an easy way to improve the quality of life for both teachers and students. Schools-within- schools enable better communication among teachers, parents, and students; enhance the staff's sense of control; and promote a generally warmer, more intimate atmosphere." [11/88]From ERIC : Adolescent Identity Formation and the Organizational Structure of High Schools
The author describes aspects of the size and organizational structure of high schools which reduce human contact and have a negative influence on the sense of community, the development of relationships, and the formation of personal identity. [Spring 1979]From ERIC : Optimum Setting for the Early Adolescent: Junior High or Middle School?
Article discussed what constitutes the optimum school organization for early adolescents. [Spring 1974]
BE MORE COST EFFECTIVEFrom Nebraska Alliance for Rural Education : Small Schools, Big Results: Nebraska High School Completion and Postsecondary Enrollment Rates by Size of School District
The purpose of this report is to re-frame the school size debate by demonstrating the excellent performance of Nebraska’s small schools in two fundamental areas of student outcome: high school completion and postsecondary enrollment rates, and by offering an alternative measure of cost efficiency that includes student outcomes. [9/99]From Nebraska Alliance for Rural Education: Small Schools, Big Results: The Impact of Size on Nebraska School Outcomes and Cost
Recent changes in the Nebraska school finance system have taken place in the midst of considerable debate about the issues of cost efficiency, tax equity and quality of education. School size plays prominently in these debates. [8/99]From ERIC : The Effects of Size of Student Body on School Costs and Performance in New York City High Schools
This report analyzes the relationship between size of student body and school costs and performance in New York City public high schools, using Board of Education school-level data (1995-96) on budgeted expenditures, student characteristics, and performance. [1998]The 1998 Robert D. Krey Competition Award Winner : Small Schools, Educational Achievement and Cost Effectiveness.
Realignment, consolidation, closure are some of the words used to describe what has been happening to small schools around the United States. Combining small districts or schools to offer more courses at a more reasonable price seems like a good idea. [1998]From Public Education Association : Small Schools' Operating Costs: Reversing Assumptions about Economies of Scale.
ERIC abstract: This volume addresses the feasibility of operating small schools as the mainstay of the public school system. Research evidence indicates that small schools are associated with better student outcomes and that they make personal attention, academic focus, and experiential curricula possible. The premise that small schools are more expensive has always been false. [12/92]
BE AS GOOD OR BETTER THAN BIG SCHOOLSFrom Education Review Office of New Zealand: Small Primary Schools
Over half the state primary schools in New Zealand have fewer than 150 students. More than one in five of all primary schools has fewer than 50 students, and most of these very small schools are rural. This report looks at the quality of education provided by these schools and explores the issues facing their boards of trustees, managers, teachers, students and school communities. [Winter, 1999]From ERIC : Current Literature on Small Schools
This Digest presents a brief overview of research literature on the effectiveness of small schools. It then describes current topics researchers have begun to explore, including discussion of associated policy issues, individual successes and failures, and essential elements and other implementation considerations. [1/99]From CRESPAR : Small Learning Communities Meet School-to-Work - Whole-School Restructuring for Urban Comprehensive High Schools
Research on school size has spawned a widespread movement toward smaller schools and the creation of self-contained "houses," "charters," or small learning communities (SLCs) within large high schools. [1/99]From Great Schools : Issue Papers, School Size
Recent research on the effect of school size on student achievement indicates that a small school strategy may be a powerful school improvement model. [1999]From ERIC : Restructuring the Schools Learning Arrangement into Communities.
During the 1997-98 school year, a large elementary school in the Kansas City area began to research the community learning arrangement within schools...Teachers found that discipline problems were overwhelmingly down, especially violent acts. There was an observed improvement in the social skills of all students. This paper also includes information from the research on school size, the school-within-a-school concept, and learning communities. [1999]From Virginia Tech : The Impact of School Size
There is remarkable consistency among the research studies that have been reported on school size; smaller is better. To understand these findings one must appreciate the pressing need of children, especially the younger ones, for structure, social stability, and community support. It appears that smaller schools strengthen interpersonal relationships and sense of community. Smaller schools are also associated with stronger parental committment and have higher rates of parental involvement. [1999]From Educational Research Service: Small Urban Schools
Big schools often have harmful effects on many students, teachers, and parents, and given the right conditions, small schools can create an academic climate in which a sense of belonging and rich teaching and learning can flourish, write Michelle Fine and Janis I. Somerville in Small Schools, Big Imaginations: A Creative Look at Urban Public Schools. The publication provides stories of successful small-school startups, often referred to as charters, "mini-schools," or small learning communities; an academic literature review of school size; and the research framework of a study evaluating the cost effectiveness of small schools. [12/98]From ERIC : Research Roundup - School Size: Is Small Better?
In the past three decades, steadily mounting evidence indicates that children and adolescents do best in schools with well under 1,000 students, with some critics arguing that even 200 may be too many. [Winter 98-99]From ParentSoup -- Education & College Expert Bruce Hammond : "How does school size relate to the academic performance of its students?"
Solid, imposing research now links small schools to few discipline problems, lower dropout rates, higher levels of student participation, steadier progress toward graduation and more learning - The School Administrator [12/24/98]From The Small Schools Workshop: Small Schools : The Numbers Tell A Story
There is now a compelling body of research showing that, on a wide range of measures, when students are part of smaller, more intimate learning communities, they are more successful......- by Michael Klonsky. [9/98]From Catalyst : Smaller is Better
Those three words sum up stacks of studies that have produced one of the most solid findings in school research: All other things being equal, elementary schools with fewer than 350 children are likely to be more successful than larger ones. [5/98]From Education Digest : Big Ideas for Downsizing Schools
Solid, imposing research now links small schools to fewer discipline problems, lower dropout rates, higher levels of student participation, steadier progress toward graduation, and more learning. They are especially beneficial for disadvantaged or at-risk students, who appear to depend more on school size and organization for succeeding than do more fortunate youngsters. [1/98]From ERIC : Small Schools, Big Imaginations: A Creative Look at Urban Public Schools.
School reform leaders from Chicago (Illinois), Denver (Colorado), New York (New York), Seattle (Washington), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and Los Angeles (California) created the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform to work to improve urban education so that all urban youth are well- prepared for postsecondary education, work, and citizenship. Papers in this volume provide insights into an approach advocated by the Cross City Campaign, the small schools movement. [1998]From ERIC : Report of the Small Schools Group
Vermont state legislation provides additional funding to small schools-- those enrolling fewer than 100 students. To meet legislative requirements, a study group examined costs, educational quality, and consolidation issues in Vermont's small schools...Despite lower socioeconomic status, students in small schools did as well or better than students in larger schools; small school facilities were in as good or better shape than larger facilities; and parent participation in small schools was high. [1998]From Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute : About Partnership: The New High School Reform Movement
The Carnegie Corporation of New York trained its attention on the actual needs of young students. Its report, Turning Points, transformed the junior high school into a middle school, which tried to make it its main purpose to insure all the young adolescents would find themselves in schools in which they knew the teachers and the teachers knew them. This would be accomplished by dividing schools into small units of no more than 150 students, each of them taught by a team of either four or five teachers, representing English, social studies, science, and mathematics. The team would be entirely responsible for the education of this relatively small group of children. [1997]From ERIC : School Size
There is a natural predilection in American education toward enormity," said William Fowler (1992), "and it does not serve schools well." [1997]From ERIC : Small Schools--A Reform That Works. An Occasional Paper of the Small Schools Coalition
This booklet addresses three questions about small schools, commonly posed by skeptics: "What do we really know about small schools?" What is there to recommend them?" and "Can we explain their track record?" [1997]From the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association : SSTA Research Centre Reports on Small Schools
Research addressing: What strategies will strengthen small schools and overcome size-related limitations? What are the some of the challenges facing small schools today? What are the problems associated with school enrollment in Saskatchewan? What are the implications of declining enrollments in rural Saskatchewan? [1997]From ERIC : Curriculum Adequacy and Quality in High Schools Enrolling Fewer Than 400 Pupils (9-12)
One widely recognized challenge facing small schools is their ability to maintain a broad curriculum with a diversity of course offerings. By contrast, one of the alleged benefits of "bigness" is breadth of the core curriculum, vocational offerings, special services, and extracurricular opportunities. Evidence presented in this Digest will illustrate that many small high schools maintain programs in these areas that are comparable in quality to curricula of larger schools. [12/96]From Educational Leadership : The Big Benefits of Smallness
As New York's celebrated Central Park East schools have shown, small schools work--for seven good reasons. [9/96]From ERIC: Taking Stock : The Movement To Create Mini-Schools, Schools-Within-Schools, And Separate Small Schools
Experience has steadily added support for the conclusion that small schools are preferable to large ones. But such a conclusion poses problems: many of the schools built over the last 75 years were designed to accommodate enrollments of 2,000-4,000 or more. [4/96]From ERIC : Downsizing schools in big cities
Over the last 30 years research and experience have suggested that students benefit in many different ways from attending small schools, as opposed to large ones. Many existing schools, however, and even most under construction, can accommodate 2,000-4,000 students. [1996]From ERIC : Ongoing Dilemmas of School Size: A Short Story
Learn about the problems facing rural and urban school systems. [1996]From ERIC : The Subschools/Small Schools Movement--Taking Stock.
Today, the division of large schools into subschools or subunits is often recommended as the answer to a number of problems in education. This paper examines the several forms of school-downsizing efforts and the somewhat diverse purposes for which they are being established. [12/95]From The Institute for Learning Technologies : Pedagogy for the 21st Century
The research literature in a number of related areas informs the Institute's vision of schools in the 21st century. The ideas advanced in the literature converge, however, on a central notion -- that small, nurturing, personal schools in which educational activity can be tailored carefully to individual students' needs and interests are most effective and most compelling. [9/94]From ERIC : The Advantages of Small Rural Schools. Final Report to the Idaho Rural School Association
This report examines the results and conclusions of recent research on small and rural schools, and attempts to frame current debates over educational adequacy and financial equity in Idaho's rural school districts. Section I reports findings of recent research on school size and emphasizes the benefits of (typically rural) small schools. Most research focuses on effects of secondary school size in terms of curriculum offerings, student involvement and attitudes, interpersonal relations, administration, and student achievement. [2/8/94]From Pathways to School Improvement : Large Schools
Extensive research evidence indicates that a supportive climate for learning can be severely damaged by the very large secondary schools... [1993]From the Small Schools Workshop : Eight Steps to Creating Small Schools
Research You Can Use From the Small Schools Workshop. [1992]From ERIC : The Advantages of Small Schools
Americans are rediscovering the small school. Education has proclaimed that "bigger is better" for so long that many have become believers in a doctrine which they have not truly examined. Indeed, the largeness of many of our schools may be one factor contributing to declines in test scores and increases in violence among students (Wynne, 1978). The restructuring of schools to smaller entities may ameliorate some of the problems facing today's educators. [2/86]
OTHER RELATED RESEARCHFrom ERIC : Large or Small? Public or Private? What Matters Most in the Formation of Social Capital.
This paper explores how social capital is generated in schools. Social capital is defined as the resources available to actors that result from their interaction in a social network...the social capital that formed as a result of the social networks associated with the large and small schools was different. The two smaller schools, by utilizing other additional activities that allowed them to take advantage of the community and social networks already established by their affiliated church, exhibited a denser social network than was found in the large school. [1999]From ERIC : Key High School Reform Strategies: An Overview of Research Findings. New American High Schools: High Schools at the Leading Edge of Reform.
This document reviews the relevant education literature to assess the evidence that reform strategies, such as those being used in New American High Schools, have affected educational outcomes, including school attendance, grades, skills attainment, graduation rates, and postgraduation activities. The overview focuses on 10 strategies: (1) raise academic standards; (2) create small learning environments enabling students and teachers to work together... [1999]From NCREST: Cultural Interchange in a Bronx High School: Three Children
What I expected to find in the way of cultural interchange at CBA centered around the school's creation of an intellectual culture that is, how it taught its students the nature of learning, what learning looked like, and the ways it changed one's life, one's patterns of thinking. I wanted to see how building such a culture could affect students' attitudes about learning, about knowledge, and about themselves as participants in the world of knowledge. I also wanted to see if, in the process, what the school learned from its students could change the school itself...a relatively small high school (just under 400 students) located in a predominantly Latino section of the Bronx, New York. [1999]From ERIC : Children at Risk/Children of Promise: Youth and the Modern Predicament.
Articles in this theme issue explore the state of children and youth at the end of the millennium. Imagination and the arts, ethnographic and interpretive exploration, and traditional social science investigations are used to consider the meaning of childhood and what life is like for children today. [1998]From Wisconsin Center for Education Research: Issues in Restructuring Schools
Online Issue Reports including Restructuring School Governance - The Chicago Experience, School-wide Professional Community, High School Restructuring and Student Achievement. [1995]From ERIC : Creating Accountability In Big City Schools
This publication was produced by the ERIC Clearinghouse of Urban Education and is an important piece on accountability and testing. [1991]
