Affective and Social Benefits of Small-Scale Schooling (continued)

Administrator and teacher attitudes. While less school size research has concentrated on teachers and administrators than on students, what findings there are favor small schools (Gottfredson, 1985; Gregory, 1992; Stockard & Mayberry, 1992). These studies focused on administrator attitudes toward work; teacher attitudes toward work, administration, and one another; and incidences of cooperation and collaboration among colleagues. Gottfredson (1985) notes that "large schools appear to promote negative teacher perceptions of school administration and low staff morale" (p. 39).

Research on Social Behavior

Extracurricular participation. Students participate in extracurricular activities at significantly higher levels in small schools than in large ones (Cotton, 1996; Fowler, 1995; Stockard & Mayberry, 1992). Students in small schools are also more likely to participate in a greater variety of activities and to hold important positions in the activities in which they are involved. Researchers point out that, in small schools, everyone is needed to populate teams, offices, and clubs; thus, even shy and less able students are encouraged to participate and made to feel they belong. As schools grow larger, opportunities for participation also grow--but not proportionately: a twentyfold increase in population produces only a fivefold increase in participation opportunities. Thus, in large schools, a greater proportion of students do not participate in extracurricular activities, because they are not needed to fill the available participation slots.

Attendance and dropouts. Not only do students in small schools have higher attendance rates than those in large schools, but students who move from large schools to small, alternative secondary schools generally exhibit improvements in attendance (Fowler, 1995; Fowler & Walberg, 1991; Rutter, 1988). Regarding dropouts, the holding power of small schools is considerably greater than that of large schools.

Social disruption. "Behavior problems are so much greater in larger schools," report Stockard & Mayberry (1992, p. 47), "that any possible virtue of larger size is canceled out by the difficulties of maintaining an orderly learning environment." Studies on social disruption have investigated everything from truancy and classroom disorder to vandalism, aggressive behavior, theft, substance abuse, and gang participation. This social research all points to the same conclusion: Small schools have far fewer behavior problems than large schools (Gottfredson, 1985; Gregory, 1992; Rutter, 1988).

Why Smaller is Better

Educators, researchers, and survey responses received from teachers, students, and parents suggest several reasons for the superior performance of small schools. Cotton's 1996 synthesis of 103 studies and reviews describes a number of these underlying conditions. For example, the need, in small schools, for everyone's involvement in school activities appears to be related to other social and affective areas. People in small schools come to know and care about one another to a greater degree than is possible in large schools, and rates of parent involvement are higher. Staff and students are found to have a stronger sense of personal efficacy. Small-school students tend to take more of the responsibility for their own learning, learning activities are more likely to be individualized, classes are typically smaller, and scheduling is much more flexible.

Many practices common in small schools are in operation largely because they are much easier to implement and manage in small environments than in large ones. Looking at instructional practices in small schools, researchers find that teachers are more likely to form teaching teams, integrate their subject-matter content, employ multiage grouping and cooperative learning, and use performance assessments. Finally, small schools tend to exhibit greater emphasis on learning that is experiential and relevant to the world outside of school.