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This
section contains research pieces, and articles which focus on small
schools research. More articles are available in Media.
Older Reseach material can be found in the Archived
Research Section.
Research shows that small schools can....
Raise
student achievement
Reduce
incidents of violence or disruptive behavior
Combat
student anonymity and isolation
Increase
attendance and graduation rates
Elevate
teacher satisfaction
Improve
school climate
Be
more cost effective
Be
as good or better than big schools
More resources are listed in our Bibliography of (off-line) research articles.
Two
Schools: Two Approaches to Personalized Learning
The authors
believe that the kind of vital personalization exemplified at
Haney and Parker -- not state testing or rigid standardization
-- must become the cornerstone of school renewal if educators
and the communities they serve hope to change, in any significant
way, the basic grammar of schooling.[03/02]
REDUCE INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE OR DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR
From
Center for Rural Affairs : The Case for Small Schools
For most children, smaller schools are better. In that respect,
this series of articles advocates not only for small, rural schools,
but for all children. As a society we have the opportunity to
provide a safer and higher quality of educational experience for
our children, and the tragic recent events in Americas schools
show the necessity to seize the opportunity. [1/00]
COMBAT STUDENT ANONYMITY AND ISOLATION
From ASCD :
Supporting Schools as True Communities of Character - Testimony
Before the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth and Families
"The first and perhaps most critical element needed for effective
character education programs is personalization, or human-scale
schooling. Smaller classes and smaller schools enable schools
to become communities in which teachers and students know and
value each other as individuals. Schools within schools, block
scheduling, and mentoring programs create more opportunities for
knowing and caring for each student." [3/1/00]
INCREASE ATTENDANCE AND GRADUATION RATES
FOOD FOR THOUGHT ON
DROPOUTS AND SMALL SCHOOLS
While the study doesn’t break down the schools with “weak
promoting power” by size of school, the section reprinted
below offers some challenging and provocative analysis of the
new small-schools initiatives. --Mike Klonsky [6/04]
From
Harvard University - Civil Rights Project: Dropouts In America
Research released Jan. 13 at a conference at Harvard University
found that smaller schools, individualized attention, and strong
academic intervention particularly in the 9th gradeappear to
improve the odds that students will finish high school. [1/13/01]
Small Schools Can Make a Difference for Teachers
Small schools, coupled
with prepared teachers who have access to expert colleagues and
good teaching materials, lead to increased student achievement
and lower drop-outs. [02/03]
Harvard
Grad School of Education: Pedro Noguera on "No Child Left
Behind"
"Research on school violence has shown that a lack of meaningful
contact between adults and students in schools prevents school
personnel from identifying those students who are at risk of engaging
in violence; it also prevents them from knowing when violent incidents
are likely to occur."
-- Pedro Noguera. [08/01/02]
From School
of Education, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee : The Ultimate
Education Reform? Make Schools Smaller
"Smallness is a prerequisite for the climate of and culture that
we need to develop the habits of heart and mind essential to a
democracy, Deborah Meier, principal of Seven Hills School in
Boston once said. Small schools come as close to being a panacea
for Americas educational ills as we're likely to get." [12/14/00]
From
AERA Publications : Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
- High School Size : Effects on Budgets and Performance in New
York City
This paper contributes to the school size policy debate by using
methods and data that combine budget and performance information,
with the school as the unit of analysis...We find that small academic
and large high schools are similar in terms of budgets per graduate
and that some vocational and "transfer" high schools have the
highest budgets per graduate. Because the literature on school
size indicates that small high schools are more effective for
minority and poor students, the similarity in outcomes that small
and large high schools produce suggests that policymakers might
do well to support the creation of more small high schools. [Spring
2000]
BE AS GOOD OR BETTER THAN BIG SCHOOLS
Research You Can Use: Parents Favor
Smaller Schools
Parents whose children attend small high schools were more likely
to say that teachers help struggling students (75 percent compared
to 48 percent in large schools) and that students speak and write
well (67 percent to 47 percent).
[02/03]
Small
Schools Work and They're Cost Effective
a new report goes head-to-head with conventional wisdom about
economies of scale, proving that smaller schools can be cost-effective,
as well. Dollars and Sense: The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools,
released in September 2002, is a collaborative effort of the KnowledgeWorks
Foundation, the Rural School and Community Trust, and Concordia,
Inc.The publication is also available in PDF format. Click
here [03/01/02]
NMSA
Middle School Journal: Common Elements of High Performing, High
Poverty Middle Schools
As schools face public demands for increased student performance,
the daunting task is particularly problematic for schools with
high poverty levels. Traditionally, achievement is associated
with high parental education and high income, while lower socio-economic
status children, often termed at-risk, show lower test scores.
[03/01/02]
From Center for
Education Research, Analysis, and Innovation: The Ultimate Education
Reform? Make Schools Smaller
In large schools, both teachers and students move about the building
in anonymity. In a small school, students can be known well. And
to be known and acknowledged by other human beings is essential
to human psychological well-being and to learning. There^Òs sound
evidence for the quality that small schools offer. A growing body
of research shows that small schools can: Raise student achievement,
especially for minority and low-income students; Reduce incidents
of violence and disruptive behavior; Combat anonymity and isolation
and, conversely, increase the sense of belonging; Reduce graffiti
on school buildings; Increase attendance and graduation rates;
Elevate teacher satisfaction; Improve school climate; Operate
cost-effectively; Increase parent and community involvement. [12/14/00]
From Small Schools Project : School Reform and the No-Man's-Land
of High School Size
This paper explores how research and practice have shaped the
way we think about the proper size of the high school. [12/00]
From Independent Schools of the Central States : Overview of Recent
Research on Effectiveness of Small Schools
As this sampling attests, smallness has been interwoven with many
of today's reform themes, & with other features & conditions currently
recommended for schools. Interest in & examination of small schools
appear to be thriving. [12/00]
From
Bank Street College : Small Schools: Great Strides - A Study of
New Small Schools in Chicago
Small schools are seeing increased student achievement, decreased
dropout rates, and lower levels of violence even among the most
disadvantaged urban students. Additionally, small schools increase
parent, community, teacher, and principal satisfaction with their
schools. These findings are based on a two-year study of Chicago's
small schools, a strategy that other urban centers, Boston, Philadelphia,
and New York among others, have underway. This Bank Street College
study focuses on small Chicago schools founded between 1990 and
1997 and tracks their progress through 1999. [6/00]
From Annie E. Casey Foundation : Success in School: Education
Ideas that Count - Small Schools
Improving the quality of education by creating small schools has
become an increasingly popular solution to the failure of jumbo
schools in cities such as Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York,
Philadelphia, and Seattle.[4/00]
From
Educational Design Institute: Thirty-three Educational Design
Principals for Schools and Community Learning Centers
The research community has known for some time that small schools
(100-150), in comparison with large schools (over 2,000) offer
students greater opportunities to participate in extracurricular
activities and to exercise leadership roles. In particular, participation
in school activities, student satisfaction, number of classes
taken, community employment, and participation in social organizations
have all been found to be greater in small schools relative to
large schools. In addition, small schools, on the order of 500
or less, have lower incidence of crime levels and less serious
student misconduct. [1/31/00]
Jeremy,
You asked about research on small schools and dropouts. Here are
some good sources. Please visit Kathleen Cotton's research, review
of 10 studies from 1996: "School Size, School Climate, and
Student Performance" http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/10/c020.html
(excerpt below). I would also look at the ECS review, The
Progress of Education Reform 1999-2002 School Size Vol. 3, No.
3, January-February, 2002 http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/34/31/3431.pdf
Mike Klonsky
Boston
Review: Why Schools Work & the Problem with Vouchers.
Are vouchers a tool to lift poor children out of failing schools,
or are poor children a tool to lift schools out of the public
sector? [11/03]
EDWEEK: SMALL SCHOOLS HARD
TO START, REPORT FINDS
Research shows road to school reform is ‘long and bumpy.
[04/28/03]
Catalyst: Jennifer
O'Day's study of probation in Chicago
In her view, the most promising accountability systems are those
that tap into teachers intrinsic motivation by building collegiality
around improved student learning. In Baltimore City Public Schools,
for instance, consultants work with a group of low-performing
schools on team building and analyzing student work, among other
practices, she says. [04/10/03]
Jobs for the Future Newswire #17
OCTOBER 9, 2002
FROM: JOBS FOR THE FUTURE
Creating Strategies for Educational and Economic Opportunity
NEWSWIRE #17, October 9, 2002
[10/09/02]
Journal of Curriculum &
Supervision: ON COMMUNITY
Our society and especially our schools need increased clarity
of understanding about community, especially in these times. Consideration
of the nature of community certainly can aid the pursuit of enhanced
educational quality. Moreover, that prospect must not be a fad.Fall
2002, Volume 18, Number 1, 1 3 [10/02]
Black World Today: Still
Separate And Unequal
According to exhaustive reports produced by John Logan and colleagues
at the Lewis Mumford Center, "the average white person in
metropolitan America lives in a neighborhood that is 80% white
and only 7% black." A "typical black individual,"
they find, "lives in a neighborhood that is only 33% white
and as much as 51% black. Residential segregation remains high
in cities and suburbs around the country." [08/09/02]
New Study on High Schools Ignores
Small Schools
I read with amazement the latest study on high schools (see below)
done by the National Alliance on the American High School. After
plowing through 50 pages of data, information and recommendations
for policy makers, I found hardly a mention of the affects of
school size or of small schools anywhere. This, even though the
Alliance includes small schools advocates such as NASSP, Cross-City
Campaign, the Gates Foundation and Jobs for the Future. What's
up with that? ....Mike Klonsky [08/08/02]
From
ERIC : The Role of Teachers in Urban School Reform
Teachers who share a vision that large-scale fundamental changes
in school structure and classroom practice are necessary to improve
student outcomes are likely to support implementation of a model,
as are those who see implementation of a model as a major and
permanent initiative, instead of just another passing reform.
[7/00]
From National
Center for Education Statistics : Digest of Education Statistics
1999
The Digest provides statistical information covering the field
of education from prekindergarten through graduate school with
over 450 tables and figures. Topics include: schools and colleges;
teachers; enrollments; graduates; educational attainment; finances;
federal funds for education; employment and income of graduates;
libraries; technology; and international comparisons. [5/6/00]
From U.S. Department of Education, Office
of Educational Research and Improvement : The State of Charter
Schools 2000, Fourth-Year Report
Most charter schools are small schools - the median enrollment
in all charter school sites is 137 students per school, whereas
all public schools in the charter states had a median enrollment
of about 475 students. [1/00]
From
GMS Partners: The Challenge of Change
Before you dive into one more article on whole school reform,
organizational change, restructuring, redesigning, and reinventing
your school, take a deep breath. Congratulate yourself for being
a school leader who has been entrusted with the mission of leading
your school and community through a time of unprecedented change
in the culture of American education. Ever since 1983, and the
ground breaking A Nation At Risk report that focused on the
poor performance of American students in international comparisons,
and the continued gaps between poor and minority students and
white students, our educational system has been in a state critical
transformation. The result has been a national discussion around
vouchers and schools of choice, coupled with Federal and State
initiatives focused on school-to-careers, and the birth of the
skills standards movement. [2000]
Small
Schools and Teacher Professional Development. ERIC Digest.
M. Klonsky
(2002), EDO-RC-02-6
Balance
Due: Increasing Financial Resources for Small Rural Schools. ERIC
Digest.
T. Haas
(2000), EDO-RC-00-2
Breaking
Up Large High Schools: Five Common (and Understandable) Errors
of Execution. ERIC Digest.
T. Gregory
(2001), EDO-RC-01-6
Current
Literature on Small Schools. ERIC Digest.
Mary Anne
Raywid (1999), EDO-RC-98-8
Research
About School Size and School Performance in Impoverished Communities.
ERIC Digest.
C. Howley,
M. Strange, & R. Bickel (2000), EDO-RC-00-10
