May 1996 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."Research has repeatedly found small schools superior to large ones on most measures and equal to them on the rest," writes Kathleen Cotton in School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance. "This holds true for both elementary and secondary students of all ability levels and in all kinds of settings."
While the research on schools-within-a-school is less extensive and therefore less definitive, early findings point to the same kinds of advantages that have been documented in small schools, according to Cotton.
Cotton reviewed more than 100 documents for the report-one of two "Close-Ups" which, along with two "Snapshots," make up the final installment of the Laboratory's School Improvement Research Series X. While researchers do not always agree on how small is "small," many suggest that an elementary school should have 300 to 400 students and a secondary school should have 400 to 800 students for optimal learning climate.
Students in small schools are more likely to participate in activities, less likely to drop out, more likely to attend regularly, less likely to engage in risky behavior, and more likely to view teachers positively. These and other positive effects are particularly pronounced among students from poor families and those belonging to racial or ethnic minority groups.
Drawing on the findings of numerous studies, Cotton posits a number of reasons for the efficacy of small schools. For one thing, students are less likely to be overlooked or isolated in small schools, where "everyone's participation is needed for clubs, teams, and student government to have adequate numbers of students," Cotton notes. Furthermore, she observes, "people in small schools and units come to know and care about one another to a much greater degree than is possible in large schools."
The small school's caring and inclusive climate gives both students and staff a greater sense of personal efficacy, researchers have found. Notes Cotton: "Students take more of the responsibility for their own learning, learning activities are more frequently individualized, classes are smaller, and scheduling is much more flexible."
Small size makes schools more likely to use innovative and effective instructional strategies such as team teaching, integrated curriculum, multiage grouping, cooperative learning, and alternative assessments. Small schools also are more likely to make learning active and relevant to the world beyond the classroom, the report notes.
The second Close-Up in Series X, Educating for Citizenship, reports that U.S. schools are doing a poor job of giving students the information and insight they need to become competent citizens. Examining the findings of nearly 100 studies, papers, and other documents on practices and outcomes in civic education, Cotton found a mismatch between the rhetoric and the reality of citizenship education. Many people "believe that education's chief purpose is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to function effectively as citizens of a democratic society," she notes. But, she says, "nearly every writer whose work was consulted for this report expressed dismay at our nation's want of civic preparedness."
The reason for this deficiency, say critics of civics, is that "the components of citizenship are simply not taught in American schools," Cotton writes. Irrelevance, lack of focus on rights, lack of training in thinking skills, passive learning, avoidance of controversial topics, teacher control, lack of attention to global issues, and shallow text content are among the practices and environmental factors that undermine the effectiveness of civic education, according to the report.
To improve civics education, schools should cultivate open classroom climates, active learning, critical thinking, law-related education, community service, and global education, among other research-supported practices.
Two Snapshots wrap up the series. The first describes the efforts of Bonneville Elementary School in Pocatello, Idaho, to improve its school climate. After student surveys found high levels of friction and competitiveness among students, the school made major changes in how it organized school events and activities and in how it rewarded student achievement.
The second Snapshot looks at how a new, inner-city school quickly gained national recognition for excellence. Using the Comer Restructuring Model, principal Edward Jefferson led Seattle's Thurgood Marshall Elementary School to national acclaim as one of 60 schools named as "America's Best Elementary Schools" in the April 1995 issue of Redbook magazine. Marshall also is one of six schools chosen as demonstration schools by the National Alliance of Black School Educators in 1995.
With this installment, the 10-year-old School Improvement Research Series is complete. While the series will not continue in its current format, the Laboratory will continue to develop and publish syntheses of research on timely educational topics of interest to Northwest educators. Watch for details in future issues of the Northwest Report.
See School Improvement Research Series "Research You Can Use" - Series I-X for details.
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