The trend toward consolidation and larger schools in the U.S. began early in the twentieth century. It was motivated, in part, by an assumption—which has since been challenged—that larger schools were cheaper to operate and provided richer curricula than small schools. More than two decades of research now documents the benefits of smaller schools. Those benefits include more positive student attitudes toward school, higher self-esteem and academic self-concepts, a greater sense of belonging, higher staff morale, higher attendance, lower dropout rates, higher academic achievement, and far fewer behavior problems, resulting in a much safer learning environment. Small schools also make it easier for teachers to implement practices that enhance student learning such as team teaching, integrated subject matter, cooperative learning, and performance assessments. These are associated with positive outcomes, especially for students who have traditionally been “at-risk” of school failure.
While there is not universal agreement on the optimal school size, much of the research suggests that elementary schools enroll no more than 300 to 400 students and high schools 400 to 500. Currently, however, high school enrollments of 2,000 and 3,000 are commonplace, and cities like New York City and Los Angeles have schools with enrollments approaching 5,000.
Despite the advantages of small schools, considerations other than what is best for the student often drive decisions about school size. This trend toward large school consolidation continues despite evidence that students concentrated in large schools and districts—those from low-income and minority families—experience the greatest amount of harm from impersonal, fragmented settings. These students stand to benefit the most from attending small schools, where they can be well known and cared for.
The earliest experiments with smaller schools in California began in Los Angeles and San Diego. A district-wide effort was launched in Oakland in late 1998 in collaboration with the Bay Area Coalition of Equitable Schools and other community organizations, and was sparked by the successes of the small schools movement in cities such as New York, Chicago, and Boston. The Gates Foundation has funded the creation of 50 small high schools in California based on existing successful models. Aspire Public Schools is opening four small schools for the 2001-2002 school year in Modesto (K–7), Lodi/Stockton (K–7), Oakland (K-5), and East Palo Alto (grade 9). Its first high school, which will provide a model for others to be launched later, is a collaboration with the Stanford University School of Education’s STEP program (see feature article).
Sources: Eric Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, and Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools. |
