Small schools have big advantage

Comparing the relative strengths and weaknesses of small and larger school systems is a difficult task. Some things are easily quantified – test scores, graduation rates and per-pupil spending, for example. Other aspects of school quality are not easily reduced to numbers. What we deem to be a high-quality education for students depends on our individual and community values and goals, and goes beyond the tangible outcomes of test scores. Schooling itself is a complex process, influenced by many different variables that cannot be fully specified or understood.

Valid arguments can be made for either small or large schools, but there are no conclusive data that indicate one is consistently better than the other. As with many things, it all depends. As policy-makers and the public debate what kind of schools we want and can afford in Maine, we need to consider the relative strengths of small and large schools, and to design schools that meet the needs of the particular students and communities they serve.

At a time when policy-makers in Maine feel the need to create larger schools for greater efficiency, there are recommendations from national organizations and efforts across the nation to create smaller schools, or “schools within schools” (particularly for large high schools) in order to improve the level of meaningful interaction among students and between students and adults, and to create more personal, individualized programs that support students’ different needs. Studies of at-risk youth also emphasize the need for connectedness or a sense of belonging.

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With these state policy directions in mind, we conducted a study to obtain a comprehensive picture of how small schools compare with large schools. The study included review of existing data and interviews with district and school administrators, and guidance counselors. Among the strengths mentioned, respondents consistently emphasized the ability of small schools to provide a greater degree of personal attention to students in the classroom and in the school as a whole. Respondents also stressed the importance of close personal interactions within small schools, and between the school and community, which create a climate where students, teachers, administrators and parents know each other well.

Besides evidence that smaller learning environments have positive impacts on student achievement, research also describes the importance of school-community connections, and suggests residents tend to be more actively involved in schools that are small than in schools that are large. The community’s involvement in a school benefits the school in different ways – through fund raising for special programs and needs, supporting teachers in the classroom and beyond, providing positive role models for students, and affirming the value of education for students.

Schools can be a source of pride and loyalty to the community. In more concrete terms, a school can increase local property values, encourage families to locate in a community, and increase the sales of local merchants and service contractors.

In Maine, and across the nation, schools face serious challenges in their efforts to help all students achieve at high levels, to encourage students to finish high school, and to identify and prevent depression, drug use and suicide among youth. Designing schools that incorporate the strengths of small schools – including frequent, personal interactions and individualized learning plans – may serve to benefit not only at-risk students, but other groups of students as well.

School quality can also be described in quantifiable terms, including indicators of academic performance, curricula, physical facilities, safety and other resources for learning.

Researchers have analyzed test scores by school size in Maine and in other states. So far, the evidence indicates that small schools perform quite favorably when compared with large schools, and perform better than expected given the high levels of poverty for the smallest schools.

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Overall, medium-to-large schools appear to have an advantage over small schools in terms of their per-pupil costs, breadth of curricular offerings, facilities and teacher education levels. The evidence on student achievement is inconclusive. In Maine, medium-to-large schools have, on average, somewhat higher MEA scores than small schools. Medium-to-large high schools have, on average, somewhat higher graduation rates than small ones. On the other hand, very small and medium-to-large high schools in Maine have lower dropout rates than small or very large high schools – although the differences are small. Studies in other states have found higher graduation rates, higher post-secondary school attendance, and lower dropout rates for small high schools compared to large high schools.

Small schools have an advantage in their flexibility over scheduling, programming and instructional decisions, and may allow for a greater degree of personalization and individualization in students’ learning experience. The small class size and close interaction of students with staff in small schools may be an important factor in keeping the dropout rate low, and in helping students to overcome a variety of factors that interfere with learning. Small schools appear to minimize the effects of socioeconomic factors that typically lower academic achievement, thus resulting in higher achievement than would be expected.

As we redesign schools for greater cost efficiency, we need to make sure that sufficient structures and supports are built into school systems to meet the needs of communities and students. If making schools bigger or consolidating students from diverse communities results in higher dropout rates for at-risk students, then the social and economic costs associated with higher dropout rates will not offset the cost savings.

Likewise, the alienation of some parents from bigger schools will not serve the interests of schools, parents, students or communities.

As we redesign school systems for greater cost efficiency, we should try to make the strengths of both small and large high schools a part of all high schools, no matter their size.

Janet Fairman is an assistant research professor in the College of Education at the University of Maine. This commentary was excerpted from the current issue of the Maine Policy Review published by the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy at the University of Maine. The entire article can be read at http://www.umaine.edu/mcsc/mpr.htm