The following list highlights the major points
identified in this paper:
1. School consolidation has been carried out through
much of this century, resulting in many fewer and
much larger schools and school districts.
Consolidation efforts continue into the present time.
2. The research base on the relative effects of large
and small schools is large and quite consistent. The
research base on the effects of school-within-a-school
(SWAS) arrangements is smaller and less
conclusive.
3. There is no clear agreement among researchers and
educators about what constitutes a "small" school
or a "large" school. Many researchers,
however, indicate that an appropriate and effective size is 300-
400 students for an elementary school and 400-800
students for a secondary school.
4. Much school consolidation has been based on the
beliefs that larger schools are less expensive to
operate and have higher-quality curricula than small
schools. Research has demonstrated, however,
that neither of these assertions is necessarily true.
5. Academic achievement in small schools is at least
equal—and often superior—to that of large schools.
6. Student attitudes toward school in general and
toward particular school subjects are more positive in
small schools.
7. Student social behavior—as measured by truancy,
discipline problems, violence, theft, substance
abuse, and gang participation—is more positive in
small schools.
8. Levels of extracurricular participation are much
higher and more varied in small schools than large
ones, and students in small schools derive greater
satisfaction from their extracurricular participation.
9. Student attendance is better in small schools than
in large ones.
10. A smaller percentage of student drop out of small
schools than large ones.
11. Student have a greater sense of belonging in small
schools than in large ones.
12. Student academic and general self-concepts are
higher in small schools than in large ones.
13. Interpersonal relations between and among
students, teachers, and administrators are more positive in
small schools than in large ones.
14. Students from small and large high schools do not
differ from one another on college-related variables
such as entrance examination scores, acceptance rates,
attendance, grade point average, and
completion.
15. Teacher attitudes toward their work and their
administrators are more positive in small schools than in
large ones.
16. Attributes associated with small school size that
researchers have identified as accounting for their
superiority include,
a. Everyone's participation is needed to populate the school's
offices, teams, clubs, etc., so a far
smaller percentage of students is overlooked or
alienated.
b. Adults and students in the school know and care
about one another to a greater degree than is
possible in large schools.
c. Small schools have a higher rate of parent
involvement.
d. Students and staff generally have a stronger sense
of personal efficacy in small schools.
e. Students in small schools take more of the
responsibility for their own learning; their learning
activities are more often individualized,
experiential, and relevant to the world outside of
school; classes are generally smaller; and scheduling
is much more flexible.
f. Grouping and instructional strategies associated
with higher student performance are more often
implemented in small schools—team teaching, integrated
curriculum, multiage grouping
(especially for elementary children), cooperative
learning, and performance assessments.
17. The evidence for the effectiveness of
school-within-a-school (SWAS) arrangements is much more
limited, but it, suggests that students benefit from
this form of organization if the SWAS is
sufficiently separate and distinct from the other
school(s) housed in the same building.
18. Poor students and those of racial and ethnic
minorities are more adversely affected—academically,
attitudinally, and behaviorally—by attending large
schools than are other students. Unfortunately, poor
and
minority students continue to be concentrated in large schools.
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